Biographer Joanna Rapf observes that Lumet had always been an independent director, and liked to make films about "men who summon courage to challenge the system, about the little guy against the system."
Prema biografkinji Joanni Rapf, Lumet je uvijek bio "nezavisan redatelj" te je volio snimati filmove o "muškarcima koji skupljaju hrabrost da se suprostave sustavu, o malom čovjeku protiv sustava".