Re-released on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary, Dog Day Afternoon recounts the true story of an attempted bank robbery in Brooklyn, 1972. Sonny (Al Pacino, reuniting with his Serpico director) and Sal (the great John Cazale) go ahead as planned with their heist after being abandoned by the third member of their gang. Things immediately go wrong as the bank is almost empty of cash and a hostage situation develops very quickly. In the course of negotiations, it comes out that Sonny’s motive was to secure enough money to pay for the sexual reassignment surgery of his lover Leon (Chris Sarandon). Groundbreaking at the time for its thoughtful and sympathetic consideration of gender and sexuality, though of its time when viewed through a contemporary lens, Dog Day Afternoon is a gripping, funny, and moving film,
a classic of 1970s Hollywood.