Making Movies Paperback – March 19, 1996

What it takes to make and create a movie from the mind of a great director

"Making Movies" is one of the best books on the nuts and bolts of film-making ever. It deserves the highest rating simply because it is both well presented and full of practical insights. Lumet is brilliant on the psychology of movie-making in the old days, for instance, when each producer had the power to order cuts at will. The director who knew this would deliberately leave some weak scenes in during early screenings so that the producers could order them removed and thus later claim to have "saved" the picture – if, that is, it turned out to be a hit.That said, Lumet's overall approach is not historical but topical, from selecting a writer to making the final cut. In Chapter Three, he raises a point I often try to impress upon my students: The way you tell a story should relate somehow to what that story is about. That gets to the whole question of the importance of style, which he terms "the most misused word since love." (pg. 49)Good, practical advice can be found on every page. Here's how he can tell if something is off when watching a scene during rushes: "If my concentration breaks, something is wrong." (pg. 141) This, I might add, applies equally well to reading as to watching – if our attention drifts, there may be something wrong with the book we are reading, or the text of the speech we are delivering.Here's something that may seem counter-intuitive: The audience's perception of the length of a film depends not on the tempo of the movie itself so much as the presence or absence of changes in tempo. The fewer the changes, even if the tempo is fast, the longer the movie will seem. Most melodramas accelerate speed towards the end. Inexperienced directors adopt an up-tempo from the start, then believe they have left themselves nowhere to go except even faster, thus exhausting the audience long before the final credits.Lumet candidly confesses he doesn't know what makes a hit, and doubts that anyone really does. It is certainly not the stars alone. He talks about those he has worked with (including Paul Newman and Al Pacino) without indulging in gossip, and when he has something negative to say, he does so without naming names. One movie of his, which he refuses to identify, suffered from the limited range of one of its stars. "On the second day of shooting, I began to realize that the leading actress lacked the tenderness her part called for. She simply didn't have it in her as an actress or a person. She was superb with anger; she had humor. But if she was asked to show the simplest affection for the person playing opposite her, a falseness crept into her acting that was readily apparent, particularly since her acting was otherwise so real and true…. Since the movie was fundamentally a love story, I knew that we were in trouble." (pp. 143-144) I wonder if the movie in question might not have been "The Morning After." The only hint he provides is that the film "had three very high-powered stars in it." "Morning After" featured Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges and Raul Julia. On the other hand, Fonda did receive an Oscar nomination for her performance here, so I can't be certain.Though most (but not all) of the examples are taken from movies he himself directed, the book is most definitely not a survey of his career. While "Murder on the Orient Express," for example, gets mentioned at least a dozen times, "Fail Safe" rates only a single one, early on. Incidentally, what he has to say about "Murder…" gives me a higher opinion of that movie than I ever had before; now I am tempted go back and take another look at it. The chapter on the "lens plot" in "12 Angry Men" – how he used differing lenses to create an increasing sense of claustrophobia – is justly famous.On the whole, Making Movies is an enlightening introduction to the craft, presented by an insider. If you are like me, you will be amazed at what you hadn't noticed in movies you thought you knew.For a longer version of this review, please go to hamiltonbeck dot wordpress dot com

Whether you should buy this book or not depends on what kind of movie-goer you are. Are you a "fan"--particularly of "movie stars"? Like to read the political, and interpersonal conflicts on set? Want to read about newer (post 2000) movies? This book is not for you.But if you want to know more about the nuts-and-bolts of movie-making and the challenges most movies present from first script-reading through to release and distribution, then this is your book.If you remember fondly movies such as Network, 12 Angry Men and Murder on the Orient Express, this is your book, because the late Sidney Lumet, the director who helped create those movies and many others, is the author. He tells his tales of movie-making agony and ecstasy in a wonderful way, combining information and entertainment.The book is almost 25 years old now. Things have changed. So, one star docked from a five-star book first published in 1995. I doubt very much that sound technicians "roll tape" (1/4 inch magnetic tape, that is) any more. A whole fascinating chapter is devoted to "Rushes." I suspect that most directors don't huddle in a screening room, biting their nails, to view what they've shot the day before. Today, they see digital "footage" on video screens set up ten feet from the set, immediately after the scene is shot, making a horrifically costly days-later re-shoot almost a non-issue. That one technological change has changed production dynamics enormously. And hats off because this reprint gives you the man's entire filmography, to his final picture in 2007.Never mind. While it's fun to read how it "used to be," 80% of this book is STILL "the way it is," and a lot of it will remain unchanged as long as people such as Sidney Lumet shout (or whisper!) "Action..."Lumet made a few superior movies, many very good movies, and some that failed critically or financially--or both. And he tells you why. He's that honest. And I guarantee you that you will never see ANY movie quite the same way again. I also guarantee that many readers will want to see Lumet movies a 2nd time and will want to watch those they've never seen.That's part of the fun, too.