Making good films or not-so, hits or flops, Lumet defined his work less by elegant camerabatics than by a

corrosive intelligence, an attention to behavioral detail and an indefatigable verve. While some directors

took years to hatch a film, he in his long prime did one or two projects a year. "All I want to do is get better," he said, "and quantity can help me to solve my problems. ... If I don't have a script I adore, I do

one I like. If I don't have one I like, I do one that has an actor I like or that presents some technical

challenge." He left masterpiece-making to others; Lumet was just a moviemaker, one who turned most all

his films into scintillating dispatches from the urban warfront.

But one thing Sidney Lumet could never do was to make a movie of the life of Sidney Lumet. He enjoyed

his work too much — plenty of chutzpah, not enough agita.