Review of Dog Day Afternoon

Introduction

Dog Day Afternoon is a classic thriller, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino with the tagline "The robbery should have taken 10 minutes. 4 hours later, the bank was like a circus sideshow. 8 hours later, it was the hottest thing on live T.V. 12 hours later, it was all history. And it`s all true."

The film features a pair of criminals who set out to rob a local bank in Brooklyn, but their plan goes astray when the Police arrive outside before than get escape with the money. Their only option is to take the bank staff hostage, but outside things are hotting up as a crowd and the media gather.

Video

The video comes in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and given the 27 year vintage of the film, the picture is of a reasonable standard, with minimal grain and dirt. The image is stable and is fairly crisp, although not especially detailed.

The film is set almost exclusively in the Brooklyn Bank and the pavement outside and the settings look authentic.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, providing a mono feed to the front stereo pair. The sound in the film is limited to dialogue and effects - there is no music.

The dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout the movie.

Features

The only extra on the disc are the production notes.

The disc is packaged in one of Warner`s infamous snapper cases.

Conclusion

Dog Day Afternoon was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director and Best Picture. Clearly with these credentials, the film has a lot to live up to, and 27 years later I would describe it as an above average thriller with excellent performances, but not Best Picture material.

Pacino is superb from start to finish, delivering a powerful performance as Sonny, the lead robber. The film itself it a little slow by today`s standards and nowadays would probably benefit from a 20 minute trim, as it did seem to struggle at certain points of the two hour running time. Whilst the script provides for quite a bit of tension, some scenes are quite bizarre, which means that the film has a varied pace at times.

The picture and sound are both reasonable given the age of the film, but for such an acclaimed movie, the extras are disappointing.