The Vidiot Reviews...

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2016)

Dog Day Afternoon
The reason dogs aren't allowed into banks is that they chew on the exploding dye packs.
Thankfully, the canine reference in the title of this crime-thriller is seasonal.
During the dog days of summer 1972, first-time felon Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) and his equally inexperienced partner Sal Naturale (John Cazale) hold up a Brooklyn bank.
But the easy in–and-out gets complicated right off the bat as their third gunman bails, the depository's coffers are depleted, and an impromptu fire alerts authorities.
Now, the hapless hostage-takers must negotiate with Sergeant Moretti (Charles Durning) in order to get the funding for Sal's girlfriend's transgender surgery.
A tense, but tongue-in-cheek, hostage situation movie inspired by actual events, this unusually timely caper redefined the dog-eared genre through its use of plausible characters motived by plausible, yet peculiar, means.
Incidentally, the old acting adage about working with kids and dogs is the opposite for terrorists.
Green Light
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