Viking Night: Dog Day Afternoon
By Bruce Hall
June 19, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
There was a Brooklyn boy named John Wojtowicz, rotting away in prison for robbing a bank - or more accurately, “trying very unsuccessfully” to rob one. It wasn't all bad, though. It was a very entertaining bank robbery, and they even made a movie about it. Al Pacino played John. How cool is that? Hollywood made a movie about your life, and the guy who played Michael Corleone is gonna be YOU. Any sane person serving 20 years for armed robbery would want to tell all his friends - and that's what John did. We'll get back to him at the end. First, let's talk about what he did.
Sonny Wortzik (Pacino, and because most people can't pronounce "Wojtowicz") indeed decides to rob a bank, and he takes his friend Sal (John "Fredo" Cazale) along for the ride. Things go well at first. The gunmen round up the employees, and Sonny even brings a can of Krylon for the super giant early ‘70s video cameras. Sal brings a machine gun. Sonny brings a rifle, and seems to know an awful lot about how banks work. What could go wrong? Well, their big plan is to knock off the place right after the big weekly money drop that movie banks always have.
Sadly today they were picking up, not dropping off. And then the security guard has an asthma attack. And then the tellers start laughing at them. And then Sonny starts a fire to cover his tracks, attracting the police instead. Next thing you know, the bank is surrounded by 250 cops, a phalanx of news reporters, an unruly crowd, a chopper, and a partridge in a pear tree. Thanks to Sonny picking the wrong day, there's only a grand or so in the vault. So, assuming a bank robbery in New York gets you 25 years, that's an hourly wage so small it makes slavery seem like a great idea.
Now that's a Dog Day Afternoon. Yes, of course I said that.
But this armed gunman is a trooper, and a charismatic one. With the exception of the bank manager, whose job it is to appear sympathetic, and the security guard, who is quickly let go, all of Sonny's hostages are ladies. They quickly warm to Sonny's populist swagger and most of them even find his obvious incompetence endearing. In fact, once Sonny discovers how little a bank teller makes, he wins over not just the people in the bank, but the crowd gathered outside.
After he makes a public appearance to talk turkey with the Head Cop (Charles Durning), Sonny's mouth makes him an instant celebrity. He gets a telephone interview. He gets pizza delivered. He gets a jet fueled at the airport to take them to…Algeria…or something. The only ones not getting a kick out of Sonny and his pistol packin' pizza party are the police, fascists that they are, who are not about to just let a guy walk away after depriving a Federally insured bank of $1,100.
Like most bank robbers, Sonny is the last one to see that he’s in over his head. Like most bank robbers, Sonny finds it easy to talk about oppression when he’s surrounded. And it’s hard to have sympathy for a man so ill prepared for a challenge, and so ignorant of its consequences. Still, for the first half of the film, it’s hard not to be impressed with Sonny's almost Little Orphan Annie level of determination.
But it’s here that the film stops just sort of outright comedy and adopts the gritty tone of a submarine thriller as the ordeal wears on and reality sets in. The police shut off the bank’s air conditioner and eventually the lights as they begin to lose patience with the situation, and it takes a toll on everyone inside. Given that this IS a bank robbery film, it’s obvious that things are not going to end well, and you'd think that would take some of the tension out of the film.
But you'd be wrong. That the story ultimately goes nowhere serves as a benefit, as it allows Sidney Lumet to present his film less as a crime drama and more as just a slice of life in summertime Brooklyn. “Man, can you believe this heat? And how about the cops, am I right? They show up in ten minutes when you’re robbing a bank, but where are they when you REALLY need them? And my ma, always busting my chops...”
We hear you, Sonny. And this is what Dog Day Afternoon is all about. It’s a relationship film. Part by request and part by design, the police present Sonny with the people closest to him in life, one by one. The failure and dysfunction in his life plays out right before our eyes. It gives us a picture of the man, and once the purpose behind Sonny's robbery becomes known, it’s all over. All his relations become hopelessly complicated. Then, just as always, Sonny begins to realize that life is just too big for him.
It’s worth noting that Pacino’s performance occurred during a stretch in his career that included his similarly iconic performances in The Godfather and Serpico. In other words, this is Pacino when he was still in top form, when he was still Al Freaking Pacino. If you want to watch a great man act, set your way back machine to the ‘70s and get schooled. If you’d rather see “hoo-ahh,” then for you I guess the terrorists have already won.
And here’s the best part. You want to know what happened to John Wojtowicz? Depending on your point of view, the way things go down in the movie might imply that Sonny wasn’t completely on the up and up with Sal. Federal prisoners tend to be a little uptight and paranoid, what with being Federal prisoners and everything. Wojtowicz got compensated for his story, so I guess crime DOES pay, assuming by “pay” you mean “people trying to kill me in prison”.
Now that’s a Dog Day Afternoon. Yeah, I did it twice.
But one man’s brutal prison assault is another man’s Academy Award winning crime classic. One man’s bank robbery is another man’s Quixotic stand against social injustice. And one man’s “hoo-ahh” is another man’s Dog Day Afternoon. Or something. If nothing else, it’s worth it to get a glimpse into a simpler time, before Watergate. Before catalytic converters. Before AIDS and hair metal. Before Al Pacino transformed into the Saturday Night Live Version of himself and won an Academy Award for being louder than Chris O’Donnell. Hoo-ahh.