Dog Day Afternoon (1975 119min.) [ITV 10.40 &+1]
Crime drama starring Al Pacino, John Cazale and Charles Durning. On a hot August day in 1972, Sonny Wortzik and two accomplices enter a Brooklyn bank and hold the staff at gunpoint. But the robbery goes wrong and when police surround the building, Sonny and his morose friend Sal become trapped inside with their hostages.
Sidney Lumet's film is one of the classics of seventies US "new cinema". The film is a jittery jive through a scorching hot day in New York, with that and the nervous, hyped up energy of the two leads being perfectly reflected through the camera's constant movement and the bleached out, sun baked tones of the photography.
The three leads are all excellent and in the hands of such a skilled craftsman as Lumet the whole thing is pulled together and propelled forward in an utterly engaging and relentless fashion.
A magnificent piece of work and an absolute credit to all those involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment