Movie Review: Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Title: Dog Day Afternoon
Release Date: September 21, 1975
Director: Sidney Lumet
Production Company: Artists Entertainment Complex | Warner Bros. Pictures
Summary/Review:

It’s closing time at a Brooklyn bank when Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) and his quiet colleague Sal Naturile (John Cazale) enter with rifles and declare a robbery is in progress.  Turns out that most of the cash was already picked up that day, and before they can make off with the small amount of money on hand, the cops arrive.  And so the poorly planned bank robbery turns into a completely improvised hostage situation.  Sonny agonizes over negotiating with the New York police and FBI for a jet out of the country while also trying to meet the needs of the hostages. A large crowd gathers to watch and the incident turns into a media circus (not unlike Ace in the Hole) that Sonny, some of the hostages, and even the guy who delivers the pizza all embrace.

Over the course of the movie we learn that Sonny is married to a transgender woman Leon (Christopher Sarandon) and Sonny is robbing the bank to get the money to pay for Leon’s gender-affirming surgery, something Leon never asked for.  In fact, it looks like Sonny and Leon’s relationship is on the skids.  The movie is surprisingly sensitive to LGBTQ issues for the 1970s.  Even the cops seem mostly matter-of-fact to this revelation about Sonny and shoot dirty looks at the one cop who chuckles during Leon’s story.

For much of the film, Sonny faces off with NYPD detective Eugene Moretti (Charles Durning) who seems to be a sensible but unable to keep control over the sprawling multi-agency action outside the bank.  He spends a lot of time just yelling at the more trigger-happy cops to back off.  Sonny is able to play up the anti-police sentiment of the era with his famous “Attica” chant hyping up the gathered crowds. Late in the film FBI Agent Sheldon (James Broderick, whose resemblance to George W. Bush I couldn’t get over) takes a less compassionate approach to dealing with Sonny that leads to the film’s ultimate tragedy.

Apart from great acting across the board by the leads and the ensemble, this movie is well-scripted.  It’s often funny but carries the gravitas of the more serious issues as well.  There are also some great cinematic elements such as the montage of everyday life in New York that begins the film, or a sequence of quick cuts showing people reacting to the one time a gun is fired within the bank. This is one of those movies that was on TV a lot when I was young, and I don’t recall if I ever watched it all the way through.  I’m glad I’ve watched it now because I can’t emphasize enough how good a movie it is.  Dog Day Afternoon would also make a good companion to The Taking of Pelham One Two Three for a double feature of ensemble crime dramas in 1970s New York.

Rating: ****1/2