Rating: 
Summary: BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!
Review: I think this was Pacino's best. Tons of action one of the best bank robber movies ever made i highly recommend it for all u movie go-ers. I bought it without seeing it and it was great.
Rating:
Summary: Should have won Best Picture of 1975
Review: I can't say enough good things about this film. The very fact that the versatile director Sidney Lumet was even able to pull it off--and so convincingly--is amazing. It's also Pacino doing the finest work of his career. He is incredible in a difficult role; his stamina holds up throughout without any breaks in continuity, and he is able to make Sonny both tragic and likeable, even for all of the character's flawed logic and bumbling ineffectiveness as a robber. The scene towards the end when he dictates his will to the bank teller who writes it up is one of the most moving scenes in all of cinema. Lumet and crew are to all to be commended. The film's atmosphere is perfectly captured--you can FEEL the stifiling, sweltering heat inside the bank as if you are sitting in there with the hostages. If DDA hadn't been released during the same year as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (which swept almost ALL the Academy Awards in almost every major category for 1975) it would have won all of the same awards, hands down, as far as I'm concerned. As it turned out, it unfortunately won only one award, for screenplay. But awards or not, you will NEVER forget this movie. Pacino has never been this good, even in the Godfather series.
Rating:
Summary: Pacino at his best
Review: This is one of the best "based on true events" movies that you will ever see. It tells the story of a bank robbery that first turned into a hostage taking and then became a piece of street theatre in New York one hot summer's day in the early seventies.Sonny (Al Pacino) wanted to rob a bank to raise money for his boyfriend to have a sex change. Together with Sal (John Cazale) he held up a small bank in New York at closing time. They bungled the robbery and, instead of getting away with the money, they found themselves inside the bank surrounded by cops and with the entire staff as hostages. Over several hours, they tried to negotiate a way out with the police and FBI. The negotiations took place on the street outside the bank in full view of a growing audience and, despite the attempts of the negotiators, the whole thing turned into a piece of street theatre. Al Pacino does a brilliant job in the role of Sonny. It is easy to believe that this character could plan the robbery and then think and react as he did in what then became a siege. John Cazale does not make such an impression but, in part, that is because of the way that his part is scripted and set as a quiet, introverted type. Penelope Allen, in the role of Sylvia the chief cashier, is a fine support to Pacino. Like him, her character is always on the brittle edge but holding her staff together. Nobody else really makes much of an impression, the cops, lead by Charles Durning as Detective Eugene Moretti and James Broderick (I) as FBI agent Sheldon are pretty much standard issue out of the hollywood box of stock characters. Sonny's weird assortment of relations who get wheeled on to the scene seem almost as much an irritation to the audience as they are to him. That does not detract from the movie though which is all about Pacino's barnstorming performance and an Oscar winning script that just buzzes along. This is a great movie, it is full of tension and drama but also lightened with some very funny moments and we get to see a great actor giving his all. One of the strongest attractions of this movie is Al Pacino who is as his raw, edgy best. If you liked his performance, you should check out "Serpico", "Panic in Needle Park" and "Scarecrow" which all allow him to display the same talents that he shows in "Dog Day Afternoon".
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie!
Review: This is a great movie! Al Pacino (very young at this time) plays a way too stressed out homosexual, Sonny Wortzik, that is robbing a bank. I'll leave you to see why he's robbing this bank, but this movie is based on a true story that ACTUALLY HAPPENED. It is funny, drama(ish) and bitingly real. However, the movie does tend to be a little on the slow-moving side, being over 2 hours in length. Very good, though. Al Pacino does a great job acting.
Rating:
Summary: They shoulda stood in bed
Review: "Dog Day Afternoon" brings to the screen a bank robbery that supposedly happened in Brooklyn on a sweltering August day in 1972. Two down-and-out losers, Sonny and Sal, terrifically played by Al Pacino and John Cazale, stroll into a bank near closing time, with the purported intention to rob it. They are accompanied by a third accomplice who has the good sense to get cold feet before the deal even beings to go down. We're like, wassup with these bozos... Sonny almost drops the rifle taking it out of the box it's gift-wrapped in as he and Sal proceed with the fell deed. It should be a piece of cake, in-and-out, right? Well, guess what: Sonny, who acts like he's about as smart as a pet rock, gets the brilliant idea to set the bank records afire, sending smoke billowing out of the exhaust system, which is promptly noted by a concerned citizen, and next thing you know, New York's Finest is swarming over the vicinity. The whole block is jammed with rubberneckers and police, and now it's a standoff: Sonny and Sal have the bank managers and the tellers hostage. Sonny knows how to play to his audience, though; he's out on the sidewalk hurling bundles of green into the crowd and almost starts a riot. We start thinking, maybe this guy is crazy like a fox. The crowd clearly loves Sonny and he's a media star on the 6 o'clock news, until it becomes clear why he pulled the robbery: he needed the money for a sex change operation for his gay lover. Ut oh... the crowd that loved Sonny because he was making New York's Finest look like idiots now despise him because he's bi-sexual. Things come to a climactic resolution in the movie's final scenes, and the ending is kind of what we expected, but the movie is great fun to watch through its various twists and turns to reach the inevitable. The major actors are uniformly terrific; so many great performances that I can't single any one out. Even the minor actors are inspired, especially Lionel Pina as the pizza man who seizes a passing moment to do his own star turn, and Penelope Allen as the head teller Sylvia, whose icy calm helps to keep everyone, including Sonny, from going berserk. The cinematography is excellent and gives the film its convincing atmosphere; we're smack in the middle of a sizzling hot day in a New York City summer and sweltering right along with the characters. This movie is one of the truly great ones from the 1970's and it gets better with age. It's a quintessential New York story.
