I find it a little odd, given my general affection for 70s antihero sort of movies, that I somehow until somewhat recently hadn’t seen too many of Al Pacino’s movies from that era. De Niro, Hackman, or Nicholson? Sure. Pacino? Outside of the first two Godfather movies, not so much. These days, I know Pacino as a guy who can bellow quite well, and I generally pay a bit of attention when he makes something that doesn’t require much of that.
Will I got the bellowing or the quiet Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon? Only one way to find out.
Opening text reveals that the following movie is based on an actual incident from 1972. At a small bank in the middle of New York City, three men enter separately looking to rob the place. One quickly loses his nerve and leaves as soon as the man who seems to be the leader, Sonny (Pacino), pulls a rifle out of a long package. The other fellow is Sal (the late, great John Cazale), a quieter man who is there mostly to support his friend. However, things seem to go wrong almost immediately, in such a manner that made me wonder if the movie was something of a comedy. Sonny knows a lot of bank protocol (he claims he worked for a bank for a time), but things still seem to be going wrong. There isn’t much money in the vault, the security guard is clearly having health issues, and the tellers seem inclined to talk back a bit. Oh, and the cops show up and surround the place.
What follows is something like a look at what is basically a media circus. Sonny has a number of demands, and the thing he needs the money for…well, it doesn’t come out until the halfway point, but it’s somewhat famous for this movie. I won’t say what it is, but let’s say I figure its something that probably didn’t age well. However, Sonny’s antics have a way of drawing a crowd. His premonitions of death aside, he’s smart enough to hold onto his hostages as makes more demands, playing up the crowd assembled outside and the TV cameras covering the event, and just generally making a spectacle of himself. Can he get away with a crime like this with dozens of cops and a few FBI agents surrounding the bank?
Maybe. The fun comes from seeing if he will.
Yeah, this was awesome. Pacino is magnetic in this movie, a man of constant energy, a man who seems to both understand his situation and still somehow think he’s getting away with it at times while at others a nagging voice seems to be saying he won’t. He isn’t out to hurt anybody, but he likewise wants to somehow get away with the crime. His actions have a ripple effect throughout the movie. The head teller seems utterly unimpressed by him, and other bank employees seem to be enjoying being in the limelight themselves. Sonny’s mother, estranged wife, and a disapproving father all get dragged into the mess, as well as the reason for Sonny to rob the bank in the first place.
Credit to director Sidney Lumet for putting together a movie that at times looked like satire, at times played like a crime thriller, and at times was something of a love story. I was expecting the bellowing Pacino and got the quiet one instead. Sure, he does his fair share of shouting, but the performance is ultimately a quiet and subtle one. True, there are parts that probably didn’t age well, but overall, this is still a great movie, one that fits right into the wheelhouse of movies I like best of 70s antihero flicks.
Grade: A
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