Review of Dog Day Afternoon (1975) by Ashley H — 11 Jul 2015

It's nigh impossible to think of this movie without one word ringing like a Church Bell inside your head over and over: Attica! Attica! Attica! Shouted relatively early on during its running time, it is arguably the most deeply resonant element from a movie made way back when the heady optimism of the 60s Hippie era was dead and buried.

In a decade when the common man was at a loss at every step, our main character Sonny, played with all with the right notes by Hollywood heavyweight Al Pacino, is the embodiment of that misfortune, and along with his hapless partner Sal, a very understated John Cazale, robs a bank in broad daylight, and things seem doomed from the get-go.

Sidney Lumet crafts a movie which is funny, suspenseful, claustrophobic, and constantly keeps you guessing which way it's going to swing. Pacino is electrifying as the leading man who goes from petty thief to folk hero in record time, and you can see why the masses would love such a character.

One of the primary strengths of the movie is that we see the action from both sides: The robbers and the authorities, and are constantly forced to question who are the 'good' guys and who are the 'bad', and if such a line can be so clearly drawn.

The movie opens with a frenetic energy, and if it could sustain that throughout the film it would be mind-blowing. Alas, the film begins to drag as it becomes evident there isn't enough story or action to fill its rather excessive length, and so we are forced to endure some unnecessarily long scenes and even longer exchanges of dialogue.

It does get fairly boring, but the positives are just too good to ignore. The first half of the film alone is worth the price of admission. The second half, not so much.