Certainly not a 'dog's dinner'

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2017)

Perhaps if you sat down to watch 'Dog Day Afternoon' you may come away claiming that it's totally unbelievable to be a good film. I might have done if it weren't for the fact that I was alerted to it being based on a true story by someone else. It's about a bank robbery in the seventies that was carried out in broad daylight. It's safe to say that it would be a pretty bland film if everything went according to plan. However, in this case, nothing went according to plan and it was a total mess from beginning to end. That's what makes it such a damn good film (well, that and Al Pacino).
Pacino plays the lead robber (well, out of the two of them) who managed to bungle his way through raiding a bank and taking hostages at the same time. Of course his ineptitude means that the police have plenty of time to show up and Pacino is forced to hold out in the bank with little idea of how to escape a secure building surrounded by marksmen. The film clearly rests on his shoulders and, as the majority of his performances show, he can more than handle the responsibility (which is probably more than can be said for his character!). He clearly enjoyed himself on set and much of the dialogue ended up being improvised as he almost becomes institutionalised over the period of a matter of hours, before almost succumbing to the brief stint as 'minor celebrity' that his dodgy deed affords him. There are a few twists and turns which I won't go into for fear of giving plot points away, although I will say that it's an interesting commentary on the issues of the time and would be equally interesting if something like this happened today - I'm guessing plenty of #bankheists would be posted from bemused onlookers.
If you're in any way a fan of bank robbery/heist movies, or just a fan of Al Pacino then you really have to watch this. It is a little long and may have benefitted from a harsher editor here and there, but apart from that, it stands the test of time.