Sonny Wortzik needs money to help pay for his partner’s sex change operation. Sonny will do anything to help his partner and so he decides to rob a bank with his coleage, Sal Naturie. Sonny has never robbed a bank before and it doesn’t go as he planned. Someone manages to tip off the cops that a bank is being robbed and so Sonny, Sal and the people who work at the bank and are being held hostage are trapped unless the police follow Sonny’s demands.
Blaine: Producer Martin Bregman’s associate showed him an article in a LIFE magazine about John Wojtowicz and they both agreed it would make a great film. There was so much to it that no one had seen or heard of before. A guy who was in love with a person who was the same gender as he and he did whatever to help his partner even if it meant becoming a criminal. Al Pacino was friends with Martin and Martin thought Al should play Sonny because it looked like a part for him. Al Pacino was very familiar with John Wojtowicz’s story because he heard about it around the time it was happening. Everyone thought there was a resemblance between Al Pacino and John Wojtowicz while looking at the photographs of John Wojtowicz. Martin bought the rights fast and Frank Pierson was hired to write the screenplay. Frank wanted to get his hands on tapes, articles because this was going to be a film about something that really happened. Plus Frank wanted to figure out what type of movie “Dog Day Afternoon” should be. There was so much going on that had never been seen or done before. The character, Sonny Wortzik, is based on John Wojtowicz and Frank thought the movie should be told from Sonny’s point of view. Frank felt the audience should feel this character as they are watching the film.
Frank tried to reach John Wojtowicz. He went to the prison a few times to interview John, but John wouldn’t see him. There was no way John was ever going to talk to Frank, so Frank just gave up and tried to guess what type of person John Wojtowicz is. Frank would listen to the tapes of people who knew John, his family, the police, the bank tellers, on what they had to say about him. Frank would even meet with those people to interview them about John Wojtowicz. Each one described John differently because they all saw him in a different way. Frank felt he wasn’t getting any useful information because he just wanted one description on who John is and instead he was getting different types of things. Frank was about to give up on the project, but he couldn’t quit because he had already gotten payed the money for the work he was supposed to do and he couldn’t pay it back. So Frank went through the stuff again to see if he could figure out something. There was one thing Frank noticed that he didn’t get the first time. The people all said the same thing which was John would look at you while saying I’ll take care of you. Frank then figured out how he could write the story. So he began writing the script and was able to finish it just in time for Christmas. The studio wanted the movie to be called “Boys in the Bank” and Frank didn’t like that title. “Dog Day Afternoon” was the only title for this movie.
Sidney Lumet was in mind to direct “Dog Day Afternoon”. Frank, Martin and Al went to visit Sidney at his apartment. Sidney was curious to know what he was being offered to direct and Frank described it as a guy doing a bank robbery, but trying to be the nice guy while doing it and when things don’t go as planned he gets angry and stressed. It sounded interesting to Sidney and so he read the script after Frank handed it to him. Al felt he should read the script too because he hadn’t gotten a chance to read it yet. Al had second thoughts about doing “Dog Day Afternoon” after reading the script. He loved the script, but he didn’t want to do the work because he was exhausted from the work he had just done. Plus Sidney is a director who wants to see a lot while making a movie. He pushes actors to do their best. You can tell just by watching the movie that Sidney did an extraordinary job in directing “Dog Day Afternoon”. The performances are really incredible. Al was starting to think “Dog Day Afternoon” wasn't for him. Al says as an actor you’re not really sure if you are meant for a part until you start playing it. Thing was they couldn’t find another actor that was suitable for the part. Al Pacino was the only one. Martin asked Al, as a friend, if he would do the part and Al couldn’t say no. Al re-read the script and he liked it even more. Al asked himself why he would miss out on a project like this.
Al needed some advice from Frank about marriage life because Frank had been twice married and the character is robbing a bank thinking about his spouse. Al thought “Dog Day Afternoon” should be about two people who love each other, but can not be with each other due to this situation Sonny is in. Frank thought that was a good idea. So Frank and Al put their heads together and Frank wrote the scene where Sonny and his spouse, Leon, talk to each other through a phone call. Sidney Lumet was chosen for “Dog Day Afternoon" because Martin thought he was a gifted man. During the rehearsals, Sidney would think about where the camera would go. The actors brought a lot into their performances and you can tell that it was all him. He wanted to see a lot out of his actors and that’s what I love the most about his direction on “Dog Day Afternoon”. Like for example the scene where Sonny is demanding to know why cops were trying to sneak in from behind the building. Al is yelling out loud.
Al worked as a stage actor before he became a star and he knew a lot of great actors he had worked with at the theater. Some of the actors who were apart of “Dog Day Afternoon” were chosen because of him. You could say he was the casting director on this. John Cazale collaborated with Al on stage and they both played sons of Corleone in “The Godfather”. John’s character, Sal, was written differently in the script. Sal was supposed to be a fifteen year old who is naive. Frank wrote him like that because no one knew much about the real life person. Sidney wasn’t sure about John and thought Al was out of his mind when he recommended him, but Al begged to Sidney that he at least give John Cazale a chance. So Sidney tested John out and John nailed his audition. Sidney never doubted Al Pacino again after that. John was an actor who really got himself into the characters he plays.
Another actor Al recommended was Charles Durning. Sidney thought Charles should play the bank manager, but Charles was more interested in playing the detective who tries to reason with Sonny and it was easy like that. Charles had a busy schedule at that time. He got himself involved with two different movies that were shooting at the same time. Sidney wanted to work with James Broderick because he had done a lot of T.V. shows and Sidney thought he was a terrific actor. So James got to play the FBI guy. Everyone knew what a strong actor James Broderick was and he was always thought of as a leading man because he was so talented. Chris Sarandon was also a stage actor and he had never done a movie before “Dog Day Afternoon”. Chris was in mind to play Sonny’s spouse, Leon, and as Chris was reading through the script he felt some connection to Leon. Chris knew how he would act as this character. Chris went in to audition, Al read with him and they looked like a perfect match. It was easy for Chris to explore the character, not just from the inside, but the outside as well. He would change his physical appearance and make himself look more like a housewife. He even would go out on the streets walking in high heels. A lot of the actors who were involved with “Dog Day Afternoon” knew each other well because they had worked together on stage. The girls who work at the bank had worked with each other before. Sidney would have these girls become their characters. He gave pacific instructions on what they needed to do. He even told them they could wear their own clothes in the movie and they would get payed two dollars more for that. These girls really got into their characters and they are tremendous in “Dog Day Afternoon”. They show fear because their characters don’t know what’s going to happen, then there are times they’ll be enjoying themselves because the bank robbers aren’t that hard on them. Penelope Allen, who is the leader of the group of women, shows she can be tough. She’s not afraid to speak out what she is thinking a lot of the time. Lance Henriksen was another stage actor and he wanted the part of Leon, but Sidney felt Lance was more suitable for the other FBI guy who drives Sonny, Sal and the hostages to the airport. Because there was so many actors who were going to have a lot of screen time, Sidney wanted each one to have an equal amount of screen time.
“Dog Day Afternoon” was shot at a real location in New York. Sidney wanted to show that it was a hot day at the beginning of the movie because that’s what Dog Day Afternoon stands for. And as Sonny, Sal and the hostages are inside, the heat is getting to them. They are all sweaty. Sidney would go out with some of his crew and a camera to shoot a lot of random shots on a hot day for the beginning of the movie. Sidney didn’t want to shoot “Dog Day Afternoon” in a studio because there was going to be a lot of windows that you could see the outside. A lot of things could be seen out in the street. Sidney needed an empty building that they could build a bank in and shoot scenes that are both inside and outside. They found a repair shop, got rid of a lot of stuff inside and redesigned it as a bank. Problem was it was on a street with a bus line, but the city of New York was nice enough to change it by putting the bus stop one block up. “Dog Day Afternoon” takes place in one hot day in the summer, but they actually shot it in the fall and you could see Al Pacino’s breath whenever they shot scenes where he is right next to the door. Al had to put ice in his mouth just to make it colder so that warm breath wouldn’t come out.
Sonny and Sal have never done a bank robbery before, so they’re not professional. They were only going to do this one time, they are terrified, they want to do this and get it over with without hurting anybody. The first take they did where Al takes the gun out of the box wasn’t perfect, but Sidney liked it because like I said it’s the first time Sonny has robbed a bank and he’s never pulled out a gun before. So that awful take got put into the film. Sidney also wanted to show that the bank robbers are likable. Sidney knew he wanted the extras who are surrounding the streets to be teenagers who looked like they cut school to be in the crowd and he asked people who lived around that street if they were interested in watching from a window. The crowd was growing during the seventh day of shooting. People would just come by to be an extra in the movie and Sidney told the extras who were actors to make them feel like they are at a concert. There was twelve hundred people on the street by the time they shot the scenes at night.
Sidney wanted to do a full take of Al Pacino doing the phone call to Leon. Al was exhausted and Sidney wanted that because his character’s already under a lot of stress. Al did an amazing job during the first take they shot and he didn’t want to do another take after that. Sidney told Al they had to do another take and Al looked like he wanted to murder Sidney. Sonny looks mad as hell during one of the phone calls and that’s because Al was angry when they shot that. Sidney was blown away by Al. Al’s reactions were real, he wasn’t acting. Al would burst into tears and then they would cut there. Judith Malimna, who played Sonny’s mother, was someone Al really admired. She was his icon. Sonny becomes embarrassed that his mother shows up to the bank. Judith would talk through Al Pacino because her character would never hear out Sonny through his life. Al was really getting into the part by the time they shot the scene where Sonny is having his will written down.
The FBI drives Sonny, Sal and the hostages to the airport so that Sonny and Sal can get away on a plane. But the FBI outsmarts them. There’s a hidden gun inside the vehicle and the guy driving, Lance Henriksen, tricks Sal into aiming his gun up. Lance Henriksen and John Cazale would have trouble shooting that scene because they would crack up. They both knew Lance was going to shoot John in the head and for some reason they found it funny. Both Lance and John loved each other in real life because they were good friends. That’s one of the best edited scenes in the movie because it cuts to everybody in the vehicle so fast. Lance shoots John in the head, it cuts to John being shot in the head, then it cuts to each hostage screaming as they panic and ends with a gun pointed at Al Pacino’s head. It all happens in just three seconds.
Another thing that was funny about shooting that scene was Penelope Allen. She really got into the scene and her part so much that she wouldn’t leave Al Pacino while a gun was being pointed right at his head. Penelope refused to leave the vehicle. Penelope was very caring. Sidney couldn’t believe what he was hearing after they shot one take of the scene. Sidney told the other actresses to push Penelope out of the vehicle during the second take. He even told one the extras who was a police officer to help pull her out. People were calling “Dog Day Afternoon” the most naturalistic film Sidney Lumet had ever directed. He had directed a lot of successful films like “12 Angry Men”, “Serpico” and “Murder on the Orient Express”, but “Dog Day Afternoon” felt more real. It was really something.
My rating on “Dog Day Afternoon” five out of five stars
The Simpsons
Blaine: The bank robber was voiced by Steve Buscemi. His partner is made to look like John Cazale’s character, Sal. The Simposonized Sal takes his gun out the same way Al Pacino did in “Dog Day Afternoon”.
