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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.

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