Premise: Two bank robbers try to find a way to freedom after the police corner them in the bank.
OK, I'm a little confused about why this is such an enduring classic in the eyes of cinephiles, but this is a really good movie. I feel like there's been 5 decades of bank robbery movies that have tried to capture the tone of this movie. Most go overboard. Much of what I appreciate about Dog Day Afternoon is how limited and simple it is. The bank is small. We quickly get a sense of the geography in it. The employees act in a human way. No one is trying to be a hero. They quickly see through Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal (John Cazale), realizing they aren't threatening or particularly competent. Sergeant Moretti (Charles Durning) isn't some negotiating superstar. The movie doesn't even try to overstate the public interest in the robbery. It's all nicely low stakes.
I'll admit, I'm so used to late career Pacino, that I kept waiting for his performance in this to go over the top. Instead, it stays pretty measured, with only a few [mostly funny] explosions. I don't know if the way he takes his gun out of the box at the beginning was meant to be funny, but I found it hilarious. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much of this movie is quite funny. This definitely feels like a movie I'll want to revisit.
I'm not at "peak Pacino was one of the greats" yet, but I'm starting to see how other people get there. I appreciate Cazale's take on the oddball sidekick. He doesn't go overboard, but he has a number of fun ticks. As I've said many times before, if you can give me a bunch of interesting characters and put them in a room together, then that's a movie I'm going to like.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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