As real as it gets

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2020)

"Biography" is a genre tag that generally indicates a story of dry fact and dull predictability, but Dog Day Afternoon convinced me otherwise. Having seen the relatively recent Joker (2019), a few minutes of digging brought me to a clip of Todd Philips citing this movie as an inspiration for his own script, and that was all I needed to hear.
Starting out with a montage of 70's New York that shifts from grand panorama to unbecoming filth, Lumet clearly leaves no stones unturned when it comes to revealing the candid truth. Only the first minute or so of the film is accompanied by a score and the rest is a saga of silence, giving a documentary feel to the gripping events that follow. Portraying a true story is admittedly a challenge, and despite protests from the real life "Sonny" concerning certain aspects of the narrative, the story we see succeeds to a great extent in encapsulating the truth of the actual incident while also retaining an engagingly dramatic tone. Especially commendable is the handling of the homosexual theme of the event, which in the period of its release, was a much controversial topic.
Taking the viewer through a wide range of emotion, the story evolves from an almost goofy comedy to a chilling tragedy, with the claustrophobia of the closed bank space bringing out the peculiarities of each character. Pacino's performance as Sonny is a masterpiece of method acting, each nervous twitch a measured decision on the part of the actor, bringing us ever closer to the complex character he portrays. Cazale maintains a mostly mute presence, yet a disturbing sense of determination and fear shines through his aura of silence.
With outstanding acting, perceptive directing and a surprising story, this is a movie that belongs at the top of any crime/biography genre listing.