Sidney Lumet made some great movies and some decent ones and a bunch of clunkers. But he almost always got good performances from his actors. “Q&A” was a New York corrupt cop story, a Lumet specialty. It wasn’t a great movie but it featured a lot of solid performances–Armand Assante was never better–especially from the supporting cast, another Lumet trademark.
But it was Nick Nolte’s movie.
Man, when he’s on, Nolte is great.
I need to see this again. When it first came out, it really blew me away, especially Nolte. Assante was excellent too.
I find it odd that you're always so quick to say something "wasn't a great movie" when talking about a movie you like. You do it a lot!
That movie was strong asd well-acted. Plus, two friends had roles In that movie.
1) agreed. I thought Q&A was great when I first saw it, but I've only seen it once. Forgot all about it actually.
Another movie of his that I enjoyed from that period was Family Business. Definitely a little clunky, but a guilty pleasure. Loved the cast, and I happened to stumble across the set on Long Island when they were shooting the heist. It was at an office building along the LIE. I pulled off the highway to avoid traffic, and take the service road, saw the bright lights from the movie set, and pulled over to check it out.
Dustin Hofmann came out of his trailer and schmoozed with the crowd. cool guy. Great actor, and that was a fun little flick.
Oy some typos I can ignore, but not Hoffman.
Although Hoffman and Connery as father and son is pushing it...LOL. I remember Broderick being likable in that one, though.
[3] I was warned away from Family Business - never saw it as everyone told me it was a stinker.
There are a few good scenes, I remember one in the back of a deli with a bowl of pickles on the table that was good.
Admittedly, I'm a sucker for Hoffman. I'm the guy who thought Ishtar was a riot.
[8] I recall parts of Ishtar being very funny. The press set out to kill that movie before it was finished - it's not that bad.
Count me among those who was really impressed with Q&A but haven't seen it since, and that was quite a while ago. I remember Nick Nolte's line "I pitch, you catch" or something to that effect, hahaha.