The Dog Days of the 1970's

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2011)

IMDb Top 250: 180
Dog Day Afternoon is a unique film. It's a heist movie, but a special kind of heist movie. There are no gritty stand-offs; this is a smart, tell-it-like-it-was kind of film, and it can seems a little silly at times. That's because it actually was silly at times. The summary almost reads off like the start of a joke: 'So a gay man walks into a bank...' In real life, Sonny (real name John) robbed a bank to pay for his lover's sex change operation. I won't spoil anymore, because spoiling the truth is spoiling the movie.
The direction is perfect. The tone of the film is almost light-hearted: Sonny fumbles his gun, one crook cracks... it reminds me of Goodfellas in a sense that while not being funny, you can't help but smile.
A big part of this is Sonny. Al Pacino, in one of his best (unfortunately underrated) roles, play the rookie bank robber AMAZINGLY. When you look at great actors, it's easy to say "Oh yeah, he is the character, he's real good" but here it's incredible. His eyes, facial expressions, the way he walks and talks, its an absolute sell. You feel for him, all he wants is to help someone he loves but things just went to #%@*. He's the best part of the film.
Everyone else does their job, but are unfortunately in the same movie as Al Pacino. Sal isn't a lovable guy, he's kind of dumb (Wyoming) and a follower. He could've been fleshed out a little more.
One thing of interest is the crowd. If you are like me and like to know NOTHING going into your films, skip this paragraph. If you've done even a little reading, you know Sonny is gay. I did not, which is why it was a little surprising, but then not: he subtly conveys it throughout the film. I found it interesting to see the crowd's love of Sonny before the reveal, including the small things like flipping off the officers, as well as cheering for him. But after they learn, there's more subtle movements: you can here "He's a queer?" in an offensive tone, as well as see members of the crowd doing a "package-grab" gesture in the background as Sonny pats down the FBI agent. Seeing this in 2011, it's an interesting time capsule, seeing the social norms of the 70's towards a gay man. He's a hero if he's straight, but just a gay man if he's gay.
Dog Day Afternoon is a really good film, highlighted by great directing and a very strong lead that makes everyone weak in comparison. It's also a time capsule to when things were different, in the long-ago time of... the 70's. 8.3/10