Based upon a real-life story that happened in the early seventies in which the Chase Manhattan Bank in Flatbush, Brooklyn, was held siege by a gay bank robber determined to steal enough money for his male lover to undergo a sex change operation. On a hot summer afternoon, the First Savings Bank of Brooklyn is held up by Sonny and Sal, two down-and-out characters. Although the bank manager and fem... ale tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds that there's actually nothing much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Police Captain Moretti, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city's entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees' safety.
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What a blinder!
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!!!
Dog Day Afternoon
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 ch...
Dog Day Afternoon
At first sight, a film with large, self-conscious ambitions where a bank siege (the film is based on a real incident...
Dog Day Afternoon was the second collaboration between director Sydney Lumet and Al Pacino, coming two years after Serpico, and it racked up an array of firsts. This was the first mainstream American film to deal with transgender issues without sniggering behind its hand. It was the first film to deal with a televised hold-up, and it was among the first films to cast a major lead actor as explicitly bisexual, even if the proposed kiss between Pacino and John Cazale never quite came about.
The story, though based on real events, has the lurid quality of something cooked up by Paul Morrissey for Joe Dallesandro in Flesh, Trash or Heat. But Lumet, ...
