Dog Day Afternoon
DOG DAY AFTERNOONÂ (15)
D:Â Sidney Lumet
Artists Entertainment (Martin Bregman &
Martin Elfand)
USA 🇺🇸 1975
130 mins
Crime/Drama
W:Â Frank Pierson
DP:Â Victor J. Kemper
Ed:Â Dede Allen
PD:Â Charles Bailey
Cos:Â Anna Hill Johnstone
Al Pacino (Sonny
Wortzik), John Cazale (Sal Naturale), Charles Durning (Sgt. Eugene Moretti), Chris Sarandon (Leon Shermer), Sully Boyar
(Mulvaney), Penny Allen (Sylvia), James Broderick (Agent Sheldon), Carol Kane (Jenny), Susan Peretz (Angie Wortzik), Beulah Garrick (Margaret)
Based on a remarkable true story of a bank
robbery gone wrong in the summer of 1972, Dog Day Afternoon is a brilliant crime drama which features one of Al Pacino's all time best performances. He plays Sonny Wortzik, an
incompetent Brooklyn bank robber who plans to use the money to fund his gay lover's gender change operation.
A few liberties are taken with the facts,
mostly to make it's lead character more likeable and sympathetic, but using smoke and mirrors to manipulate the facts doesn't do this movie and harm or detract from the dramatic
story at the centre. Frank Pierson's Oscar-winning screenplay is both witty, touching and respectful to it's (then) controversial subject, handled well by Sidney Lumet's
professional direction.
Without a doubt, Dog Day Afternoon is amongst
the best films of the 1970's.
10/10
