Dog Day Afternoon

1975 crime drama

Rating: 19/20

Plot: Based on a true story, this is about a guy with terrible hair trying to rob a bank with the help of two other guys with terrible hair. One accomplice drops out, and Sonny and Sal wind up stuck in the bank with a handful of hostages while an army of policeman and a circus of media people collect outside.

This movie contains product placement for Tab.

Here's a question: Why does Sal have an ink pen in his pocket? I know that I ask a lot of questions on the blog and that nobody really takes them seriously, but I'm requiring an answer this time. Watch this movie again, notice Sal's ink pen, and then tell me why it's there.

Every time I see John Cazale, I'm reminded that John Cazale once existed and what a resume the guy put together in his short career. I guess if you're going to act in only five movies in your life, make them The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter. Here, he sadly informs some hostages, "I don't want the cancer." He's so good here, completely overshadowed by everything that Pacino is doing but overshadowed appropriately. He gets his moments, and I'd even argue that he deserves a lifetime achievement award simply for how he answers a question in this with "Wyoming." And you can argue with me on that only if you can tell me why he has an ink pen in his pocket. And that hair! The coiffures of this trio of bank robbers have to be at the top of the list of nominees for a Criminal Hair Hall of Fame if there ever is such a thing. And what can you say about Al Pacino here? I think this is one of the greatest performances ever, just wall-to-wall perfect from that first moment you see him intensely concentrating at the beginning of the movie to the final shot. It's the kind of performance that makes me, just a guy sitting on his couch watching the movie, physically exhausted. Pacino saps your energy as the movie goes, just wears you out watching him. Watch him unleash his gun; he's manic from the get-go which makes every single minute the character's on the screen completely unpredictable. And that's regardless of whether or not you've seen the movie before. Pacino's got so many gesticulations in this movie that mean absolutely nothing, and they're all a bunch of little pieces that add up to one perfect performance. And those eyes! God, those eyes are electrifying! I love this story, every weird little detail. The gritty urban imagery backed by that Elton John track sets it up well, and Lumet's allowing the actors to improvise keeps this natural and just makes it feel so fresh nearly thirty years after it was made. And what prescience! Or have people--the media and the masses of humanity who just want to be part of something--always been like that? This is as gripping, shocking, darkly comic, and intense an experience as it must have been back in 1975 and one of those movies you just want to watch again and again while shotgunning Tabs straight from the bottle.