{"id":2200,"date":"2004-12-17T12:29:29","date_gmt":"2004-12-17T17:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2200"},"modified":"2015-05-16T21:14:04","modified_gmt":"2015-05-17T01:14:04","slug":"lumet-appreciation-day-on-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=2200","title":{"rendered":"Sidney Lumet: On Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt from Making Movies<\/a>\"\":<\/p>\n

Lumet’s movies always have a lot of talking in them. One of the greatest examples is “Network”. Sidney Lumet, unlike many other directors, does not shy away from a lot of dialogue. Here he explains why:<\/i><\/p>\n

Dialogue is not uncinematic. So many movies of the 30s and 40s we adore are constant streams of dialogue. Of course we remember James Cagney squashing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face. But does that evoke more affectionate memory than “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid”? God know Chaplin trying to eat corn on a mechanized feeder in Modern Times <\/i>is a great sight gag. But I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than when, at the end of Some Like it Hot<\/i>, Joe E. Brown says to Jack Lemmon, “Well, \u0096 nobody’s perfect.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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