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Al Pacino,
Al Pacino,
John Cazale,
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Sidney Lumet,
Sidney Lumet
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: Warner Home Video
: Drama, Crime, Classic Crime, Quest, Manhunt
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
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Based on a true 1972 story, Sidney Lumet's 1975 drama chronicles a unique bank robbery on a hot summer afternoon in New York City. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser Sonny (Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy, Sal (John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank. The situation swiftly escalates, as Sonny and Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the tristate area surround the bank; a large Sonny-sympathetic crowd gathers to watch; the media arrive to complete the circus; and police captain Moretti (Charles Durning) tries to negotiate with Sonny while keeping the volatile spectacle under control. When Sonny's lover, Leon (Chris Sarandon), tries to talk Sonny out of the bank, we learn the robbery's motive: to finance Leon's sex-change operation. Sonny demands a plane to escape, but the end is near once menacingly cool FBI agent Sheldon (James Broderick) arrives to take over the negotiations. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
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| Dog Day Afternoon (Special Edition) (Bonus Disc) (1975) |
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| "I'm a fuck up and an outcast!"
by Lastcrackerjack
April 14, 2006 - 6:31 PM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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This is routinely cited as one of the key films of the '70s. Its breathlessness and documentary neo-realism have made it standard viewing for any filmmaker or scenarist recreating a bank robbery or hostage crisis.
Pacino delivers what is the greatest performance of his film career. Michael Corleone in "The Godfather Part II" and Tony Montana in "Scarface" are up there, but bringing the high strung, running, jumping, screaming, sweating, bleary eyed Sonny Wojtowicz to screen caused Pacino to collapse from exhaustion halfway through filming. The experience was so draining that he appeared in only two more movies before the end of the decade.
Sidney Lumet is uncanny in his ability to bring this frenzy to screen. The oddballs caught up in the hostage crisis pale when compared with how the NYPD, the news media and the public overreact to it. Dede Allen deserves a large part of the credit for her masterful work editing all these streams together, but I also appreciated the way Frank Pierson's script wove in social unrest to the cops and robbers proceedings.
There is Pacino's iconic fist waving "Attica! Attica!" exaltation to the mob and a great scene where Sonny badgers a TV newsman on the phone who asks why Sonny doesn't surrender. "You ever been to prison? Then talk about something you fuckin know about!"
The film comprises twelve sequences and while faithfully documenting that day in Brooklyn, would not make my list of twenty greatest films of the decade. It's a work of stoic professionalism and was a crown jewel for Lumet, Pierson and Pacino, but I don't think it quite belongs in the same conversation as "Harold and Maude", "The Godfather", "The Godfather Part II", "Network", "Taxi Driver", "Manhattan", etc.
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| Righteous Nuts |
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| I have to admit - in SOME ways, I relate to the views that these alienated, oversensitive people have of the world. Thankfully, I haven't crossed the line where my frustrations have become self-destructive (or in some cases, destructive to others). |
ZenBones
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