Hard to Believe It's a True Story

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2014)

Obviously for movies based on true stories, certain liberties are taken to make the experience that much more thrilling. But for Dog Day Afternoon it didn't seem like many truths were twisted at all. In fact, for the most part it stayed true to the source material. But to me it's still hard to believe all of this happened. Pacino and Lumet make a great actor director combination in this dark comedy about a bank robbery gone bad.
To me, crime dramas are often better when it's all taken seriously as most of the time lives are in danger. It just bothers me a bit when the crowd is chanting and cheering for Sonny when he is holding a handful of people at gunpoint. I wonder if that's exactly how it happened back in 1972. I tend to like crime films like The Town and Gone Baby Gone much more because kidnapping and murder are things that people should take seriously.
Besides that, Dog Day Afternoon is a good film. The supporting cast is flawless. It was also interesting seeing Fredo and Michael Corleone in the same movie again. It's truly unfortunate that Cazale didn't live longer. Each of the five films he completed were masterpieces. So with a few minor complaints here and there it comes out to be a pretty solid movie, although I don't think it needed to be a full two hours.
+Pacino & Lumet
+Cazale is dynamite in one of his few roles
+Script
-Can we take this situation a bit more seriously?
-Length
7.4/10