Bye Bye Braverman (MOD)

Bye Bye Braverman (MOD)Serpico. Dog Day Afternoon. Prince of the City. In these gritty and distinguished films, director Sidney Lumet held a mirror up to his adopted hometown, New York. In Bye Bye Braverman, he uses a funhouse mirror. The result is hilarious, satiric, wise, giddy and no less trenchant. Sparked by a blue ribbon cast, the film follows four Jewish intellectuals jammed into one Volkswagen and squabbling nonstop en route to the funeral of their friend Leslie

of aching setbacks and glorious triumphs

introduces the cast most often associated with the series (only Rooney

Murray plays showgirl Sally O'Hara

plus Jack Benny

Leslie Nielsen (as the villain) and more familiar talents in a tale that combines genre sendups with showdown heroics

plunging over a waterfall

Co-starring Ann Sheridan ("Angels with Dirty Faces")

no stranger to leading-man roles in the 1920s

Based on the best-selling novel by Christopher Morley

a priceless Stradivarius violin

This warm comedy is laced with drama and punctuated with plenty of sight gags

The ailing curmudgeon's avaricious nephew