Dog Day Afternoon

United States

1975

125 Min

Color

1.85:1

English

Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
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PROD Martin Bregman, Martin Elfand

SCR Frank Pierson, P.F. Kluge, Thomas Moore, Leslie Waller

CAST Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Sully Boyar, Penelope Allen, James Broderick, Carol Kane, Beulah Garrick, Lance Henriksen, Judith Malina, Dominic Chianese, Sandra Kazan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Amy Levitt, John Marriott, Estelle Omens, Gary Springer, Carmine Foresta, Floyd Levine, Dick Anthony Williams, Marcia Haufrecht, Susan Peretz, William Bogert, Ron Cummins, Jay Gerber, Philip Charles MacKenzie, Chu Chu Malave, Lionel Pina, Ed Metzger

PROD DES Charles Bailey

San Sebastián (Competition): Best Actor, San Francisco

Synopsis

Based upon a real-life story that happened in the early seventies in which the Chase Manhattan Bank in Flatbush, Brooklyn, was held siege by a gay bank robber determined to steal enough money for his male lover to undergo a sex change operation. On a hot summer afternoon, the First Savings Bank of Brooklyn is held up by Sonny and Sal, two down-and-out characters. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds that there’s actually nothing much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Police Captain Moretti, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city’s entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees’ safety. —IMDb

Director

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet (born June 25, 1924) is an American film director, with over 50 films to his name, including 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which, except for Serpico (1973), earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.

According to The Encyclopedia of Hollywood, Lumet is one of the most prolific directors of the modern era making more than one movie per year on average since his directorial debut in 1957. He is especially noted for his ability to draw major actors to his projects. “Because of his visual economy, strong direction of actors, vigorous storytelling and use of the camera to accent themes,” states Turner Classic Movies. “Lumet produced a body of work that could only be defined as extraordinary.”

One of his steady themes during his career has been the “fragility of justice and the police and their corruption,” according to Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film. He can deliver “powerhouse performances from lead actors,” and fine work from character actors and is today one of the foremost figures of New York moviemaking. His sensitivity to actors and to the rhythms of the city have made him “America’s longest-lived descendant of the 1950s Neorealist tradition and its urgent commitment to ethical responsibility.”

Lumet began as an off-Broadway director, then became a highly efficient TV director. His first movie was typical of his best work: a well-acted, tightly written, deeply considered “problem picture,” 12 Angry Men (1957). Since then, Lumet has divided his energies among other idealistic problem pictures along with literate adaptations of plays and novels, big stylish pictures, and New York-based black comedies. As a result of directing 12 Angry Men, he is also responsible for leading the first wave of directors who made a successful transition from TV to movies. For being one of the most reliable and dependable directors of the last half-century, in 2005 he received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for his “brilliant services to screenwriters, performers, and the art of the motion picture.”—Wikipedia

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MGeo

18Mar13

PART II ...the run of the entire film. I would be wont to leave John Cazale out of my praises, because this is his greatest role ever; moreso than Fredo. This is also the first film Chris Sarandon starred in and it is by far his most bizarre role...yet you completely buy it. I may be alone, but I think Sonny is the greatest character Pacino has ever played. Period. Him and Michael Corelone are tied in my book.

MGeo

18Mar13

PART I A complete and utter masterpiece. Truly one of the greatest films made in all the 1970s. This film further establishes that Pacino is one of the greatest actors who ever lived. I can barely think of film that is this complex, this interesting, and this exhaustively great. This is a film where the premise is so simple, yet there are so many layers and so many questions you find yourself asking throughout...

Andrea Rizzo Pinna

15Mar13

Trasformare una rapina in uno show televisivo. Lumet mette in risalto la finta moralità dei media, raccontando una storia avvincente e ricca di spunti riflessivi. Chissà perchè, il suo bersaglio è sempre la struttura del sistema sociale, rappresentata dagli uomini della legge. Un film che vuole fare la rivoluzione, ma che non dimentica di fare anche cinema.