Dog Day Afternoon: Review By slysnide

The Brooklyn bank robbery of August 22, 1972 should have taken 10 minutes. 4hrs later, the bank was like a circus sideshow. 8hrs later it was the hottest thing on live T.V. 12hrs later, it was all history. And 3yrs later, it became a major Oscar winning motion picture starring Al Pacino & Charles Durning.

A streetwise crook that calls himself "Sonny" shanghais his ditsy friend that he calls "Sal" into robbing a bank to stale off boredom, without any planning, premeditation, or experience of any kind. Once the robbery is in progress, Sonny's messages about the prison system earns him cheers from the spectators and jeers from the cops, while his lacking of being of any real serious threat has the hostages practicing dance moves and fraternizing with Sal.

This a comedic spin on "Inside Man," save for 2 things: 1) this film was released 31yrs earlier, and 2) it was an all too true story.

As for any crooks planning to rob a bank, then this film shows you exactly how NOT to go about doing it. Such as turning the blame on the cops, and demanding both buses, and an airplane with unarmed pilots for a one way flight to Jamaica.

John Cazale plays the accomplice Sal, who comes off as being sweet, and smart, in that he knows that this was a stupid idea, and warms up to the hostages quickly. He leaves all the big decisions up to Sonny, and hangs out with the relatively unworried hostages, advising them not to smoke in order to preserve their very own: "Temple of the Lord," aka: their body. And to top off the character, he only delivers a few scant lines throughout the 124 minute film.

Al Pacino is a knockout as the mastermind Sonny, who comes off as the ultra paranoid crook that only ACTS like everything's alright, so as to keep his quiet accomplice Sal and the hostages calm. He seems to have more confidence when challenging Moretti, and loves the cheers of the crowd. It even earned Al Pacino a best actor nomination for the Oscars.

Charles Durning delivers one of his most memorable roles as Detective Moretti, who quickly gets extremely fed-up with Sonny's antics, and can easily play off of Sal's innocence, and weaknesses, but he can't for the life of him get through to the hostages. He knows that ordering the ever present S.W.A.T. team to storm the bank is a bad idea, given the state of the hostages and the crooks, yet he can't keep his wits about him with Sonny's intimidations, his harmless threats, and crazy outbursts. Fans of his roles will love him as this character!

The visuals aren't that stunning however, and the camera doesn't jerk around as they sometimes do in other Heist films, since this feels like it was shot entirely on a dolly track, but it doesn't hurt the film, given that the lack of intensity called for it to be a "dolly track movie."

This film is definitely a keeper, and memorable as one of the most unexpected crime/comedy dramas of the 20th Century. Mostly cuz it's a near exact replication of the real events, but would still be cherished if it was an original piece.

A must see for fans of the heist genre!!!