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Dog Day Afternoon Reaction! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-01 13:59:02
Imported:
2026-06
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Previews only

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Full Reaction You can either stream the Full reaction below using the embedded video player, otherwise you can click the 'Download' button which will take you directly to Google Drive, enabling you to save the video to your computer instead. You must provide your own footage to watch alongside the full reactions.

Comments

Azmat Mahmood

I just recently watched this film for the first time the other week and really enjoyed it, so this reaction is a pleasant surprise!

Thomas Corp

You asked if there’s ever moments during the reaction where you can tell that you really love what you’re watching. Yes, that happens a fair number of times. Beyond lovely, Jess, to see that this was one such time. Of the films you selected for the series, this one is my favorite. As with the others, it’s ranked too low on my favorites of the year of 1975, but it is on my top five of the year; roughly tied with Three Days of the Condor. First saw it about twelve years ago when I was in my early twenties. My aunt, rest her soul, had never seen it before, picked it up to see it. She offered to lend it to me, I said I was interested, borrowed it, saw it, and loved it. Afterwards, I had very lovely talks with my aunt about the film as she really liked it as well. It’s up there in terms of the best Sidney Lumet films, who’s one of my favorite directors. I recall you’ve said that Twelve Angry Men is one of your favorites, same director as this, and I like that you gave him his due. Al Pacino is of course one who is one of the best, and here is one of his most iconic performances. It also is a transition to his more notable persona that was solidified in Scarface, yet his voice hasn’t gone through the irreparable change that was brought on by the years of smoking. You speak well of the film just plunging you into this immersion of humanity and society. I predicted that you would really love the tonal shifts of humor and heaviness. This is a big strength of the film. Siskel and Ebert gave two thumbs up and spoke very positively about the humor as you did, as they both highlighted it as well, with Roger Ebert writing that he liked the “irreverent, quirky sense of humor”, and Gene Siskel writing praise for the “scenes mixing the fear of violence with insane laughter”. Al is owed so much credit, as you gave him with the portrayal of Sonny as neither a hero nor villain. He’s just a man. Toxic as hell at spots, but very human. Al sadly lost the Oscar for this, as did the film for best picture, which speaks more to the impossible competition. The humanity extends to the hostages. I anticipated you’d really like Sylvia, and not just because of the shared fear of being locked in, knew you’d make a quick comment on that one. Penelope Allen is great as Slyvia. Delightful that you called her your diva, your queen, your everything, and that she is the moment. Of the other tellers, it’s a treat to see a young Carol Kane who gets the great scene of her husband calling to know when she’s coming home for dinner, we both get huge laughs at that one. We talk about people like Heath Ledger, Chadwick Boseman, and especially Philip Seymour Hoffman as actors that we lost far too soon. John Cazale may very well stand right at the top of the list of gifted actors we lost far too soon. I greatly loved the praise that you gave to John for his portrayal of Sal. Good way to put it, what you said of he comes across as both more seasoned a criminal, and more unhinged, yet ends up sort of frozen. A very succinct description, Jess. I KNEW that you’d love how very New York this movie is. Really well shown with Sonny’s scenes with Moretti, played by the wonderful Charles Durning whom my mom adores. One of the biggest strengths of the film is the portrayal of Leon. Chris Sarandon is terrific in again, the portrayal of humanity without devolving into stereotypes. And how the film holds up half a century later with that plotline. There is the seventies attitude, which as it is set then, would still be there even if you made this today. Yet, all of it is portrayed with great sympathy. We have a similar first experience with the ending of figuring it would not end well, yet it sucker-punches you. Quick shout out to Lance Henriksen in one of his earliest notable roles. Seeing your reaction to said ending, and later your discussions were all amazing. You spoke well of the full weight and reality just hit Sonny at the end. The tension of that whole final scene, like you said, even though you know it’s coming, it still gets you. Rewatching the film, I obviously know it’s coming, and I’m still on the edge of my seat. Power of a real good ending. And you summarize the film well: The best of ourselves and the worst of ourselves can be put on display. Other quick highlights of the reaction. You and I had the same response to when Sonny is told to watch his language. Loved too how when the topic of foul language came up again, how you criticized the skewed priorities. You expressed not being sure if Catholicism is down with armed robbery, which, well, they tended not to say they were ok with it. Nine years of Sunday School and they never said they were ok with it, so, I’d say your observation is an accurate one. I just so adore that you loved this film as much as you did, Jess. The reaction was perfect. Don’t worry about that. And I’d just love to brew a pot of coffee and just sit and talk with you to keep talking about it. Oh, this one was so good, Jess, thank you so, so very much.

