Dog Day Afternoon Family Review

Three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.Based upon a real-life incident which occurred in August 1972 in which a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York, was held siege by Sonny, a Vietnam veteran turned bank robber determined to steal enough money ($2500) for his "wife" (Leon, a trans woman; the two, were, according to an onscreen TV news report, married in a church by a priest who was defrocked shortly after, although Leon says to the police that Sal is "married and has children") to undergo a sex change operation. (The real life character upon whom Leon is based did, in fact, get the operation.) On a hot summer afternoon, Sonny and two cohort, Stevie and Sal, go to rob the (fictional) First Savings Bank of Brooklyn. Stevie soon gets nervous and flees. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds there is not much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Captain Moretti of the NYPD, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city's entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees' safety.—alfiehitchie (updated by R.M. Sieger)At the end of the banking day on August 22, 1972, Sonny, Sal and Stevie enter a small branch of the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. After all the customers have left and the bank is about to close, they proceed to rob it at gunpoint. But the robbery does not go according to Sonny's plan. There is little cash as the money has been picked up for the day. Stevie abandons the plan and flees. A standoff ensues between the robbers (locked inside with ten hostages, the male bank manager, the male security guard, and eight female tellers and clerks) and the police, the media, and a hoard of onlookers outside. Sonny and the far less exhibitionist but seemingly even more unstable Sal have a suicide pact if things go wrong but Sonny tries to negotiate a way out, realizing the hostages are the duo's only leverage. As Sonny deals with the authorities - primarily "good cop", NYPD Captain Moretti, who tries to give Sonny whatever he wants, and "bad cop" Sheldon, an FBI agent who plays hardball with Sonny, the public (watching the interactions and hearing news reports) has mixed feelings about what Sonny is doing. Some, especially a contingent of the activist gay community (who later turn out to support Sonny in person) are sympathetic. As the situation turns into a circus both inside and outside the bank, emotions are ratcheted up a notch when Sonny's "second wife", Leon, is brought to the scene from a hospital following a suicide attempt by drug overdose. Leon is able to shed some light on why Sonny needs the money but initially refuses to speak by phone with Sonny, whom Leon describes as "crazy". Later, Sonny and Leon have, by turns acrimoniously and affectionately, a phone call, mostly acrimonious in that Leon rebukes Sonny for his actions, tells him they will not be travelling together [to Algeria, which Sonny has decided will be his escape destination), and blames Sonny for the cops thinking she [Leon] is an accessory. Soon after, Sonny calls his legal wife, with whom he has two children, and the reasons for that marriage's failure become evident. Sal is upset because the news reports have referred to the robbers as "two homosexuals". As long day turns to night, the standoff continues until the inevitable bloody (but minimally so) resolution. The audience learns, among other things, before the credits roll, that Leon (not the real life individual's name) did have the sexual reassignment surgery.—Huggo (updated by R.M. Sieger)On one of the hottest days of August 1972, three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a Brooklyn bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.