我看過他執導的《屋頂上的提琴手》，看著男主角載歌載舞唱起：「If I were a rich man Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum All day long, I’d biddy biddy bum If I were a wealthy man I wouldn’t have to work hard Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum…..」你或許和我一樣，滿面春風，愉悅享受。
當然，唱到「sunrise sunset」的「Is this the little girl i carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don’t remember growing older, When did they? When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall? Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?」天下父母心全寫在這兩段歌詞中。
/ 我還看過他執導的《萬世巨星（Jesus Christ Superstar）》，會唱他的「Jesus Christ Superstar，who are you? What have you sacrificed?」當然還有膾炙人口的「I Don’t know how to love him」，雖然功勞首推原創音樂Andrew Lloyd Webber, 但是Norman化繁為簡的象徵符號（一輛追逐著猶太的坦克車就象徵著羅馬大軍），還有耶利獨處洗腳時的溫暖黃光，都是電影讓人過目難忘的魅力所在。
至於《天羅地網（The Thomas Crown Affair)》，透過Michel Legrand創作的主題曲：「The Windmills of Your Mind心田風車」「Round, like a circle in a spiral Like a wheel within a wheel Never ending or beginning On an ever-spinning reel」的歌聲描寫富豪大盜Steve McQueen 的浪漫豪情，歌聲形容人生像螺旋打轉，沒完沒了，搭配分格堆疊的影像敘事，在1975年的時空環境下，確實新穎有趣，讓人悠然神往，認同也羨慕起這位冒險大亨。
不過，Norman真正想拍的是反應社會議題，帶動討論的電影，例如轟動一時的《惡夜追緝令（In the Heat of the Night）》，美國黑白衝突、族群矛盾、正義真相都匯聚在了一起。電影叫好叫座，又能反應社會脈動，就是他最想拍的類型題材。
一切就像紐約時報的訃聞版最後引述他的訪談所說：「For me, films are about ideas, Every director should ask himself, ‘Why am I making this picture?’ And if you can’t answer that, you shouldn’t make it.」電影最重要的是傳達意念。只想賺錢，只想為商業服務的導演，新片一部接一部，大概只能避而不談意念不意念了。
