Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Thomas Moore, Frank Pierson & more
Cast: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning,
Chris Sarandon, Sully Boyar, Penelope Allen & more
Release Date: 21 September 1975 (USA)
Awards: Won Oscar. Another 11 wins & 17 nom.
User Rating: 8,1/10

Review: "Wow! The seventies were sure a great decade, just look at all the movies that battled for an Oscar in 1975 to have a good idea about it!This movie has everything anyone could wish in a great movie: a good script, even if the story is based on real events, great direction (Lumet knows how to deal with tense situations as he had already demonstrated it in his debut film 12 Angry Men), great acting (Pacino in his splendor, even better than in Godfather, Part I). The pacing is extremely good: it is very nervous and the camera moves a lot in the first third of the movie but then the whole thing seems to melt into a lifeless, tensionate and slow movement suggesting very well the whole situation as the bank robbery that was supposed to be fast and eventful turns into a hostage situation which is challenging and tensionate. The issue of homosexuality was very well dealt with, not preaching in any way, understanding and considerate, everything was far better than any politically correct angle we may find in today's movies. The movie is hard to place in a single genre, it is essentially a drama of the rejected (Sonny is a war veteran, a homosexual, an unemployed, and by the end of the movie an outcast), but it starts as a thriller and it touches elements of social satire( the family angle, the issue of police corruption and incompetence etc.), comedy and even absurd. This is a movie that I will surely see as soon as possible! " Written by Stalker Vogler (imdb.com)