Dog Day Afternoon

Nowadays it's flat, but in its day it was a very conscious social satire in an unapologetically attractive take on bank robbery. It's incredible how films have swelled and got incredibly big inwardly over the past few decades. Here, the would-be subtle digressions into gay sexuality and political shenanigans are so blatant and simple in hindsight that it doesn't quite hold the viewer's attention, and when they do it is with a considerable smirk. Sidney Lumet can't be denied a certain authenticity and, more importantly, an effort to make everything fit together perfectly. One thing, however, hasn't changed at all in all that time until today: Al Pacino's acting. (03/12/2015)

An instruction video about how never under any circumstances to proceed during a bank robbery. Al Pacino excels in the main role, demonstrating all typical beginner’s mistakes. Mainly by completely outshining all the others with his performance. Which, in view of how interesting most characters are, is rather a shame; twice as much with respect to Cazale’s role. (08/06/2009)

I promise will never complain about my bad luck again... Sidney Lumet made a perfect crime drama about one not exactly ordinary bank robbery, that in certain moments is more like a comedy. The role of Sonny Wortzik is one of Al Pacino’s greatest creations ever. He gives a perfect performance of an absolute wreck desperately trying to get the situation under control. John Cazale as Sal is pleasantly inconspicuous and for the whole time it’s apparent that he is consumed by fear. And it seems that the guy at the end in the minibus truly was Lance Henriksen. The screenplay is flawless and goes to show that even such a classic plot like a bank robbery can be turned into something so “different". (29/10/2006)

You’ve just taken the money and suddenly a hundred police officers show up, it's hard to imagine a bigger setback when robbing a bank. Sidney Lumet uses this intriguing idea in the best possible way, collaborating with a stellar Al Pacino to create a thrilling and compelling story whose only drawback was that it was made in the same year as Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Otherwise, in addition to the Oscar for the screenplay, there would surely be an award for the director and also for Pacino, who gives a performance of a lifetime that makes you believe in him. Although it explores a theme used mostly in action films, there are only three shots in the entire film. That, however, doesn't detract from its quality or pace; on the contrary, it leaves even more space for the psychologically demanding situation in which everyone involved – hostages, perpetrators or police officers – find themselves. The whole thing is excellently shot, the atmosphere of the 70s is very much felt, full of discrimination and political affairs, and the viewer is tense until the end – will the robbers be caught or will they be killed? (28/02/2012)

Pacino turns in a great performance in a heist movie with a banal plot. Or am I, as a viewer, supposed to be thrilled by the twist when a young man in a bathrobe appears on the scene as his wife, for whose sex change Pacino is doing all of this? His real wife and especially his mother just complete the bizarre circle of characters that make this an unintentional comedy. The depiction of Brooklyn and the situation in the US at the time is praiseworthy, but as a human drama, this classic didn't impress me. (15/02/2021)