Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Biography, Crime, Drama, General Film, Rhonda Recommended

Director: Sidney Lumet

Writer(s): Frank Pierson (screenplay); P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore (based upon a magazine article by); Leslie Waller (book)

Starring: Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar, John Cazale, Beulah Garrick, Carol Kane, Sandra Kazan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Amy Levitt, John Marriott, Estelle Omens, Al Pacino, Gary Springer, James Broderick, Charles Durning, Carmine Foresta, Lance Henriksen, Floyd Levine, Dick Anthony Williams, Dominic Chianese, Marcia Haufrecht, Judith Malina, Susan Peretz, Chris Sarandon, William Bogert, Ron Cummins, Jay Gerber, Philip Charles MacKenzie, Chu Chu Malave, Lionel Pina, Alan Berger, James Bulleit, Robert Costanzo, David Daniel, Camille DeBiase, Michael DeBiase, Fabrizio DiGiacomo, Todd Everett, Richard Garrick, Ron Gilbert, Paul E. Guskin, Jennifer Lanzisero, Tony Lip, Kenneth McMillan, John Meeks, Ed Metzger, Thomas Murphy, Harrison Ressler, Samantha Rodewald, Raymond Serra, Lynette Sheldon, Tom Towles

Synopsis: Based upon a real-life story that happened in the early seventies in which the Chase Manhattan Bank in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was held siege by a bank robber determined to steal enough money for his wife (a trans woman) to undergo a sex change operation. On a hot summer afternoon, the First Savings Bank of Brooklyn is held up by Sonny and Sal, two down-and-out characters. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds that there’s actually nothing much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Police Captain Moretti, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city’s entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees’ safety.

Release Date: December 25, 1975 (USA) | Length: 125 min | Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama | Certificate: R