Remembering James Dean made me think it’s time to add a couple of other Hollywood figures to the blog, people who died earlier this year. Speaking of figures, Jane Russell died Feb. 28, and I wrote these March 1:
Goodbye Jane Russell
You made it to eighty-nine
Built to last, I’d say
Goodbye Jane Russell
Time finally ran out for that
Hourglass figure
The great director Sidney Lumet died April 9. He had a long string of excellent movies, many of which are mentioned here. I often don’t write on the weekend, but he died on a Saturday, and I couldn’t pass up such an extraordinary career.
‘Bye Sidney Lumet
You made dozens of stories
Seem so real on screen
The verdict: Guilty
The charge: First-degree genius
In “Twelve Angry Men”
You captured O’Neill’s
“Long Day’s Journey Into Night”
And family hell
Nuclear terror
Led to supreme sacrifice
In Cold War’s “Fail-Safe”
“The Pawnbroker” showed
Some tortured souls must remain
Forever in hock
Lumet, Pacino
With “Serpico,” “Dog Day” proved
Lightning can strike twice
“Serpico” ripped veil
Off of police corruption,
A city’s decay
“Dog Day Afternoon”
A robbery gone so wrong
A film made so right
In “Find Me Guilty”
Lumet made Vin Diesel act
— With stunning results
“Before the Devil
“Knows You’re Dead”: Grim finale
Of petty evil
“Garbo Talks,” “Deathtrap,”
A King documentary,
He could do it all
‘Bye Sidney Lumet
We’d be mad as hell except
Your work was complete
Greg's Hack-u 