Lumet was one of the fine directors of our time. He was one of the pioneering live TV directors who continued on to films. Just a listing of some of his titles alone should suffice to most Marathoners: 12 ANGRY MEN, SERPICO, DOG DAY AFTERNOON (my favorite), MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, NETWORK, THE VERDICT etc..
Lumet also made some films that were more underrated by some like PRINCE OF THE CITY, RUNNING ON EMPTY and the stunning Sean Connery feature THE OFFENCE about a very bad cop that makes TRAINING DAY seem like a trainee. At an age when most of his contemporaries had passed on or long retired, Lumet had a late in career success with the oily BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOUR DEAD with Marissa Tomei and Philip Seymour Hoffman (I also found his FIND ME GUILTY with Vin Dielel as an amusing mob comedy). His SF and Fantasy genre films were few - FAIL SAFE, THE WIZ and parts of NETWORK - but it doesn't matter. Incredibly, Lumet is also one of the great directors who NEVER won a Directing Oscar (he finally got an honorary one).
Lumet was an original, and he could be brutally honest. In the 80s his career hit a low ebb and he quipped that he could still keep making films if he had a success once out of three tries. About THE WIZ, he said later that a week or two into filming, he knew the movie wasn't going to work and doomed to failure. He said that his professionalism got him through the project, but admitted how hard it was to go through.
He and his work will be sorely missed.
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