Afternoon Delight?

For years, I've been enjoying the podcast Craig's List. That probably deserves its own post here, but in a nutshell: Craig Cackowski is a huge movie buff and an obsessive list maker. He has a list of his 100 favorite movies, and his wife Carla has agreed to watch them all and record a podcast about each of the films. With the wit and rapport between these two comedians and improv teachers, and her tastes being quite different from his, amusement ensues. But if both of them sing the praises of the same movie I haven't seen? That gets onto my radar.

That's how I came to watch Dog Day Afternoon, the 1975 Sidney Lumet film based on an actual Brooklyn bank robbery gone off the rails. A quick in-and-out plan falls apart, resulting in a lengthy, sometimes farcical standoff.

There's a lot to like here, but nothing (in my view) more so than the movie's first half hour. Dog Day Afternoon seems to be in conversation with every slick heist movie made before and since, declaring "these characters may think they're in Ocean's Eleven, but this is what a robbery would really be like." In its opening act, Dog Day Afternoon is truly, laugh-out-loud funny. Everything that can go wrong seemingly does, strange character quirks from every corner heighten the situation in fun ways, and the movie genuinely skirts the line between comedy and drama with deft skill.

It's a tone I wish had sustained throughout. There do continue to be fun grace notes here and there, but the movie did begin to drag for me in the middle, the standoff situation truly starting to feel like a standstill at times. There are several cuttable and trimmable scenes, like a series of lengthy jumps to the airport the robbers are hoping to escape to, or moments that spend a bit too much time with characters outside the bank.

Still, the performances are quite good throughout. Al Pacino stars as Sonny, in a compelling performance that predates Pacino turning into a parody of himself. Chris Sarandon has an LGBT role that's surprisingly subtle and progressive for its time; some other characters in the movie are laughing as if it's a joke, but the movie itself definitely isn't sharing the laugh. Charles Durning is strong as the police officer trying to negotiate with Sonny. Then there are a bunch of fun and compelling supporting performances on the perimeter, from John Cazale, Sully Boyar, Penelope Allen, and Carol Kane. (And yep, that's Lance Henriksen.)

Dog Day Afternoon wouldn't make my own Top 100 list (or even come close, really), but I'm glad I made the time for it. It starts strong, finishes decently, and generally held my interest better than many other movies of its time. I give it a B-.