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Dog Day Afternoon on DVD (1975)

Dog Day Afternoon cover art
Average rating: 75%
111128142067
3.5
from 3,419 members
 
Starring: Al Pacino, Charles Durning, James Broderick, John Cazale, Carol Kane, Chris Sarandon
Director: Sidney Lumet
Studio: WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time: 119 mins
Certificate: 15
Collections: 100 Top Thrillers
User collections: My top 10, The Greatest Crime Pictures of All Time, Slightly Odd, The Elusive, Pure Genius Brilliant Films, The very greatest films ever made., Into the depths - interesting films away from the blockbusters, Great films that you may have missed, 25 utterly phenomonal films, Films that HAVE to be watched
Genres: Drama
Languages: English
Hearing-impaired: English
Subtitles: Arabic, English
Released: 07/10/2002

Brief synopsis of Dog Day Afternoon

Before Peter Finch was 'mad as hell' in NETWORK, Sidney Lumet's scorching indictment of the American television industry, Al Pacino played an equally ferocious and fed-up bank robber in Lumet's classic film DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Pacino is heartbreakingly real as Sonny, a smart and tough if self-destructive Brooklyn tough whose plan to rob the local bank to fund his male lover's (Chris Sarandon) sex change goes absurdly wrong. Accompanied only by his doltish accomplice, Sal (John Cazale), Sonny resorts to kidnapping a handful of bank employees when he realizes that all the money had been removed before his arrival. As the lengthy August day drags on, Sonny and the hordes of local police, led by Sergeant Moretti (Charles Durning), make little progress, and eventually Sonny's wife and lover are brought to the scene. The crowd's sympathy is immediately captured by the charismatic Sonny, whose antagonism with the police is played out before an audience of millions, leading to an inevitably tragic finish.
Balancing suspense, violence, and humor, the film's depiction of a grand scale media event craftily dives from the political to the personal, evoking a piercing portrait of a single man and his devastating downward tumble into the cracks of the system that Lumet made a career of chronicling. DOG DAY AFTERNOON reunites Pacino with his SERPICO director Lumet, and stands as one of the finest films of the 1970s.

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Dog Day Afternoon - Feature
Before Peter Finch was "mad as hell" in NETWORK, Sidney Lumet's scorching indictment of the American televisio...
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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

This is a film about a bank robbery, the proceeds of which are needed to pay for a sex-change operation. Weird but apparently true — well, this is New York. From this material, Sidney Lumet creates a marvellous patchwork of a movie, cutting between the inept but passionate bank robbers (Al Pacino and John Cazale) whose bungled heist turns into a hostage situation, the corpulent cop leading the police siege (Charles Durning) and the mob that gathers outside the bank. It's an insane circus and you know that something, or someone, is going to blow a gasket. Pacino's performance (which earned him a fourth Oscar nomination) is a multilayered display and the whole picture seems infected by his jitters.

Rating of 3 
	  stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Recreation of a tragi-comic episode from the newspaper headlines; for half its length a fascinating and acutely observed film which then bogs itself down in a surplus of talk and excessive sentiment about homosexuality.

Time Out

At first sight, a film with large, self-conscious ambitions where a bank siege (the film is based on a real incident... Read more on www.timeout.com

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 4 stars

Noel Clay from Colchester, England , 29/10/2004

This film is the 'mostly true' story of Sonny Wortzik (in real life his name was John Wojtowicz), a married man who tries to rob a bank in order to pay for his male lovers sex change operation. If you're an Al Pacino fan you're in for a real treat -- this is certainly among his finest performances.

'Dog Day Afternoon' is a classic crime movie with some great comic moments in there as well. The fact that Sonny is gay isn't a huge issue in the film. He's just a man who's robbing a bank, and the film shows that his intentions or his sexuality aren't really as important as the media make them seem. On the whole he's portrayed as a sympathetic character, but there are hints of a darker side to his personality, such as the descriptions of him coming from his wife and lover.

From start to finish this is a very entertaining film, with plenty of memorable scenes and moments. If you're an Al Pacino fan or a fan of crime thrillers, odds are you'll love this.

  12 out of 13 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsMasterful

hamm from Lancashire , 20/02/2004

'Dog Day Afternoon' tells the true story of Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal (John Cazale). These two guys went into a bank in 1972 in Brooklyn to rob it. They could have been out in five minutes but things went terribly wrong. Instead of a robbery it became a hostage situation. And a media circus as well.

From the first second you will be totally in the movie. Afterwards I wanted to write my review and I was not able to remember how the music was, if there was any. It says something about how much the movie grabs you. The first part is very funny, I laughed a lot of times. The second part is more a drama and a thriller. Director Sidney Lumet creates a certain atmosphere for the movie that is just right with Pacino in one of his best performances is surrounded by a great supporting cast. He was nominated for an Oscar but didn't win it. One of the best performances from one of the greatest actors of all time. With any other actor this movie would be pretty good; with him it's truly memorable.

  6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsWhat a blinder!

BarryNorman , 06/11/2005

I saw this film for the first time ever today and thought that it was absolutely fantastic!

Bank robbery goes a bit wrong, pacino becomes an anti-hero i won't say any more just watch it!!!

  5 out of 7 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 starsLikeable

freelancemermaid from cheshire , 09/01/2005

Interesting twist on the usual heist movie scenario. Pacino of course is highly watchable. I very much enjoyed the 70s clothes, set, slang, etc.

  4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 3 starsHigh stakes farce

pantoonz from Berkshire , 06/01/2005

"Dog day afternoon" concerns the true story of a bungled bank robbery, undertaken by Sonny and Sal (Pacino and Cazale).

The tone of the movie is balanced carefully between farce and high stakes drama. A scene with Pacino, chatting casually with their captives, quickly moves to one of him screaming at a squad of armed police.

This conflict maintained my interest throughout the film despite the limitations of using just one location.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsThe Dog gets the bone

MerryPrankster801 from Lincs. , 07/08/2004

Coming during his purple patch in the mid-70's when Pacino could not put a foot wrong in terms of the roles he chose. "Dog Day Afternoon" is based on the true story of incompetent bank robbers Sonny and Sal who for a brief period at the start of the social unrest of the 1970's became cultural anti-heroes amongst the people of New York.

Pacino's character attempts to appear menacing but his genuine vulnerability breaks through on many occasions, as a result he always commands tremendous empathy from the viewer. The audience is also drawn to Sal's character, played by John Cazale, whose genuine simplicity is exposed, for all to see.

As a result, Pacino's character is grappling with maintaining a relationship with those in the bank, Sal, the police and the crowd outside.

The strain caused by this as the film develops is expertly shown by the deterioration of Sonny.

Predating, the media age in which the "cult of celebrity" reigns supreme by at least 15 years. The film expertly satires the media and its all consuming power which would extend over the coming decades.

The real reward in the vault is another top notch Pacino performance.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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