Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)
Sidney Lumet is one of my very favourite directors. All movies of his that I’ve seen have been excellent, not a stinker among them. He has range, too. He has covered just about every genre there is, and he’s a master at his craft.
Here we have a movie based on true events. Al Pacino is Sonny, who along with his friend Sal (John Cazale) decide to rob a bank. I won’t tell you why, although you might know already. The plan is to get in and out of the bank in a matter of minutes, but someone tips the police, and they get stuck in a hostage standoff for hours on end.
The movie takes place almost entirely inside the bank, with Sonny and his interactions with the police (lead by Charles Durning) driving the plot forwards.
I think this is one of Pacino’s very finest performances. He’s raw as you’d expect, and he shouts a lot. But at the same time, he’s really gentle, and obviously confused and frustrated. It’s a very powerful performance.
I liked the first half better than the second. Sure, when the media circus kicks off, there is more action and the movie gets a little sweatier, but I really enjoyed those first frustrated moments inside the bank, when neither Sonny nor the audience really know what’s going on.
Lumet, as always, has a keen eye for detail, and his camera both swoops around the bank’s exterior yet stays close to the faces of the robbers and the hostages.
While today heist movies are a dime a dozen, this is one of the better classics which stands the test of time really well. It’s tight, it’s furious, and it kept me interested throughout. This is a movie I can recommend.
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I too love Sidney Lumet’s work, but even though I love this film, I still don’t rate it quite as high as Serpico from two years before. The detachment in Pacino’s face, his sometimes furious, sometimes placid acting in certain scenes is remeniscent of him in The Godfather. Just such a fine actor and director combo. I watched a documentary the other day where Lumet said that he’d gotten the perfect take of Pacino on the phone to Sarandon, but asked him to do a second take feeling exhausted and spent. Magical directing.