But I’m a “deep cut” kind of movie lover, someone who likes to see absolutely everything in the hopes of digging up a gem everyone else appears to have missed. The only thing I love more than my secret stash of  cinematic gems, is the sharing of them. And the beauty of Lumet is that he had a number of sleepers, chief among them one of my wife’s all-time favorites, A Stranger Among Us with Melanie Griffith. The film was written by our own Robert Avrech and not only ranks as a terrific murder mystery/urban thriller, but also a delicately crafted love letter to both human dignity and the Jewish faith. Beneath all the drama and mystery, you’ll find a life-affirming subtext and thematic drive that tenderly examines the big issues of  fidelity, faith, and loyalty in ways movies then, and especially now, simply don’t anymore. For this reason it stands out in Lumet’s work, which is both a credit to the director and my friend Robert.  

Here are some others worth seeking out if you haven’t already…

Garbo Talks (1984): One of Lumet’s few escapist films with a perfectly cast Ron Silver as a Manhattan worker bee who drops everything to fulfill his dying mother’s (a never better Anne Bancroft) wish to meet the elusive Greta Garbo.

Running On Empty (1988): A sleeper and near-masterpiece I ranked as #18 in my countdown of the Top 25 Greatest Left-Wing Films of All Time. 

Q & A 1990: A relentlessly brutal noir piece with an unforgettable central performance from Nick Nolte as a depraved police detective slowly spiraling out of violent control as a young district attorney (Timothy Hutton) attempts to bring him down. Armand Assante and Luis Guzman were never better in a couple of supporting roles that made me a lifelong fan of both.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007): The best compliment I can pay this unbelievably engrossing thriller (on of the best of that year) that stirs your guts with a stick, is that it plays like the kind of movie a first-time director would create to make his mark and take his place in the world of cinema. This is Lumet’s “Reservoir Dogs,” a young man’s film made by a then 83 year-old living legend with nothing to prove.

Sure, Lumet was a left-wing filmmaker, but he was so damned brilliant you didn’t notice and after you did, you simply didn’t care. My thanks to Mr. Lumet for the many, many, hours of pleasure he has brought — and thanks to DVD, will continue to bring into my life.

May he rest in peace.

I now turn you over to… The New York Times.

“Dog Day Afternoon”: This Sidney Lumet film starring Al Pacino ranks as one of the best, and actually does comes with pizza and soda. When Sonny robs a bank to pay for his boyfriend’s sex change operation, things go horribly wrong and the first-time robber ends up with a bank full of hostages (Democrats).

This film is the perfect framework for Democrats to work their victim identity while trying to sneak in a pork-barrel project that gives members who lost in the last election a sex change before heading home for the holidays.

“Die Hard”: The first “Die Hard” film is also one of the best action films of all time and full of holiday hostages. Detective John McLane single-handedly saves a tower full of captives at his wife’s Christmas party from thirteen Euro-trash thieves trying to steel $640 million in bearer bonds.

Democrats will love this one because it’ll give them more ideas about robbing Wall Street to feed their base with food stamps and no income, no asset, home loans. It gives Republicans the chance to show Democrats what life would be like if they behaved like European socialist.

“Speed”: A great film that should have never had a sequel. A bus hurdling through Los Angeles unable to go below 55 mph or all the hostages go boom!

This is a Democrat favorite because of its earth-friendly-mass-transit theme and melting pot of Americans riding a bus while a disturbed white guy threatens their lives. In this film Democrats will most relate to the bus driver/hostages because they fight on the side of big unions to raise pay, health care benefits and pensions for government workers that make things go forward, backward, left, and right. Republicans hate this one because they drive cars.

“Misery”: “Misery” is one of the most eerie portrayals of forced captivity in a psychological hostage thriller. Famed author Paul Sheldon’s car drives off the road, and sweetie nurse Annie Wilkes (“his #1 fan”) takes him in. Anne, clearly off her meds hobbles her hostage to keep him from leaving.

Democrats will not identify with the hostage in this film because he’s rich, and writes books, not tax laws. However, “Misery” will send Republicans cringing at the memory of voting for Bush’s Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, because the crazy bitch in this film has gone off her free meds and left them with a hobbled economy.

“Air Force One”: Bad guys know they’re in trouble when their target is played by Harrison Ford, not Will Smith, and their hostages are his wife and kids, not fellow Scientologist. In “Air Force One” President James Marshall (Ford) defeats Russian Terrorists mid-air, disarms a bomb, and exclaims, “Give me back my plane.”

This film is a Democratic wet dream because the terrorists are white Russians not Iranian Muslims holding their President hostage. Republicans relate to this one because they know Reagan would have sent missiles into Iran if they’d not let our hostages go 20 minutes after Jimmy Carter left for Palestine.

So if you open your door this holiday season and spot miserable carolers getting out of a bus shouting, “Attica, Attica, Attica!” instead of singing “Silent Night, Holly Night,” you know Democrats have been set free  from the Republican tower and they’ve come to say “Give me back my money!”

This week’s Washington Times column:

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. | After spending two weeks on something akin to a fact-finding mission in depressed New York and depleted Washington, D.C., I found no answers to our nation’s mounting ills. I discovered that there is much to be angry about and unlimited reasons for deep concern. But on the evening after my return, the stars aligned on the outskirts of Los Angeles at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and for a brief moment I felt safe again in America.

On Saturday, my wife and I were privileged to attend the second annual “Celebration of Freedom Gala.” We joined more than 1,000 others who, like us, were electrified to honor 43 of the 98 living Medal of Honor recipients. We also gave our thanks to former first lady Nancy Reagan, war hero and actor Charles Durning, and Gen. David H. Petraeus.

In between courses, we heard rousing patriotic vignettes. One was Steve Amerson’s refreshingly traditional and soaring national anthem. Another was a tear-inducing “Freedom Never Cries” from John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting. Scores of celebrities donning black ties and gowns mingled with our nation’s highest-decorated veterans and active-duty men and women.

Unlike at other awards shows, this star-studded crowd honored something bigger than themselves. I note this without taking anything away from the individual achievements of talented artists who have paid homage to every cause under the sun. But this event was different. The armed forces of the United States have fought and died to protect the freedom of expression that allowed these artists to ply their trade.

Before the program commenced at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, one prominent actor sang the praises of HBO’s “Taking Chance” to a Vietnam-era Medal of Honor recipient. The film is not just another Hollywood attack on the military. Quite the contrary. “I watched it with my son, and we both cried,” the well-known face from film and television told a true hero. “It is deeply respectful and not in the least bit political.”

The same could be said of the dinner. Partisanship was not on the bill as dozens of decorated veterans of unknown partisan stripe stood to accept the audience’s unconditional and rousing appreciation.

Tom Selleck presented the “Lifetime Achievement Award” to a frail yet still elegant Mrs. Reagan, who received the first extended standing ovation of the evening. The 87-year-old former first lady was making her first public appearance since fracturing her pelvis and sacrum in October. She summoned the courage to accept the award in front of a cross-section of people who have grown to admire her during her half-century in Hollywood and in public service.

Gary Sinise, a Presidential Citizens Medal recipient and the event’s co-sponsor, delivered the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment to Charles Durning, whose courage and grit during World War II earned him the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. The 86-year-old star of “The Sting” and “Dog Day Afternoon” received a hero’s welcome worthy of both his military and film career.

Mr. Sinise asked attendees to commit themselves to entertaining the troops and singled out one actor/singer who had done so in spades: Connie Stevens, who labored for 40 years for the USO. Miss Stevens, still beautiful and radiant at 70, accepted the extended and deserved standing ovation.

You can read the column in full here.