Dog Day Afternoon

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⭐ 9/10

I went into this one with almost no expectations, and thought I would tackle the first leg of a long flight with a classic.  This movie was awesome.  It starts with 2 guys robbing a bank, and you quickly realize they are buffoons, and a story with a serious premise gets humourous. This robbery completely fails and the rest of the story is about these guys stuck in the bank with hostages trying to figure out how they are going to get out of this mess.  It's such a genius story, apparently, based on a true story, that works so well as a movie.  We get to know some people outside the bank, as motivations are uncovered and we see the police strategies to try to get everyone out of the building safely.  Pacino is electric in this movie, completely on fire in a way I don't think I have really seen from him before (not that I have seen that may of his movies).  Godfather is subdued with occasional outbursts, and Heat was a bit unhinged, and this is a perfect balance of both of those.  He is so charasmatic, and that's the only way a movie like this can work.  I can't think of any modern actor that could balance a movie like this the way he does.

There is a lot of humour here, and then when the movie gets serious, like when its discovered why they are robbing this bank, its a gut punch. I'm not sure if empathy is what I felt, but I certainly didn't want these guys to get arrested.  Why can't everyone just go home and act like this never happened? I love the way it is told in basically one location, with more and more pieces of the puzzle being added over time.  Such a well crafted story, pretty unique in my mind, not really any modern comparison. John Cazale is excellent as the other reluctant robber (guy is only in all-time great movies), but he doesn't get nearly as much to do as Pacino.

No real negatives here, so I am not sure why this isn't a 10, it just didn't really hit that upper echelon for me.  But I would highly recommend this movie, especially with its hilarious opening scene. The tension gets high near the end and it has a satisfying conclusion I won't spoil here. Would recommend for your next in-flight movie experience.

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