Ryan

As the saying goes, every actor has a low point to their career except John Cazale. And you might be seeing another one of his soon depending on how you resolve that third place tie in the last poll. He's amazing as always here, his chemistry with Pacino having already been honed in two Godfather movies, and improvising that bit about Wyoming knowing Al would have a great reaction to it. But boy is it painful seeing him have a conversation about dying from cancer. I'm impressed you went in knowing it was a true story. That was a big part of its appeal on release, being just three years later and fresh in everyone's minds, but it feels like the movie's reputation has entirely eclipsed the real event by now. The real John Wojtowicz (presumably having his name changed just for ease of pronunciation) got a special screening of it in prison, and described it as being 30% accurate to the real thing, especially taking issue with the totally false portrayal of his wife as an overweight nag. It also didn't help at all that some fellow prisoners assumed he really had betrayed his partner and tried to kill him without getting the real version. The most notable part taken straight from what really happened is his shouting "Attica," and it's quite convenient that the movie explains that shortly beforehand because I imagine a lot of people now have no idea what that is either. It really says something that a lot more these days would still have a better understanding of the spoof of the scene in Airheads with Brendan Fraser shouting "Rodney King." He ended up being released for good behavior after just six years of the two decade sentence mentioned at the end, but sadly he wasn't able to get back on his feet at all and ended up an early victim of AIDS. One of the big draws of the event when it happened was the inextricable involvement of LGBT issues, and in a world just three years after the Stonewall riot where most people were still getting used to not thinking Liberace just hadn't found the right girl, no one in bourgeois high society was at all prepared to handle this, yet it was also impossible to ignore that this guy had a loving wife and kids, and also a male lover who wanted a sex change. And at this time there was no better director to do this material properly than Sidney Lumet, who for nearly two decades had delivered one fearlessly political message movie after another which have all stood the test of time beautifully. He and Pacino had just done an attack on police corruption in Serpico, and Wojtowicz had actually been doing an impression of Pacino while talking with the cops after seeing The Godfather that same day, so it's this really cosmic confluence of events that allowed this story to be told by the best possible to do it. Though you also have to wonder if Lumet realized the irony in following this one up with an adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express because in his own words, after so many heavy dramatic movies "I wanted to do something gay." For as much of an issue as casting trans actors is now, this even more than Squid Game falls into how it just wouldn't be practical at the time. And Chris Sarandon imbues this role with so much emotion to become the entire beating heart of the movie, despite arriving late and making his introduction with a boatload of exposition. I also can't help being amused that the movie shares two actors with The Princess Bride, even if they're never together in either film. It also helps that the portrayal of trans issues has aged far better than you'd expect from this era, with the character always allowed their own dignity and just a few odd slurs thrown around from the background. This is the part that always sticks with me the most, and it was wonderful seeing you instantly be engaged and end up declaring how great the movie was the second it ended. For as revered a classic as it is, I always want to see more people discover it.

Thomas Corp
>>166382096

Figured we’d both single out John Cazale. Talk about one of the greatest careers ever and just imagine what it could have been like had he not died young. I’ll have more to say about John when we get the one reaction, whenever it happens, be it the recent poll or a later one, (though we should probably save it for later given how Wicked and Blade Runner are basically three hours,) and the reaction following that, God willing. I badly want to recommend The Conversation for Gene Hackman on a future poll. I’m most wary of recommending The Deer Hunter, both for how long it is, (which is hypocritical given how long The Godfather films are,) and just, there’s the worry of the reaction Jess will have to the subject matter; I’m going to need some heavy prep work if we revisit that one. The line of Sal not wanting the cancer, yeah, that one you suck in a breath there. The film’s reputation has eclipsed general knowledge of the real event, so it was nice to see that Jess knew that it was a real event going in. Heard about the response that John Wojtowicz had seeing it in prison. Likewise, heard about the coincidence with The Godfather, which, boy, that worked out well with the casting. The film does have the thing of being made when the event is fresh in everyone’s mind so there’s not much hand holding. Still tame compared to All the President’s Men, which although you can follow along well enough, it helps significantly if you have a strong knowledge of Watergate and the who’s who of the Nixon era. Or it helps if you have parents who lived through the time, like my parents did, and my mom still talks about memories of that, especially talking about what happened then, compared to now. There is the convenience of the mention of Attica before the famous moment. Sideny was definitely one of the best men for the job with tackling the LGBTQ+ issues in this film. Especially when you look at his filmography which holds up beautifully well. Curious as well if he caught the irony on the one statement. The transgender casting does feel in a similar boat as Squid Game. Chris is so good in this, and yeah, good note on their being two people from The Princess Bride in this, and both times, they share no scenes. Yeah, like I said too, for being a fifty-year-old movie, the topics and how they tackle them age remarkably and refreshingly well, “with the character always allowed their own dignity” as you put it. Yeah, as we both note, there are a few slurs thrown out, which makes sense given the period. Like I noted, say you made this today, you’d be stuck with that given this is the seventies. But otherwise, the hostages find out, they never have much issue with any of it. Or Moretti, though he does initially have the “Jesus Christ” response, he’s still kind, patient, and courteous toward Leon. And when it’s mentioned about Leon being a woman trapped in a man’s body, it’s a great small moment how Moretti shoots a glare at the cop who laughs at that. Seeing Jess instantly be engaged and how she ended up declaring how great the movie was the second it ended, that was most fantastic for me as well. Shared thing of loving seeing when people discover this one. Same with Network, my pick for Sidney Lumet’s best film, and my favorite of his work, which I’m still sad about how I tried putting it on the poll years ago, and it barely got any votes. Might have to try again if Jess had the response that she did to Dog Day Afternoon, and how she says Twelve Angry Men is up there on her favorite films.

Ryan
>>166382096

Another one that I always recommend is Deathtrap, which now makes for an especially nice substitute for Sleuth until people can see it again. Also The Hill, which was Sean Connery's big attempt to break out of his James Bond typecasting while the series was still going on.

Ryan
>>166371065

They really lucked out in the unknown actor cast in a small role that everything pivots around in the end going on to be much more recognized, and even one of only two actors killed by an Alien, Predator, and Terminator.

Thomas Corp
>>166382096

Deathtrap is an underseen, yet really damn good one. The Hill is good. Fail Safe is another massively underappreciated gem, and it makes a perfect double feature with Dr. Strangelove. I also greatly love his directing the film adaptation of Long Day’s Journey into Night.