On this day in movie and book history - Q&A (1990)

Q&A

directed and written by Sidney Lumet,

based on the novel by Edwin Torres,

was released in the United States on April 27, 1990.

Music by Rubén Blades.

Cast:

Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Armand Assante, Patrick O'Neal, Lee Richardson, Luis Guzmán, Charles S. Dutton, Jenny Lumet, Paul Calderon, International Chrysis, Dominic Chianese, Leonardo Cimino, Fyvush Finkel, Gustavo Brens, Martin E. Brens, Maurice Schell, Thomas Mikal Ford, John Capodice, Frederick Rolf, Hal Lehrman, Gloria Irizarry, Brian Neill, Susan Mitchell, Drew Eliot, Frank Raiter, Harry Madsen, Jerry Ciauri, George Kodisch, Burtt Harris, Michael A. Joseph, Cynthia O'Neal, Victor Colicchio, Anibal O. Lleras, José Rafael Arango, David Dill, Alex Ruiz, Richard Solchik, Edward Rogers III, Junior Perez, Javier Ríos, June Stein, Rod Rodriguez, Sonny Vito, Olga Merediz, Peter Gumeny, Edward Rowan, Danny Darrow, José Collazo, José Alvarez, G.W. Bailey, Janis Corsair, David Hummel.

Recommended reading:

Q&A
by Edwin Torres.

Filmed as Q&A (1990), directed by Sidney Lumet.

Published by Avon Books.
First published 1977.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0380018624
ISBN-13: 978-0380018628

Description:

The basis for the hit film "Q & A" directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Nick Nolte. Written by Edwin Torres, the author of After Hours which was the basis for the hit film "Carlito's Way" starring Al Pacino and Sean Penn.

The minute he steps down the alleyway, Tony Roman knows it’s a setup. The first bullet tears through his cheekbone; the second pierces his brain. The big man is dead before he hits the ground. When the crowd pours out of the nightclub to see what happened, the killer flashes a badge. He’s the NYPD’s Lt. Brennan, and he plans to get away with murder.

Assistant District Attorney Al Reilly is called in to investigate the shooting. Everyone in the department expects Reilly, an ex-cop whose father was killed in the line of duty, to support Brennan’s claim of self-defense. But the evidence doesn’t add up. As Reilly digs deeper into the events of that snowy night in the darkened alley, he finds that in the NYPD, there is no crime worse than investigating a crooked cop.

On this day in movie history - The Pawnbroker (1964 / 1965)

The Pawnbroker

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin,

based on the novel by Edward Lewis Wallant,

was released in the United States on April 20, 1965.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez, Thelma Oliver, Eusebia Cosme, Marketa Kimbrell, Baruch Lumet, Juano Hernández, Linda Geiser, Nancy R. Pollock, Raymond St. Jacques, Charles Dierkop, John McCurry, Warren Finnerty, Jack Ader, Marianne Kanter, Ed Morehouse, Marc Alexander, Donny Burks, Robert Dahdah, Morgan Freeman, Hilda Haynes, E.M. Margolese, Donnie Melvin, Donnell O'Brien, Reni Santoni, Bill Steele.

On this day in movie and book history - 12 Angry Men (1957)

12 Angry Men

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by Reginald Rose,

based on the 1954 teleplay Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose,

was released in the United States on April 10, 1957.

Music by Kenyon Hopkins.

Cast:

Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Henry Fonda, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, Rudy Bond, Tom Gorman, James Kelly, Billy Nelson, John Savoca, Walter Stocker.

Recommended reading:

 

Twelve Angry Men

Teleplay by Reginald Rose.
Introduction by David Mamet.
 
Filmed as:
12 Angry Men (1957), directed by Sidney Lumet.
12 Angry Men (1997), directed by William Friedkin.

Paperback.
Published by Penguin Classics.
First published 1954.

ISBN 13: 9780143104407
ISBN 10: 0143104403
ASIN: 0143104403
 
Description:

A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.

After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.

Recommended reading - Making Movies

Making Movies

by Sidney Lumet.
 
Published by Vintage.
Published 1996.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679756604
ISBN-13: 978-0679756606
 
Description:

Why does a director choose a particular script? What must they do in order to keep actors fresh and truthful through take after take of a single scene? How do you stage a shootout – involving more than one hundred extras and three colliding taxis – in the heart of New York’s diamond district? What does it take to keep the studio honchos happy? From the first rehearsal to the final screening, Making Movies is a master’s take, delivered with clarity, candor, and a wealth of anecdote.

 

For in this book, Sidney Lumet, one of our most consistently acclaimed directors, gives us both a professional memoir and a definitive guide to the art, craft, and business of the motion picture. Drawing on forty years of experience on movies that range from Long Day’s Journey into Night to Network and The Verdict – and with such stars as Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, and Al Pacino – Lumet explains how painstaking labor and inspired split-second decisions can result in two hours of screen magic.

 

“Film would be a better place if every director were required to share with other romancers of film his process. It is a gift to us all that it is Sidney Lumet, one of American’s greatest filmmakers, who is sharing his point-of-view.” – Stephen Spielberg.

“Invaluable. . . . I am sometimes asked if there is one book a filmgoer could read to learn more about how movies are made and what to look for while watching them. This is the book.” – Roger Ebert, The New York Times Book Review.

“Remarkable . . . . as dignified as the movies [Lumet] has made and yet deeply felt and very moving. . . . Anyone who truly loves movies ought to read what he has to say about them. . . . Delightfully engrossing.” – Los Angeles Times.

“The film bible from a master. It tells in meticulous detail the step-by-step process of making a movie. You feel you’re on the set. A must.” – Quincy Jones.

 

“Full of energy, enthusiasm and wisdom. . . . It’s all engrossing because [Lumet] speaks so fervently and opinionatedly about matters on which he has earned the right to opinions.”  - The New Republic.

On this day in movie history - The Morning After (1986)

The Morning After

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by James Hicks and David Rayfiel,

was released in the United States on December 25, 1986.

Music by Joel Goodman.

Cast:

Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Raul Julia, Diane Salinger, Richard Foronjy, Geoffrey Scott, James 'Gypsy' Haake, Kathleen Wilhoite, Don Hood, Fran Bennett, Michael Flanagan, Bruce Vilanch, Michael Prince, Frances Bergen, José Angel Santana, Bob Minor, George Fisher, Rick Rossovich, Laurel Lyle, Kathy Bates, Anne Betancourt, Patti Song, Betty Lougaris, Drew Berman, Sam Scarber, Michael Zand, Gladys Portugues, Corinna Everson, Selga Sanders.