DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975, USA, 125m, 15) ****½
Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
dist. Warner Bros.; pr co. Warner Bros. / Artists Entertainment Complex; d. Sidney Lumet; w. Frank Pierson (based upon a magazine article by P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore); pr. Martin Bregman, Martin Elfand; ph. Victor J. Kemper (Technicolor | 1.85:1); ed. Dede Allen; pd. Charles Bailey; ad. Douglas Higgins.
cast: Al Pacino (Sonny), John Cazale (Sal), Charles Durning (Moretti), Chris Sarandon (Leon), Penelope Allen (Sylvia), Sully Boyar (Mulvaney), Susan Peretz (Angie), James Broderick (Sheldon), Lance Henriksen (Murphy), Carol Kane (Jenny), Beulah Garrick (Margaret), Sandra Kazan (Deborah), Estelle Omens (Edna), Marcia Jean Kurtz (Miriam), Amy Levitt (Maria), Gary Springer (Stevie), John Marriott (Howard), Philip Charles MacKenzie (Doctor), Dick Anthony Williams (Limo Driver), Judith Malina (Mother).
Sidney Lumet’s blackly comic thriller was based on a true story. On 22 August 1972, inexperienced criminal Sonny Wortzik (Pacino) leads a bank robbery in Brooklyn. Things quickly go wrong, and a hostage situation develops. As Sonny and his accomplice, Sal Naturile (Cazale), try desperately to remain in control, a media circus develops and the FBI arrives, increasing the tension. When Sonny’s motivations behind the robbery become apparent the standoff moves toward its inevitable conclusion. Pacino delivers a dynamite performance as the jittery Sonny, perfectly capturing the seemingly improvisational nature of the heist and subsequent negotiations with the law. Cazale is also excellent as Sonny’s out-of-depth accomplice. The chaotic street scenes, with the watching crowd warming to Sonny and cheering him on, are well handled by Lumet. The film does become a little overextended in its final third, as night falls, and in protracted exchanges between Sonny and his ‘wife’ and family, but the hostage scenes inside the bank are superbly written and performed making this one of the most memorable films of its type.
AA: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Frank Pierson)
AAN: Best Picture (Martin Bregman, Martin Elfand); Best Actor in a Leading Role (Al Pacino); Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Chris Sarandon); Best Director (Sidney Lumet); Best Film Editing (Dede Allen)
