Just watched "Dog Day afternoon" for the 1st time

I saw this a few weeks ago in a theater for the first time in decades, agree completely! Much better than I remembered and a lot more progressive than I was expecting. Not terribly dated or anything.

great acting, great directing and great film. John Cazale improvised one of the funniest lines in the film.

One of my favorite movies. Stellar performances, great script and direction. And that ending - wow! So abrupt.

My favorite character was the frizzy haired bank teller who seemed to be enjoying the adventure of it all, right up to the ride to the airport.

And Guiding Light fans will recognize the older bank teller as Mrs. Renfield. Bitch is still alive! She just turned 101.

Al Pacino was so young and cute in this film. Those puppy dog eyes!

I loved the head teller.."I'M NOT LEAVING MY GIRLS"

Nobody would ever do that for Caitlin.

So many favorite moments but when Pacino flubs the opening of the gift box? ::chef’s kiss::

Atttttikaa!

I loved this film but have only seen it once. It's definitely due for a rewatch soon.

I watched it for the first time during lockdown and thought it was fantastic.

There is a wild documentary about the real guy and the story.

R10 sounds great, I'll try to see where I can watch it.

That was when they had real actors not this shite acting of today.

Al Pacino was a terrific, nuanced actor in his youth. After Tony Montero, his characters seemed to be all screamers. I have heard he is wonderful on stage so maybe that is his true love.

One of the best films out there, OP.

And totally ahead of its time.

R10, thanks so much for posting that link. Gonna check it out tonight.

Pacino had maybe the best run of any actor in the early 70s besides Gene Hackman: Panic in Needle Park-The Godfather-Scarecrow-Serpico-The Godfather Part II-Dog Day Afternoon. All fantastic performances. And he was utterly beautiful during this time.

And yes this is one of my all time favorite movies and favorite lead performances. He should have won the Oscar that year over the overblown Jack Nicholson (who should have won for Five Easy Pieces five years prior). We don’t discuss male actor Oscar races that much on here but the ones in the 70s are fascinating because I would have traded almost all of the wins for another performance…and had the actor that won win another year in the same decade.

The “outing” scene is amazingly quiet yet powerful, and says a lot about America’s worship of violent, criminal, alpha males (as long as they’re not —god forbid — gay.)

R18 what I liked about the film is how it displayed casual homophobia but at the same time it didn't focus on it too much or make the film preachy. It touched on it but it did not become THE MESSAGE of the film (though it certainly was one of them). It was much more subtle and also very realistic for that time, especially for a working class Brooklyn neighborhood of the 70's.

Just like Chris Sarandon's character was obviously gay/pre op trans but he wasn't a caricature either (a beautiful portrayal which he was nominated for and should have won ) . The phone call between him and Sonny is subtly beautiful.

R17 I LOVE OFOTCN ....it would be hard to chose between the 2 as movies but I agree Pacino deserved it a bit more than Nicholson.

I mean my god, the films disputing Oscars then, and you then think, to now....makes me want to stick my head in an oven.

A lot of the credit goes to the great, vastly underrated Sidney Lumet, at his directorial best here.