Claim: Dog Day Afternoon stars John Cazale.

Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 American crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet , written by Frank Pierson and produced by Martin Bregman and Martin Elfand . The film stars Al Pacino , John Cazale , Charles Durning , Chris Sarandon , Penelope Allen , James Broderick , Lance Henriksen and Carol Kane . The title refers to the sultry `` dog days '' of summer .   The film was inspired by P. F. Kluge 's article `` The Boys in the Bank '' , which tells a story of a similar robbery of a Brooklyn bank by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturale on August 22 , 1972 . This article was published in Life in 1972 .   The film received critical acclaim upon its September 1975 release by Warner Bros. , some of which referred to its anti-establishment tone . Dog Day Afternoon was nominated for several Academy Awards and Golden Globe awards , and won one Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay . In 2009 , the film was deemed `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry .