Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the release of Dog Day Afternoon. I can say, without exaggeration (for once), that Dog Day Afternoon changed my life. I was 13 when I first saw it – on network television ! – and I was never the same after. I wasn’t a totally different person, but I was given a glimpse of a kind of acting – a kind of life – that altered me forever. And I felt it at the time.
Mark Searby is a film critic and Al Pacino expert (he’s written on him extensively). He also hosts a great podcast called All About Al, where one of his ongoing projects is to go through Pacino’s career, film by film, one film per episode, and invite on different film critics to discuss said film. (He also has guests who worked on the film, co-stars, producers, whatever.) Pacino’s career is basically 60 years long at this point so the project is massive! He reached out to me early this year asking if I’d like to participate and gave me a list of films that hadn’t been covered. Unbelievably, Dog Day Afternoon was free so I picked that one. We recorded this either in late 2024 or early 2025, and Mark released it for the Dog Day Afternoon anniversary, which is sweet.
You can listen to us chat about Dog Day Afternoon on Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts.
Being all caught up (I think) with your writing on Dog Day, I caught the podcast this afternoon. It was so cool. One, hearing your voice. Two, the guy who does the podcast. I didn’t know of him and he was such a treat. Does he live over here? He’s found his niche, lucky man. Loved your father’s reaction to “What is Attica?” I’ve always felt you had a good father. I saw movies before I was old enough also, but mostly I read. Some stuff way too soon. It affects you, doesn’t it? I love the fact that you had to go to the library to do your research! I remember those days. I feel so spoiled by the internet and spend many hours each day just going down rabbit holes, finding more and more interesting things to read, listen to, and watch. I will check out some of his other podcasts. What a wonderful thing to find on your site today!
I definitely was left to my own devices in terms of what I read and saw – and some of it was WAY beyond me but I love the memory – those things make such an impression.
and I think Mark lives in Suffolk – his podcast is excellent and I was honored he asked me to come on to talk about being a middle-schooler.
Hi Sheila, this was a wonderful podcast, you were so insightful as always!
“You have to be totally honest when you’re doing the method, the camera is a lie detector.” That’s awesome. Pacino is so great at inhabiting his characters. You mentioned how much he gets done with just his eyes in all his roles. So true.
I remember a “Dinner for Five” where Peter Falk talked about the difference between stage and film acting. He said on stage you have to be “BIG”, larger than life, so the person sitting in the last row can still experience the emotions. But on film, the camera will pick up the smallest gesture or look, so you can be much more subtle. Pacino (pre-schtick phase that started with Scent of a Woman, which you discussed) is obviously among the best ever at this, just conveying subtle emotion with his eyes and his face.
I think of his 4 “gangsters” (I’m sure there’s more). But when I compare Michael Corleone, Tony Montana, Carlito Brigante, and Lefty Ruggiero (Donnie Brasco), well, it’s kind of hard to believe they’re all the same actor. I think Donnie Brasco gets overlooked, I find him heartbreaking in that film.
My thoughts on Dog Day Afternoon:
Like you I absolutely love Lumet, and he was incredibly influential to my specific taste in films, as well as my “worldview”. His run of Network, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Prince of the City is my favorite stretch of films by any director, ever.
I saw all these movies at a young age, (too young, also like you, which probably explains a lot about people who love film), and I was always (to this day) fascinated with stories that “show how things really work.” I am fine with pure fantasy like Star Wars sometimes when the mood strikes. But even at a very young age that seemed pretty childish to me compared to say, Serpico.
I LOVE the opening Dog Day Afternoon. I feel like every movie should open with a montage of random people in the city where the film takes place. Philadelphia did this too, to great effect. My favorite shots are the guy with the sweet tennis stroke using an old wood racket last seen in the days of Jimmy Connors, and then the old guys dressed all in yellow, with the yellow hat, is just the best New Yorker ever.
