+10
Dog Day Afternoon
The 70’s were a good decade for Pacino. The man was literally on fire. He turned sin some of his best performances. It reads like a “best of” list of classic cinema.
This was before he started to over act as he got older.
Dog Day Afternoon is peak Pacino. He resists the urge to overact in this film, no small feat considering the subject was about a bank heist gone wrong.
Even when he screams “Attica! Attica!”, where I fully expected him to overact it wasn’t. Here he seems flustered as he tries to stay one step ahead of the police as he negotiates his conditions.
But really, even then he is outshined by Cazale.
Oh poor Cazale. Always cursed to turn in amazing performances but doomed to be be outshined by others. Here he does some of his best work. His career was cut too short by cancer.
And Chris Sarandon in his debut as Pacinos lover. He’s tired of the relationship he feels trapped in with him, detaining the abuse he suffered and the resulting suicide he attempts over Pacino.
Side note: I once had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Sarandon at a convention in Pittsburgh (same convention I once met Henry Wrinkler and Tom Savini). We spoke about his time in films and he first bumped me due to having really bad wrists. Nice guy. I had told him I planned on some day watching DDA.
Well, mission accomplished.
What we have here though is a film that hinges solely on its acting, and not much else. The suspense is almost nonexistent. Perhaps because they treat the hostages so well.
But that’s not to say it isn’t any good. I actually quite liked it. Just not as much as I had hoped.