DDA and Media Lit Skills

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2012)

The bank is where Sonny can get the money for Leon, where all his problems can be solved in just 10 minutes but instead turns into his long 12 hour demise. Sonny just wants to make his lover and family happy so he does stuff he wouldn't normally do. When Sheldon takes over for Moretti, it signals a change in the game for Sonny and that he will probably not make it out alive. When Sonny starts to yell "Attica" to the crowd he gets them on his side and makes him a hero for standing up to the police. What does Attica mean though? We gather that is where many people got shot by police outside of a bank robbery/hostage situation, but we don't know Sonny's connection to it. This tale of a quick robbery gone wrong is very good. You think that the robbery won't take very long but then there's a compilation to it and then everything goes south for the robbers. This is an element that is common in many police type movies and how Sal reacts to being trapped in a corner is good. He makes his stand like all other bad guys but in the end he loses. (Evaluation) There are many different groups in the film. The hostages are interesting because most of them are women and then there are two older men. Mulvaney and the security guard are also a group because they have medical conditions and are let go by Sonny, but Mulvaney chooses to stay. The duo of Sal and Sonny and then Moretti and Sheldon is another group. Sonny doesn't want to kill anyone while he is robbing the bank, but when it is revealed he is a Vietnam War vet, it throws you off guard. It is then revealed that he has a family but also a male lover so you don't know what to think. He does not seem like a violent man but when pushed to the brink he will do whatever it takes to make his family happy. All hostage situations end up with violence, therefore Dog Day Afternoon was going to end with violence. While gay rights have been taken to a whole new level in today's society, you don't think of gays being open in the 1970's. The fact that Sal goes from a normal husband in a straight couple with a family to having a gay lover and the robbing a bank to help him get his sex change operation, many different fronts are presented. Sonny is a family man, first and foremost, and he will do whatever to help them. Even when it involves possibly going back to jail or dying, he is willing to put it all on the line for Leon, even though he is married with kids.