Tarde de perros

I've watched this film for the third time in a few years last night. Instead of writing a straight review, I'd like to jot down ten thoughts just off the top of my head concerning this exquisite movie:

1) Watching this film will change forever your perception of the bank heist genre, making you question the contrived cinematic conventions these films usually make use of.

2) The source of this film's paradoxical and/or farcical elements spring from life itself, not from film or pre-existing cinematic conventions. Sometimes, the absurdities of life are so great, they dwarf those included in any form of fiction. Without even trying to make that point, this film captures that concept beautifully.

3) Its tone in relation to the homosexual theme is ahead of its time. In fact it's ahead of OUR time, even, in hardly making an issue out of it at all - it just IS.

4) It captures the climate of the 70s in a manner so sober, you'll remember its unshowy yet authentic feel forever.

5) Lumet's film brings to life the concept of the distorting lens of the media and how different groups with different agendas will turn an outlaw into a hero, with far more efficiency than Oliver Stone's brash, bloated, childish and repetitive Natural Born Killers.

6) Watching this film will illustrate to the younger generations exactly why Al Pacino has earned himself the legendary status he probably no longer would deserve with his performances of the last 10 years alone. **SPOILERS**: Just watch those last ten minutes of him handcuffed against the bonnet of a car, where he doesn't say a word, but speaks volumes with his eyes and his soul just oozing out of every frame at the end of the movie; you'll remember those eyes for as long as you live!

7) Watching this film, you'll realise that firing a gun-shot is a BIG DEAL in real life, and that other films make too much use of gun fire in a highly contrived way.

8) All that tension deriving from pointed guns unable to fire a shot OR move away… you realise Tarantino must've taken notes sometime along the way.

9) No genre is old or done too many times before if it's handled with this amount of freshness, inspiration and talent.

10) Watching Dog Day Afternoon for the third time has filled me with the same amount of wonder at the power of truly inspired but unobtrusive film-making as it did first time round.

The late John Wojtowicz whose mad exploit on one afternoon in Brooklyn probably never dreamed his life would result in an awarded picture. But I suppose the Oscar that Frank Pierson won for Best Original Screenplay kind of verified his time on earth. Not to mention the five other Oscar categories Dog Day Afternoon was nominated in, Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Director for Sidney Lumet, Best Actor for Al Pacino and Best Supporting Actor for Chris Sarandon.

It all happened to be sure on Avenue P in Brooklyn, the location that the film was shot on 10th Street was not where it happened, just the same borough. But the film sure comes close to graphically illustrating the bizarre carnival of events that happened in the summer of 1972.

Al Pacino playing Sonny Wojcik is a gay man who has left his wife and kids and is now living with a man who has confessed to him he's a transgender individual and the doctors have recommended a sex change for him. The sexually confused Pacino and at that time he was hits on this mad move to rob a bank to get enough money for sexual reassignment. At that time the cost they're talking about is $2500.00 which now wouldn't pay for the scrub nurse. Then as now medical insurance companies won't cover it.

So Pacino goes in with buddies John Cazale and Gary Springer and pulls a robbery at closing time at a Brooklyn bank. They're supposed to be in and out, but these guys aren't professional criminals. One thing leads to another and law enforcement has Pacino and Cazale trapped, Springer having opted out of the crime real early.

Then the media freak show begins, at first with crowd actually on Pacino's side as he gives lip to the law. Then when they find out what is the underlying motive for the robbery, good old homophobia takes over. The cheers turn to jeers when Pacino comes out in the street for the police and the cameras.

Dog Day Afternoon is a key film for the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community in the USA. It's one of the first that explores a gamut of issues like the closet, internalized homophobia, being forced into marriage for convention's sake, even same gender marriage. It's exploitive to be sure, but does have its tender moments as well. The highlight of the film for me is the phone conversation with Pacino and Sarandon who had no idea what Pacino had in mind. Sarandon gave one of the first performances of a transgender person in a major motion picture.

John Wojtowicz, Sonny Wojcik for the film did a stretch in the federal pen for the bank robbery and after he was released I met him. By the time we met, both of us were comfortable in our sexuality, I was most closeted when this incident happened. When we met it was the late Eighties. If I was comfortable, John Wojtowicz was positively reveling in it.

Dog as he was then known because of the film was a character in the Greenwich Village bar scene where I met him. Dog used his celebrity, notoriety if you prefer, to get himself a fabulous share of rent boys whom he paid nominal monies for services. He carried ever ready copy of faded clippings from the crime and some of those dumb kids actually thought of him as something special. As a character Dog certainly was.

When I moved out of New York I didn't see Dog around any more and he died a few years ago. The man had his fifteen minutes of celebrity and worked it to the max. This review is dedicated to John Wojtowicz as one unforgettable individual.

A brilliant movie, and a mesmerizing Al Pacino. If u thought he was spectacular in GF I, II, and Scarface....then just watch him in Dog Day Afternoon. Quite simply one of the greatest performances in movie history. Definitely my favorite. The depth with which he plays Sonny is such a treat to watch that I lost count of how many times he left me in AWE. There's this indescribable nervous energy to his performance that there's no way he'll leave u NOT feeling sorry for Sonny.

Sadly, for some reason this movie is kinda forgotten when discussing Al's greatest movies/performances. That's because not many people have watched it. So please, if u consider yourself a movie fan, then go rent DDA and watch a fine movie with the legendary Al Pacino performing his art at the absolute peak of his career.

... which it does, in buckets. Founded on a very interesting true story, embellished by Al Pacino who turns it into gold, albeit not in the quantities his character would have hoped for. With a stonking supporting cast, non better than John Cazale, you'll be drawn into the events presented as if you were there on the day, or afternoon, and quite probably investigate further as the titles start to role. Without question one of the best films of the 70s and one of few that retains its progressive and powerful impact all these years later.

Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon" is one of the most highly enjoyable and wildly funny movies I've ever seen - smart, sharp, complex, witty (and often quotable) dialogue, and superbly acted. Al Pacino stars as Sonny, an optimistic loser who decides to hold up a bank with his friend Sal (played by the late, great John Cazale) to get money for his lover Leon's sex-change operation.

The film is only worked around a few sequences, and may seem overlong to some, but it works excellently because it is held together by the fantastic acting. Al Pacino is astounding as Sonny, and his work here even eclipses the excellent work he did as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather" (and that's saying something, because I adore that movie and his portrayal). Pacino has the facial tics and the energy and the wide-eyed optimism down pat, and his performance is extremely engaging and entertaining. Take, for example, his scene where he rouses up the crowd against the police by chanting, "Attica! Attica! Put your f---ing guns down!" A lesser actor would have made it insipid, but Pacino makes it oddly poignant and hilarious at the same time. (And he was robbed of his Oscar for his role.) The late John Cazale is also superb as Sal, the dopey-eyed follower, the quiet laid-back calm to Pacino's maniacal energy. It's a less flashier role, but Cazale still brings on all the laughs, especially in his deadpan delivery of the line, "Sonny, they're saying there are two homosexuals in here...I'm not a homosexual."

Frank Pierson won an Oscar for his script for a reason - the dialogue is hilarious, sharp, and witty. Many of the lines in this movie are extremely quotable (and you can check some of them out under "memorable quotes"). This is intelligent writing, in the sense that you will laugh and be moved at the same time.

Great movie! It belongs in your VHS or DVD collection. 10/10