A few days ago, I was helping a friend with some homework and she had to watch Dog Day Afternoon to write a paper on it. She’s very much not a movie person and when she watched it, she initially wasn’t impressed. All she said to me after was, “How does a guy go from The Godfather to whatever the hell that was?”
“What do you mean,” I asked her.
“I just didn’t get it.”
As we talked more about it, I finally got the answer I knew was coming.
She told me, “It just seemed so weird to see a macho future mob god turn into a dingus trying to get his man-wife a sex change.”
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For those of you that don’t know, Dog Day Afternoon is a movie chronicling Sonny Wortzik’s real life robbery and hostage situation. He is trying to get money for his partner to get a sex change when everything goes awry and turns into a showdown. The main point though is that this movie shows a change in the times. Hollywood was finally ready to showcase themes that some people still thought of as unorthodox.
The reason why this movie stands out so much (in of course a great way) is that it’s different than most preceding it. The themes of homosexuality, mental instability, and even criminals trying to do something good make this story so much more relatable because in some way or another, we’ve all been in Sonny’s shoes. We’ve all been the losers and I will admit, I cheered Sonny on.
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Additionally, Al Pacino’s quirky anxiousness made me automatically love him while Chris Sarandon’s bathrobe scene made me double over in laughter because it felt like I was actually there, watching all of this happen. These are the kinds of stories that only happen in real life so of course it had elements that things like The Godfather could just not capture.
I explained all of this to my friend and while she still may not see it, Dog Day Afternoon was the perfect representation of how the times were changing and how freedom meant realizing that everyone is different. Not every guy is going to be Michael Corleone and sometimes, wives are men and THAT IS FINE. People needed to get out of the fairy tale, black and white mindset and acknowledge that movies need to represent real life around them also. Narrow-mindedness has never lasted, especially in the world of art, and let’s be honest, if people were that concerned with homosexuality, the movie probably wouldn’t have been made in the first place.
To get out of the seriousness of it all for a bit, this one is a must watch for any Al Pacino fan because it really shows how broad his talent really is. Thank you New Hollywood Cinema, you achieved perfection with this one.
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