"Shouldn't let something like that spoil your fun"

Rating: 10/10 (8 August 2010)

Film adaptations of true events will inevitably get slammed from some quarters. In the case of Dog Day Afternoon it was attacked by its own lead subject John Wojtowicz (renamed Sonny Wortzik for the screen), who described it as "only 30% accurate". His gripes were mainly about portrayals of secondary characters such as his mother and first wife, as well as his belief that the film implies he sold out Sal – which it doesn't. But such is the nature of cinema – reality is a myriad of single events from a myriad of perspectives, without explicit beginnings, endings or crescendos. A movie, on the other hand, must tell a story.
And movies have to take a form. Dog Day Afternoon, oddly enough, often takes the form of a comedy. Whether this comes more from Frank Pierson's script or the many improvisations made during rehearsal I don't know, but either way it seems to originate from very absurdity of the situation. Although it's based on true events, it's like a "what if?" sketch. What if a naïve and essentially nice guy tries to pull off a bank robbery? You get situations like the robber asking the hostages if they need the bathroom. And of course, as any Charlie Chaplin fan knows, a comedy basis makes serious scenes even more poignant.
This is why Al Pacino's performance is so vital. Far more animated than he was in the Godfather movies, he displays both a knack for comic timing, deepened by the touching simplicity of his character. John Cazale too is almost childlike, speaking tough but acting timid, and this is by far the best of his half-dozen film roles. Chris Sarandon gives a sublimely naturalistic performance, for what is definitely a difficult part to get right. Penelope Allen is also excellent, full of the gutsy personality that makes her the key to the fraternization between the robbers and the hostages. Above all it's the sheer likability of these players as they present themselves here that enables us to laugh, cry, and be enthralled by their antics.
Dog Day Afternoon is at least faithful enough to real events that it mixes the public with the personal. After all, the real Sonny was not just some money-hungry hoodlum, and it was essential to balance the FBI operation and the media circus with the character's background and humanity. Who better to handle this balance than director Sidney Lumet. Lumet was already something of a specialist in movies confined to single locations (12 Angry Men, Murder on the Orient Express), and the way he approached these problems was to create different kinds of space within the limitations of the set. In Dog Day Afternoon we have everything from the grand scale outdoor shots, to simple group mid-shots, to the intimacy of the close-up. But there is far more variation going on here than simply how far the camera is from the action. There are, for example, close-ups which don't feel entirely private, with other characters seen in the background, and those which are totally personal, against plain backgrounds with no movement other than that of the actors being focused on. Even in some of the outdoor shots Lumet sometimes arranges things so that those thronging crowds are cut out of the shot. The greatest moment of genius is perhaps the conversation between Pacino and Sarandon. It begins with Sarandon amid loads of cops, and he is awkward and stilted. However as he eases up and the conversation becomes more personal, so too does the space around Sarandon. Sarandon has not gained privacy, but he has forgotten that he doesn't have it.
On a purely cinematic level, Dog Day Afternoon is a masterpiece. And yes, some small details had to be changed to make it that good a piece of storytelling. It is not a documentary. And as such a great work, the film has been loved by millions. We come away from it with the feeling that Sonny and his associates were misfits rather than villains, good in their intentions if misguided in their actions, and that the events of that day were a kind of social tragedy. John Wojtowicz, the real Sonny, could hardly have asked for a better tribute.