"So you rob a bank, but keep your body pure. Is that it?"

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2016)

The movie is as surreal today as it was watching it forty years ago when it first came out. Nominally a crime drama, the film in a lot of ways is a comedy without trying to be. All you need to see is Sonny (Al Pacino) fumble the gift box hiding his rifle, and you know that this is a pair of would-be bank robbers who are in way over their head. Sonny even needs to take guff from head teller Sylvia (Penelope Allen) who chastises him for not having a plan!
What's even crazier is that this was based on a true story. Just for the heck of it, I looked up the 'real' Sonny, John Wojtowicz, the bank robber who inspired the movie. The photo of him posted on Wikipedia bears an amazingly strong resemblance to Pacino, something I wasn't quite expecting. Wojtowicz, before he died, stated that the movie was only about thirty per cent accurate, but did praise Pacino's characterization of him, and Chris Sarandon's performance as his gay lover, called Leon in the story.
One thing about the movie for anyone who grew up in or around New York City during the era, it's a great time capsule reminder of the way things used to be. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are visible in a quick scan of the city skyline, and I did more than a double take at the fifty cent toll on one of the city bridges in the picture. Even WOR Radio is still going strong using the same 710 broadcast frequency.
Sonny's partner in crime at the First Brooklyn Savings Bank was portrayed by John Cazale in a greatly understated but pivotal role. He was the focus of the quote in my summary line, admonished by a bank teller after he stated that she shouldn't smoke because 'the body is the Temple of the Lord'. The story is full of individual quirks like that, making it one of the most unusual crime capers you're likely to experience in a movie. Cazale unfortunately died of cancer at the age of forty two shortly after this film was completed. Having only appeared in five feature films before passing away, he holds the unusual distinction of portraying characters in two different movies who are shot in the head, once from the front, and once from behind ("Godfather II").