As happened for so many other genres, the 1960s/1970s saw a tremendous creative expansion in crime and cop thrillers. The old Hollywood moguls had died off or retired, most of the major studios were bleeding red ink, attendance had gone off a cliff since the end of WW II, and a new breed of young, …
One of the true giants passed away this week: filmmaker Sidney Lumet, dead at 86 of lymphoma. He was one of an incredibly talented class of directors who graduated from the early days of TV; a group which included such august talents as Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde, 1967), George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and …
According to writer Brian Garfield, Sidney Lumet was set to direct the film with Jack Lemmon playing Paul Kersey (presumably to be more in line with the “everyman” character in the book) and Henry Fonda as the police chief. What if Sidney Lumet had directed Death Wish?… The Result: Sidney Lumet would never have chosen …
Authors note: Okay, let me just a minute to explain about my relationship with cop movies. I love them! As an ex-actor my ideal role would be that of some down on his luck, hardboiled cop! The very first feature length script I completed was a cop thriller! I did my very best at channeling …
10. I AM LEGEND (2007) A desolate New York shelters Robert Neville (Will Smith) as the last survivor after the destruction and spread of a man made virus that destroys humanity. The setup is pure sci-fi fare. Neville, immune to the virus, roams the land in search of survivors, but comes across mutants of the …