Comfort Films 71: Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

For the third week in our Comfort Crime Month, we take a trip back to a sweaty August day in 1970s Brooklyn to ride shotgun with Al Pacino and John Cazale on a bank robbery gone very wrong in Sidney Lumet's Oscar-nominated Dog Day Afternoon. We talk about the real-life 1972 robbery that inspired the film, the Gen X/Millennial interest in true crime (a seed probably planted by Unsolved Mysteries), the improvisational rehearsal process that supported and enhanced screenwriter Frank Pierson’s Oscar-winning script, Sidney Lumet’s naturalistic approach to telling this story, the birth of sensationalist news, the uniquely unforgettable John Cazale, and the choice to limit music apart from the amazing opening song "Amoreena" by Elton John, an incredibly nuanced pick that both contrasts and amplifies the themes of the film. Release your hostages and give us a listen!