Opening

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Coming Soon

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—— The English Teacher May 17
Dog Day Afternoon

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

89

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 89,402

My Rating

Movie Info

Based on a true 1972 story, Sidney Lumet's 1975 drama chronicles a unique bank robbery on a hot summer afternoon in New York City. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser Sonny (Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy, Sal (John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank. The situation swiftly escalates, as Sonny and Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the

R,

Drama, Classics

Frank Pierson, P.F. Kluge

Dec 16, 1997

WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES

Cast

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All Critics (36) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (1) | DVD (18)

Enjoyable and even exciting at the start, Dog Day Afternoon degenerates into frustration and tedium toward nightfall -- an experience no less painful for the audience than for the actors.

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comments (55)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One of Sidney Lumet's best jobs of directing and one of Al Pacino's best performances (as a bisexual bank robber) come together in a populist thriller with lots of New York juice

April 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Pacino] gives an electric performance, charged with a lunatic energy that expertly captures the weird blend of confidence and self-deprecation (if not hatred) that marks the paranoid syndrome.

August 24, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Dog Day Afternoon is, in the whole as well as the parts, filmmaking at its best.

August 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film's strength lies in its depiction of surfaces, lacking the visual or intellectual imagination to go beyond its shrewd social and psychological observations and its moments of absurdist humour.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's beautifully acted by performers who appear to have grown up on the city's sidewalks in the heat and hopelessness of an endless midsummer.

May 9, 2005
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As much as it is about a deeply troubled individual, "Dog Day Afternoon" is about a shift toward exploitation in the American media via live television.

May 30, 2011 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

Strong performances and forward-thinking situations make this political thriller an exceptionally vibrant experience.

April 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Cinema Sight
Cinema Sight

Fine, but overrated Pacino vehicle directed by Lumet.

October 23, 2008 | Comments (5)
Video-Reviewmaster.com

Though fact-based, Lumet's heist film (his best work) is a wild satire with farcical tones about a normless, irrational society whose (anti)heroes are crazy delusional marginal men, played with panache by Pacino and Cazale in their most spontaneous turns

September 28, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

An American classic.

August 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Pure cinema.

August 2, 2008
ColeSmithey.com

An iconic movie, thoroughly New York, with Pacino in top form.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Credit the filmmakers and stars...for bringing the events to life with such zest, such enthusiasm, and such broad appeal. (HD-DVD Edition)

April 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

[Dog Day Afternoon is] so perfectly executed that it almost feels like the wall of art is being pulled back slightly, revealing the reality of life, in all its messy, contradictory, confusing wonder.

February 28, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com
DVDTalk.com

Audience Reviews for Dog Day Afternoon

Al Pacino is beyond priceless in this hilarious film about a hugely inept bank robbery, and Lumet balances humor and action with perfection, creating many memorable scenes in what is both a quirky character study and a sharp commentary on the power of the media.
October 30, 2012
blacksheepboy

Super Reviewer

I really enjoyed this film. It does start out better than it ends, but remains interesting enough all of the way through. It is subtly funny and very dramatic. It has a very good screenplay and a great performance by Pacino. I think it was a little too slow developing, but enjoyable in the end.
May 23, 2012
Sanjay Rema

Super Reviewer

    1. Sonny: Attica! Attica!
    – Submitted by Dutch E (57 days ago)
    1. Pizza Boy: I'm a fucking star!
    – Submitted by William C (2 months ago)
    1. Sonny: Hey Leon! Happy Birthday!
    – Submitted by William C (2 months ago)
    1. Sonny: Put your fucking guns down! Put your fucking guns down! Put your fucking guns down! Put your fucking guns down! Attica! Attica! Attica! Attica! Attica!
    – Submitted by William C (2 months ago)
    1. Sonny: WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TOO ME!
    – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)
    1. Sylvia: Why don't you smoke?
    2. Sal: I don't want the cancer.
    – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)

Discussion Forum

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Foreign Titles

  • Un après-midi de chien (FR)
  • Tarde de perros (ES)
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