Dog Day Afternoon is one of my four of five favorite movies of all time. For some reason, it seems more relevant to me now than ever.
I like the scene where Sonny asks the guy on tv how much money he makes and the guy hangs up. I’d like to see it replayed with three wisemen John excoriated earlier.
All in all, these are my two favorite scenes. The opening (they disabled embedding), which to me is a poetic celebration of working class outer borough America, the real deal. And the famous “Attica, Attica” scene.
Trentrunner
And none of it would have happened if we had had Medicare-for-All that covered transgender procedures…
Comrade DougJ
@Trentrunner:
FTW.
Trentrunner
And let’s not forget Lumet’s opulent Murder on the Orient Express, which was like a big middle finger to those who said all he could do was gritty urban psychodramas.
MikeJ
I loooooove that switch to diagetic sound in the DDA intro.
jwb
@MikeJ: Diegetic. (Pet peeve.)
Southern Beale
Dog Day Afternoon was the first R-rated movie I ever saw (I think it was called “M” back then or something … pretty sure the ratings were different.) I remember we were underage and had to ask an older person to buy our tickets for us.
piratedan
imho his best was 12 Angry Men. The themes, the performances and the script were magnificent. that movie had an enormous impact on my life in how you can’t simply look at the surface of how things are and how to apply context.
eemom
what are the others? I’m guessing Pulp Fiction may be one.
Southern Beale
Let’s also remember that in Dog Day Afternoon, he’s robbing the bank to pay for his girlfriend’s operation.
One of our early cultural references to a broken healthcare system. Imagine that.
MikeJ
@jwb: My speeling is alweyz grate!
Southern Beale
@Trentrunner:
Woopsies. You beat me to it!
Legalize
It’s either this, or Network at the Legalize residence tonight. Both are streaming on Netflix by the way.
Comrade DougJ
@eemom:
Pulp Fiction, Chinatown, The Maltese Falcon, The 400 Blows.
MikeJ
@Comrade DougJ: Heh. I get word nerded today over diegesis and yesterday I word nerded somebody over “gunsel” from Maltese Falcon.
Cat Lady
Tumbleweed Connection was Elton’s best album, and Amoreena and Burn Down The Mission were his best songs. I wish I knew when I was sitting in the theater watching Dog Day Afternoon and listening to Elton John then, that thirty years later John Casale would be long dead, movies would end up being nothing more than remade comic books and TV shows, Elton John would be my generation’s Liberace and popular music was going to end up being samples of 60s and 70s classics run through Auto Tune. I would have appreciated that time more. Get off my lawn!
Southern Beale
@Comrade DougJ:
No “Shawshank Redemption” or “Citizen Kane”? My two favorites ….
Southern Beale
@Cat Lady:
I love that album. Two Brits doing country music! Imagine!
The class warfare clarion call in “Burn Down The Mission” really resonates today. Though I have to say, the British influence on some of the lyrics always kinda got to me. For example, I always cringe on “Country Comfort” when I hear the references to “Deacon Lee,” “hedgehog” and “herdsman.” Those are British terms, not Southern Americana ones. But it’s fascinating to me, the blending of the two influences. I imagine some folklorist doing a dissertation on it.
Comrade DougJ
@MikeJ:
The cheaper the hood, the gaudier the patter.
Elia Isquire
I think I might slightly prefer 12 Angry Men — but they’re very different kinds of movies, both of which are among my absolute favorites.
It’s such a great performance from Pacino; it’s kind of strikingly effeminate and neurotic for him when you compare it to his whole body of work. And Cazale? Forget about it.
Villago Delenda Est
Network.
So prescient, it’s chilling.
A guy who was killed for having poor ratings. Imagine that, Glen Beck.
Comrade DougJ
@Elia Isquire:
Yup.
kd bart
The guy playing tennis in the park in that opening scene was the Tennis Counselor at the summer camp I went to in the 70s. His name was Jerry.
Elizabelle
So glad you’ve done a thread on Sidney Lumet.
He was a good ‘un.
Comrade DougJ
@kd bart:
Great story.
Larkspur
I used to go see Al Pacino movies with my friend Jacqueline. Her favorite line from DDA was the one that started out “Kiss me!” We went to see Bobby Deerfield together, and our fascination with Al kind of trailed off from there.
I recently re-watched Fail-Safe. Except for the extraneous bit involving Walter Matthau’s character and “Ilsa Wolfe” (played by Nancy Berg), it holds up pretty well. The extraneous bit was stupid from the get-go. Luckily it lifts right out; lifting it out improves the film, IMO.
I didn’t see it when it came out – it was 1964 and awesomely enough, I was too young. But later, when I did see it, I was absolutely stunned.
jharp
I clearly remember being denied admittance to the theatre to Dog Day Afternoon because it was rated R. You had to be 17 (or maybe 18).
About 1976. I think.
sb
There will never be another Sidney Lumet movie. And that’s awful. RIP.
Ronnie Pudding
I’ll give nods to The Anderson Tapes and Running On Empty as unheralded but very worthwhile Lumet films.
Mr Furious
The building they used as the bank in DDA was 279 Prospect Park West in Windsor Terrace / Park Slope Brooklyn. I lived in the apartment right above the door where they shot this scene (years later, in the nineties).
I always thought that was a pretty fucking cool bit of personal trivia if I do say so myself… Then I start to regret my failure to buy that loft when I had the chance, and want to smack myself.
Steeplejack
DougJ:
I have to put in that Tumbleweed Connection (which includes “Amoreena”) is my favorite Elton John album and contains my favorite of all his songs, “Come Down in Time.” Done well here by Der Stingel (with pleasing but slightly unsettling nymphets).
. . . Oh, hell, nothing beats the original.
Steeplejack
@Comrade DougJ:
Truffaut! My favorite director. Give me Jules and Jim any day.
Steeplejack
@Cat Lady:
Word, sister.
Steeplejack
@Elia Isquire:
My favorite Pacino, aside from the Godfather movies, which are iconic, is in Carlito’s Way. He restrains his usual scenery-chewing tendencies and delivers an amazingly subtle, low-key performance. And I would throw Heat up there just behind that.
barbara
Dog Day Afternoon and Network are definitely my favorites. But I also loved the underrated Q&A with a great performance by Nick Nolte. And don’t forget Serpico. Lumet was just in love with New York, wasn’t he?
Bruce S
Check out Lumet’s last film if you haven’t seen it – Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. He did this one at 83!
Prolific filmmaker – lots of great stuff back before “back in the day” like 12 Angry Men, Fugitive Kind, Pawnbroker and Long Day’s Journey. The Pawnbroker with Rod Steiger is an amazing film…I think it may be his best in context and “for its time.” Came out of television, directing Playhouse 90 and other live dramas. Great “moralist” of cinema, without being hack or cliched about it like Stanley Kramer mostly was. Also very much a New York guy, not Hollywood.