Dog Day Afternoon (John Cazale)

Show & Culture

In the heart of Brooklyn, a bank robbery with hostages. The two gangsters, small-time criminals in over their heads, enter into lengthy negotiations with the police. “This confined story blends feverish suspense with a powerful stand against police repression and the voyeurism of television. The besieged bank becomes a tumultuous stage of life, where hope and disappointment, compassion and panic collide. As an anonymous rebel, sometimes a heroic leader and sometimes a pathetic gangster, Al Pacino (in his greatest role?) sets fire to everything he says and touches.”—Jacques Morice “The film's tone is extraordinarily flexible, holding within the same reality elements of the absurd, the ridiculous and the comic while sustaining a sense of tension and dread throughout. This is, of course, one of the classic Pacino roles, but don't overlook the late John Cazale as his accomplice, who gives us a character who's stupid and scared, troubled and dangerous, and disturbingly inscrutable.”—San Francisco Chronicle