Dog Day Afternoon Blu-ray

Al Pacino plays a ferocious and fed-up bank robber in Lumet's classic film DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Balancing suspense, violence, and humor, the film's depiction of a grand-scale media event craftily dives from the political to the personal, evoking a piercing portrait of a man and his devastating downward tumble as seen through the media circus that Lumet made a career of chronicling. Pacino is heartbreakingly real as Sonny, a smart yet self-destructive Brooklyn tough whose plan to rob the local bank to fund his male lover's (Chris Sarandon) sex change goes absurdly wrong. Accompanied only by his doltish accomplice, Sal (John Cazale), Sonny realizes that all the money had been removed before his arrival, and decides to kidnap a handful of bank employees instead. As the lengthy August day drags on, Sonny and hordes of local police, led by Sergeant Moretti (Charles Durning), make little progress, and eventually Sonny's wife and lover are brought to the scene. The crowd's sympathy is immediately captured by the charismatic Sonny, whose antagonism with the police is played out before an audience of millions, leading to an inevitably tragic finish.

Theatrical release: September 21, 1975. Filmed on location in New York City. In real life, Pacino's character, Sonny Wortzik, was serving a 20-year federal prison sentence while the film was being made.

Dog Day Afternoon Quotes/Excerpts:

"He wants to know when you'll be through."--Jenny (Carol Kane), repeating to Sonny (Al Pacino) what her husband is asking her on the phone as he's robbing the bank "No, I don't want to be paid, I don't need to be paid. Look, I'm here with my partner and nine other people, see. And we're dying, man. You know? You're going to see our brains on the sidewalk, they're going to spill our guts out. Now, are you going to show that on television? Have all your housewives look at that? Instead of AS THE WORLD TURNS? I mean, what do you got for me? I want something for that."--Sonny "Attica! Attica!"--Sonny to the crowds outside the bank

Dog Day Afternoon Reviews:

4 stars out of 5 -- "Pacino gives one of the performances of his career....Lumet's gritty 1970s landmark remains one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to deal with gay and transsexual characters in a relatively unsensational manner..." -- Stephen Dalton, Uncut

"DOG DAY AFTERNOON swarms with energy, excitement and drama." -- Danny Richelieu, Widescreen Review

"The combination of simmering tension, comedy and pathos is adroitly handled by the director and his excellent cast." -- Matthew Leyland, Sight and Sound

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