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Dog Day Afternoon



Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Frank Pierson (screenplay), P.F. Kluge (short story)
Cast: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penelope Allen
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama

I've known about this movie for years but I've never gotten around to watching it, until recently...I liked it too and was blown away by the first 30 minutes, it was like 'you are there' during a botched bank robbery. I laughed too, I don't know if anyone else found a lot of the film humorous but I did.

Al Pacino is great of course, so was Charles Durning as the Police Chief. Those two made the movie. Sal (John Cazale) the other bank robbery was interesting as we never really learn much about him, and yet I could tell he had his own back story, which we learn only a little about, which keeps him a mystery.

I didn't know anything about the actual robbery before the movie, so when we see Sonny's other wife, I did a double take! I wasn't sure at first what was suppose to be happening. The actor who played his wife Chris Sarandon was extremely good. I looked him up on IMDB and that's a link, damn! He's done a lot of movie roles where I've seen him but never knew his name.

Loved the on scene street locations, so much nicer than in a studio and it allows a huge exterior set with lots of extras! It looked great and the ending while not a surprise, happened so fast that it was shocking.

I do wish the film was 30 minutes shorter, I did find myself getting restless during the middle of the film. But overall a strong movie.