Interestingly, the Elton John song “Amorena” that plays over the opening is the only song/soundtrack in the whole film. There is NO score, and no other music at all (except maybe some background noise through a radio somewhere). Lumet wanted the movie to be as realistic as possible, and this was the reason behind that decision. It’s fascinating to me because it works so well, and yet I am struggling to think of even a single other film that has zero score or music.
The first 30-40 minutes of the film are surprisingly hilarious. The way the other accomplice immediately backs out, the way Sal and Sonny can’t see each other around the columns in the bank, the way he draws attention by setting a fire, you kind of know these guys aren’t cut out for this. I always crack up at how Pacino starts to feel like he just wants to be left alone after a while.”I have to keep them happy, I have to keep you happy, I have to have all the ideas”. Robbing a bank is mentally draining.
Sal is so weird. What is his backstory? What was his day job before this? Screenwriting 101 says you need to explain some stuff about a character for them to be 3 dimensional. Sal is zero dimensional, and yet he is still fascinating. Why? Cazale was so great. I have no idea why I care about Sal, but I do. It’s a really interesting character for reasons I cannot explain.
Two performances outside Cazale and Pacino always stood out to me. Charles Durning makes me laugh with every line reading. He’s both over the top and incredibly believable as Moretti. Just vintage New York. And Penelope Allen as Sylvia, the head teller. “You rob a bank on a whim, this is what you do?” It’s so New York to not be intimidated by your bank robbers but instead bust their balls. I love her in this.
I treasure these early Lumet films and performances. I am trying to think about who the “current” Lumet is, but we really don’t have one, and probably never will.
Todd – I will get back to this when I have time – sooo much to discuss. I absolutely loved reading this!
// Pacino (pre-schtick phase that started with Scent of a Woman, which you discussed) is obviously among the best ever at this, just conveying subtle emotion with his eyes and his face. //
I think sometimes that the best example of this – in existence – is the Italian restaurant scene in Godfather when Michael shoots the two men. The lead-up – him sitting there listening, saying little, going to the bathroom, coming back and sitting down, listening more – you almost watch him – his moral sense – swirling down the drain. All in his eyes. The tension of that scene is there in every element – the shots, the concept, the setting – but seriously it’s all just there in Pacino’s face. Because he’s showing you … this is where a man loses his soul. like that Bible verse – “what shall a man gain in exchange for the soul”.
I don’t know how he does it. The tension is so huge you wish he would come out of the bathroom guns blazing – just to give us a BREAK. But no: Michael’s hesitation is actually the goodness left in him – the small part of him that knows he shouldn’t do this – or, if he HAS to do this, then he knows he will never be the same again. He’s not Sonny. This will cost him.
Bah. one of my favorite single “pieces” of acting ever!
in re: the score (or lack thereof) in Dog Day Afternoon: it’s so important. any music you hear is coming out of radios! Nothing “cinematic” to pump up the emotion.
You say we don’t have a current Lumet. I actually think we do – except they aren’t located in New York, because New York has changed so much and it’s also not as open as it was to filmmakers. I’ve compared Jafar Panahi’s work to Lumet’s – particularly in the way he films out on the bustling streets (at least he did before he was arrested and banned from making films, which forced him to go underground). like Lumet, Panahi is an urban filmmaker – the bustle and chaos of the city is where he’s most activated. Tehran is Panahi’s milieu. In The Circle, he showed three different women on the run from the male authorities – police / fathers / husbands – in their lives – and it’s filmed out there in the streets – where nobody’s an “extra” – it’s just LIFE that’s happening, the actors out on the streets are embedded in the population going about their day. Panahi’s “Offside” – which I’ve written about a lot – is another great example – filmed during an actual world cup qualifying match at the huge stadium in Tehran. They filmed behind the stadium – and the action unfolds in real time during the game.
Like Lumet, Panahi is all about “how things work” in his society – he looks at his society and can’t help but point out “look at this injustice / corruption over here – what’s going on?” It’s why the authorities were after him for years. Both aren’t message-y filmmakers, but they are definitely political.
