BIG'S BIG MOVIE LIST

 

     As I watched “Dog Day Afternoon” earlier today, I ran through all of the movies that I could think of that involved hostage situations...i came up with The Negotiator (Sam Jackson), John Q. (Denzel Washington), Inside Man (Clive Owen), and Mad City (John Travolta). While they're all pretty different movies that each ends in a unique way, I had never noticed the delicate sociological dance behind the twentieth century hostage situation that plays out in all of these films. High tension situations where criminals, law enforcement, civilians, and the media all come together, and everyone starts operating under seemingly new rules. The hostage takers become celebrities, their story revealed and poured out over television and radio, nourishing the media machine. As the public reacts, law enforcement now has the eyes of the nation upon them, and the stakes become ever higher. A strange, sweet political relationship unfolds, and “Dog Day Afternoon” is an early demonstration of this phenomenon playing itself out.

 

Inspired by the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz, “Dog Day Afternoon” is a tale of a bank robbery gone bust, and the fascinating life of the man at the center of it. Sonny (Al Pacino) entering a Brooklyn bank at closing time on a hot summer day carrying a flower box (containing an M1 Carbine rifle). He and his partner-in-crime Sal (John Cazale) (along with a cowardly confederate that bails at the start) quickly and frantically take control of the bank and its dozen employees, spray painting over the video camera lenses and ordering the bank manager to open the vault . To their dismay, the vault is near empty, and the police have quickly wised up and surrounded the building. The media shows up not long after this, and the social experiment commences.

 

     The complex interplay between cops, criminals, cameras, and crowd is one of the main points of Sidney Lumet's crime drama. As the major news networks begin broadcasting live from the scene outside the bank, a large crowd forms—some openly supporting and encouraging Sonny--and the police are forced to increase their numbers to maintain order in the streets. When pizzas are brought in for the hostages, the delivery boy leaps into the air and shouts “I'm a star!”. Sonny plays to the crowd when he goes out to talk to the detectives, shouting “Attica!” (In reference to bloody Attica prison riot of 1971) and throwing fistfuls of cash into the air, all the while keeping a manic yet severely exhausted energy (Pacino ate and slept sparingly and took cold showers to stay in character during shooting).

 

I think the more interesting thread to follow is the character study of Sonny, the frantic street-smart Vietnam veteran who's right on the edge. As the story unfolds through dialogue between the police and Sonny's family, including his two wives (one male, one female), we start to see the complete picture of a broken man, seeking satisfaction in a society that has marginalized him both for his veteran status and his sexual orientation.

 

Lumet also does a spectacular job of displaying the effects of Stockholm Syndrome that start to take effect on the captives during this 14 hour negotiation (One of the real-life hostages remarked that under different circumstances the robbers would have been a delight to have over to their house on a Saturday night) Overall the film is well constructed, perhaps a little too long, but definitely deserving of top 250 status

 

 

A big crowd of people shows up to cheer Sonny on.

I give Dog Day Afternoon : 4 / 5 afternoons