Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

P.F. Kluge (article) and
Thomas Moore (article) ...
(more)

Release Date:

21 September 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The robbery should have taken 10 minutes. 4 hours later, the bank was like a circus sideshow. 8 hours later, it was the hottest thing on live T.V. 12 hours later, it was all history. And it's all true

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Bank | Police | Airport | Media Circus | Siege

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Al Pacino	...	Sonny Wortzik
John Cazale	...	Sal
Charles Durning	...	Det. Sgt. Eugene Moretti
Chris Sarandon	...	Leon Shermer
Sully Boyar	...	Mulvaney
Penelope Allen	...	Sylvia
James Broderick	...	Sheldon
Carol Kane	...	Jenny
Beulah Garrick	...	Margaret
Sandra Kazan	...	Deborah
Marcia Jean Kurtz	...	Miriam
Amy Levitt	...	Maria
John Marriott	...	Howard
Estelle Omens	...	Edna
Gary Springer	...	Stevie
Lance Henriksen	...	Murphy
Judith Malina	...	Vi - Mother
Dominic Chianese	...	Vi's Husband - Father
Marcia Haufrecht	...	Vi's Neighbor
Susan Peretz	...	Angela 'Angie' Wortzik
Floyd Levine	...	Phone Cop
Carmine Foresta	...	Carmine
William Bogert	...	TV Anchorman
Ron Cummins	...	TV Reporter
Jay Gerber	...	Sam
Philip Charles MacKenzie	...	Doctor
Chu Chu Malave	...	Maria's Boyfriend
Lionel Pina	...	Pizza Boy
Dick Anthony Williams	...	Limo Driver
Frank Piazza	...	Actor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Bulleit	...	Sgt. Gillis (uncredited)
Robert Costanzo	...	New York Policeman (uncredited)
Todd Everett	...	Cop (uncredited)
Paul E. Guskin	...	Police Sergeant (uncredited)
Ed Metzger	...	Sgt. Murray - NYPD (uncredited)
Thomas Murphy	...	Policeman with Angie (uncredited)
Raymond Serra	...	New York Plainclothes Cop (uncredited)
Lynette Sheldon	...	Sadie (uncredited)
Tom Towles	...	Gunman (uncredited)

Directed by
Sidney Lumet

Writing credits
P.F. Kluge		(article) and
Thomas Moore		(article)
Frank Pierson		(screenplay)
Leslie Waller		book (uncredited)

Produced by
Martin Bregman	....	producer
Martin Elfand	....	producer
Robert Greenhut	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Victor J. Kemper

Film Editing by
Dede Allen

Casting by
Michael Chinich
Don Phillips

Production Design by
Charles Bailey

Art Direction by
Douglas Higgins		(as Doug Higgins)

Set Decoration by
Robert Drumheller

Costume Design by
Anna Hill Johnstone

Makeup Department
Max Henriquez	....	assistant makeup artist
Philip Leto	....	hair stylist
Reginald Tackley	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Burtt Harris	....	assistant director
Alan Hopkins	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Stanley Cappiello	....	scenic artist
Joseph M. Caracciolo	....	property master (as Joe Caracciolo)
Carlos Quiles	....	chief carpenter
Joe Williams Sr.	....	construction grip (as Joseph Williams)

Sound Department
Richard P. Cirincione	....	sound editor (as Richard Cirincione)
Jack Fitzstephens	....	sound editor
Sanford Rackow	....	sound editor
Stephen A. Rotter	....	sound editor
James Sabat	....	sound mixer
Dick Vorisek	....	sound re-recording supervisor (as Richard Vorisek)
Hal Levinsohn	....	assistant sound editor (uncredited)
Robert Rogow	....	boom operator (uncredited)
Mel Zelniker	....	adr recordist (uncredited)

Stunts
A.J. Bakunas	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tom O'Connor	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
James Finnerty	....	key grip (as James Finnerty)
Muky	....	still photographer
Richard Quinlan	....	gaffer
Fred Schuler	....	camera operator
Jack Brown	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Ron Zarilla	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Clifford Capone	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Cliff Capone)
Peggy Farrell	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Angelo Corrao	....	assistant editor

Other crew
B.J. Bjorkman	....	script supervisor
Martin Danzig	....	location manager
Douglas Dean III	....	production assistant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Artists Entertainment Complex

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1976) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1976) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (1996) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2009) (Argentina) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1979) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Varus Video (19??) (Russia) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (UK) (DVD) (HD-DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD) (special edition)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD) (HD-DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Panavision  photographic equipment provided by

Runtime:

125 min | Finland:131 min (1975)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (re-rating) (2006) | West Germany:16 (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | New Zealand:M (re-rating) (2006) | New Zealand:R18 (orginal rating) | Netherlands:MG6 | Portugal:M/18 | Netherlands:12 (original theatrical version) | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1976) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:R | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

10th Street, Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Artists Entertainment Complex

Trivia:

Harvey Fierstein, then aged about 16, is one of the gay demonstrators.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening scene, when Sonny is walking to the bank, he holds his gun in some gift wrap. The blue ribbons are crossing where the flower is. In the next shot, the crossing is moved much closer to the top, as if to make it easier to open the box. But when Sonny tries to open the box to get the gun out, the ribbon is back to its starting position.

Quotes:

Leon: I mean, how do they expect you to get uncrazy if you're asleep all the time?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Indie Sex: Censored (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Easy Livin'

Another Masterpiece from the Golden Age of American Cinema

During the late sixties and into the seventies, the bank heist seems to have become a metaphor for the counter culture rebellion. Bank robbers were no longer the villains, but the heroes, fighting against the capitalist establishment like an urban Robin Hood. Dog Day Afternoon is part of that tradition.

Al Pacino is, as ever, brilliant. He is able to bring charisma, charm and vulnerability to the character of Sonny Wortzik in nothing more than a way of walking, or the way he holds a phone. Troubled, insecure, confused, Sonny makes for a lousy bank robber. And yet, when he steps from the relative safety of the bank building and into the street, before a hundred waiting armed police, he changes completely. He becomes a strong, proud, prowling voice of the working class, goading the police, riling the gathered crowd. In referencing the prison massacre at Attica in 1971, he becomes a voice for the urban poor, and it is a powerful and raging voice that contains the potential for victory and success, even when you know it is doomed.

An incredibly powerful work, very much of its time, and all the better for it. The 1970's was a decade when major studios hired actors for their talent, not their looks or teen appeal. When major studios hired writers proud to take on sensitive political and social issues. When major studios financially backed and strongly promoted movies that mattered and said something. Dog Day Afternoon is the product of that system and as such, could never be made today.