Since Panahi’s arrest and imprisonment (multiple) – he has had to be more creative in making his films. A couple of his films take place entirely inside – since Panahi could no longer be seen out in the world making films. One takes place inside a moving car with no shots outside the car. An artist has to make his art. (His latest is screening at the NYFF next week and I can’t wait.)
Anyway – there are definitely people working in this vein – verisimilitude and realism – no frills – not wanting to use any tricks or manipulation in filmmaking.
I have some huge gaps in my film consumption and unfortunately Panahi is one of them. I don’t see nearly as much foreign film as I should, even though when I do I usually love it. I’ll check out a few of his soon.
Start with Offside! Five girls are determined to get into the stadium to see a soccer game but since they are girls they are not allowed. They dress up as boys. They are busted at the gate and kept in a pen behind the stadium.
Like I said, it was filmed during an actual World Cup qualifying match – there are scenes in the stadium too – so they clearly were going totally guerrilla style.
It’s making serious political points – about the way women are treated in Iran (Panahi has daughters – there’s a great story about how he got the idea for the film: He was headed out to the stadium for a soccer game. His 10 year old daughter begged to come along and he said, “You know how it is. You can’t come. I’m sorry.” in other words: he had accepted the injustice. He goes to the game and is sitting there and he looks up and there is his 10 year old daughter wearing pants and a baseball cap. she dressed up as a boy and snuck in. She said to him, “There is always a way, papa.” He was shamed – but also delighted. So he made a movie about it. DURING a live soccer game.
He also casts mostly non-actors and they are all great!
Sal is so weird. He seems like a very simple person, not really thoughtful or self-aware, and swept along by the more domineering Sonny. The plan is idiotic but Sonny is so convincing. Neither man is activated by greed. I don’t know what Sal wants. You couldn’t call him a psycho – at least not as I understand the term. Maybe he’s even scarier. I wonder how Cazale thought about Sal – because you know he knew everything about the character. The real life guy was a kid – not this gloomy blank-faced guy who seems older than Sonny. So they switched it up – deviating from the real life model – and I think it was the right choice.
I think Sal is, how you say, compromised mentally. He really doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on.
Penelope Allen! Yes! She was from my home state, Rhode Island! I can’t remember which film you came to at the Jacob Burns where we met – was it the Peter Sarsgaard-Jessica Chastain movie? when I met Sarsgaard beforehand, he asked where I was from, I said Rhode Island, and he said one of his greatest acting teachers was from Rhode Island. And it was Penny Allen!!
In 2015, he and Penelope Allen did Hamlet at Classic Stage – directed by Austin Pendleton – which I so wish I had seen. Allen was dying at the time – and Sarsgaard said it was so important for him to do Hamlet with her, in what would probably be her last acting job. She helped him so much in his early years. She died in 2017.
Thank you so much for listening and commenting – this was a really fun one. Like I said, I think we recorded this in either late 2024 or early 2025, so I had almost forgotten about it.
Happy 50th, Dog Day Afternoon!
The way you describe that iconic Godfather scene is spot on. He’s descending to hell. The subway cars roaring by adds to that. It’s undeniably among the best film performances, he’s the glue of perhaps the greatest two films of all time.
Yes Sal is childlike and the way he’s played by Cazale just makes me feel sorry for him as opposed to afraid of him (maybe because I know how it ends now, I’m not sure if I always felt that way.) It’s just interesting to look at what’s on the page vs what’s on the screen, there’s really nothing on the page for the actor to work with, but, as you said, Cazale presumably figured all the back story stuff out for himself. You mentioned the documentary about Cazale, the other actors speak about him the way guitar players talk about Hendrix, just a whole other level.
Yes, we met at the screening for Memory with Peter Saarsgard! That’s incredible that his acting teacher (and co-star) was Penelope Allen! What a small world the acting community is! He learned well I would say lol.
Todd – I’m sooo glad that Cazale documentary exists! I wish it was five hours long, lol
Did you see One Battle After Another yet? Wow. I think it’s my favorite movie since The Departed. Really curious to get your take.
I’m going Saturday – traveling many miles to see it in VistaVision because I am a giant nerd. looking forward to it!