Rating:
Summary: Great actors make this movie
Review: DOG DAY AFTERNOON is a classic movie starring AL PACINO as sonny and JOHN CAZELE as his partner Sal. The plot of the movie involves Sonny and Sal robbing a bank when everything goes wrong. To me this is where the action takes place. The body of the movie involves the usual bargining for hostages techniques that we would expect, but we also are given some twist to this plot as well. We come to find out the Sonny has to wives, one of which is a guy named LEON. Also during the hostage holdup in the bank, SONNY playes to the crowd of onlookers that has gathered and to the media, and he comes off as some type of folk hero. Al Pacino is at his best in this movie, and we can see why he is a true film legend. John Cazele also gives a top notch performence as his sidekick. The movie is offered in wide screen or normal screen versions on this DVD along with other special feature. Highly recommend viewing material
Rating:
Summary: PACINO
Review: 'Dog Day Afternoon' is a chaotic strory about two uneducated losers holding a bank up for an afternoon and evening. There is one actor here who is light years ahead of anyone else in the movie. His name is AL PACINO. For almsot two hours, he gives cinema the greatest performance it has ever seen. In a scene of overwhelming intensity, he screams at the cops and the police, "Attica! Attica! and then, "Put your guns down! Put your guns down!" The crowd cheers the criminal and the viewer can't help but be left in awe. In another scene where a pizza deliver boy is delivering the goods for the hostages in the bank, Pacino is let loose once again. The crowd outside realizes he has loads of money in his hand. They scream for it. "You want some of this!" Pacino yells, and the runs to one side of the band and hurls a handful of money. Then he runs to the other side, hurling another load. Ladies and gentleman, here is an actor caught in a zone. An actor so awesome we can't tell if he's acting or not. The magic that Pacino brings to the screen is irresistable, exciting, and finally, breathtaking.
Rating:
Summary: For This Film, The VHS Is Better Than The DVD
Review: I loved Dog Day Afternoon. Al Pacino is great in the lead role. John Cazale is picture-perfect as Sal, Pacino's less-than-brainy partner in crime. The film is done in nearly a "real time" fashion, enhancing its realistic quality. Good resolution too. It's hard to go wrong with a Pacino film. And this one is no exception. It doesn't disappoint. DVD vs. VHS comment ..... I can't for the life of me understand WHY my VHS copy of "Dog Day" has more supplemental material than does the DVD! Makes no sense why a VHS should ever have MORE on it than a DVD, which has much more capacity. But that's the case here. My VHS copy features a very nice little featurette called "Lumet: Filmmaker". PLUS, the trailer is also contained on the VHS! Go figure. Of course, you'd never know about these VHS features if you're checking the ..stats. They never tell you anything about special stuff on VHS versions. Wonder why? Some people still DO buy VHS (amazingly enough).
Rating:
Summary: DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Review: THIS IS A YOUNG PACINO AT HIS BEST.
Rating:
Summary: KEEPS YOU GLUED TO TV. ONE OF THE GREAT FILMS OF THE 70'S!
Review: This story does a terrific job of keeping the audience's attention. So many unusual and memorable moments are displayed here from one of the bank robbers who suddenly gets " bad vibes " and luckily bails out of the robbery , to the police's , FBI's , and media's arrival , to the pizza boy scene , and to Sonny's mom arriving at the scene. (she adviced Sonny to run away even though the FBI , NYPD , and all of New York City was watching. Hilarious!) This is pretty much a depiction of Murphy's Law going into full effect for these two guys trying to rob a bank. Part of the reason why the film is intriguing is because the story makes you care about how these two guys are going to get out of this situation. It glues you to the tv. It makes you care about everyone involved with very well developed characters. The acting is grade A+ all the way through this film. This is acting 101. "Sonny" is one of Pacino's Oscar nominated performances. Pacino has a way of keeping you fixed on him but the supporting cast more than complements him with terrific performances. (my favorite scene : Sonny's phone conversations with Leon and Angie. Perfect!) The film earned six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and won for best original screenplay. The film , excellently , captures the feel of summertime in the city. The opening of the film , effectively , establishes the tone and the feel of the setting. The screenplay Oscar was well earned. One of my favorite films. The film is divided into 29 chapters on the DVD. On the DVD you don't get alot of extras here. You get actor's bios , the awards that the film won , subtitles in english , spanish , and french and the Reel Recommendation's and thats about it. The audio is in digital mono. I am going to guess that one day Warner Brothers will release a special edition of " Dog Day Afternoon " with better DVD extras. Maybe in 2005 for the film's 30th anniversary. I'm writing this in 2001. We'll have to wait and see. P.S. Everytime I hear that Elton John song I think of this film.
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