I once saw an art exhibit about the robbery.

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2006)

Hot off "The Godfather" movies and "Serpico", Al Pacino got another great role in "Dog Day Afternoon", also based on a true story. Lovable, manic sap Sonny Wortzik (Pacino) and his uptight friend Sal (John Cazale) try to rob a bank one day, but it turns out to be a totally lousy robbery, with no one actually knowing what to do. Before too long, the whole thing is a media circus, at which point it comes out why they were robbing the bank in the first place: Sonny wanted to get some money for his gay lover's sex change.
Sidney Lumet directed this during his prime, when he also directed "Serpico", "Murder on the Orient Express", and "Network". Like in "Do the Right Thing", one gets the feeling of New York on a hot summer day, when tensions run highest. As in "Bonnie and Clyde", we root for the outlaws, and against the police (Sonny even gets the people on his side by shouting "Attica! Attica!" at one point). As for the debate over whether Al Pacino was snubbed by the Oscars...well, at least Jack Nicholson won for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"; and Al Pacino eventually won for "Scent of a Woman". But this is one of his best.
Oh yes, and I once saw an art exhibit about the robbery. It was shown in a museum in San Francisco. It certainly looks like it was big news when it happened.