Dog Day Afternoon

A man robs a bank to pay for his lover’s operation; it turns into a hostage situation and a media circus.

• Director: Sidney Lumet
• Genre:Crime / Drama / Thriller
• Runtime:125 minutes

Cast

Al Pacino : Sonny Wortzik John Cazale : Sal Charles Durning : Det. Sgt. Eugene Moretti Chris Sarandon : Leon Shermer Sully Boyar : Mulvaney

First-time crook Sonny Wortzik (Pacino), his friend Sal (Cazale), and a second accomplice, a trio of inexperienced criminals, attempt to rob a bank. The plan immediately goes awry when the second accomplice loses his nerve shortly after Sal pulls out his gun, and Sonny is forced to let him flee the scene. In the vault, Sonny discovers that he and Sal have just missed the daily cash pickup, and only $1,100.00 in cash remains in the bank. To compensate, Sonny takes a number of traveler’s checks, but his attempt to prevent the checks from being traced by burning the bank’s register in a trash can causes smoke to billow out the side of the building, alerting the business across the street to suspicious activities. Within minutes, the building is surrounded by the police. Unsure what to do, the two robbers camp out in the bank, holding all the workers hostage.

Detective Moretti (Durning) calls the bank to tell Sonny that the police have arrived. Sonny warns that he and Sal have hostages and will kill them if anyone tries to come into the bank. Detective Moretti acts as hostage negotiator, while FBI Agent Sheldon monitors his actions. Howard, the security guard, has an asthma attack, so Sonny releases him when Moretti asks for a hostage as a sign of good faith. Moretti convinces Sonny to step outside the bank to see how aggressive the police forces are. Sonny invokes the recent Attica Prison riot in which 39 people were killed, saying how law enforcement became so corruptly oppressive, and the civilian crowd starts cheering for Sonny.

After realizing they cannot make a simple getaway, Sonny demands that a helicopter be landed on the roof to fly him and Sal out of the country. When they’re informed that the roof of the bank is not sturdy enough to support a helicopter, Sonny demands that a vehicle drive him and Sal to an airport so that they can board a jet. He also demands pizzas for the hostages (which are delivered to the scene) and that his wife be brought to the bank. When Sonny’s wife, Leon Schermer (a transwoman) arrives, he reveals to the crowd and officials one of Sonny’s reasons for robbing the bank is to pay for Leon’s sex reassignment surgery, and that Sonny also has a legal wife, Angie, and children. Read more