Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Sonny Wortzik

Dog Day Afternoon was inspired by true story of the robbery of a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in 450 Avenue P, at the cross street of East 3rd Street, in Gravesend Brooklyn, New York by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile on August 22, 1972, was published as an article entitled "The Boys in the Bank" by P.F. Kluge in Life Magazine in 1972. The film directed by Sidney Lumet based on screenplay written by Frank Pierson.

Dog Day Afternoon tells a story about Sonny Wortzik and his friend Sal Naturile's attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for the operation for Sonny's transsexual wife Leon Shermer. But all the robbery plan goes wrong, and Sonny discovers that only $1,100.00 in cash remains in the bank after the daily cash pickup. His attempt to compensate the small cash by takes a number of traveler's checks and burning the bank's register to prevent the checks from being traced only led them to bigger mess.

Dog Day Afternoon stars Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik, John Cazale as Sonny's partner in robbery Salvatore "Sal" Naturile, Charles Durning as Detective Sgt. Eugene Moretti, and Chris Sarandon as Leon Shermer, Sonny's preoperative transsexual wife.

The film was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Sidney Lumet), and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Al Pacino) as well as several Golden Globe awards nomination, and finally won one Academy Award for Writing - Original Screenplay (Frank Pierson).

Al Pacino fails to won Oscar for his leading role in the film. However, his performance as Sonny Wortzik received highly acclaimed critics. It is ranked #4 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). He also won the British Academy Award for Best Actor, and Pacino's quote, "Attica! Attica!" (in reference to the Attica Prison riots) placed at #86 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. Roger Ebert called Sonny Wortzik "one of the most interesting modern movie characters" and gave Dog Day Afternoon three-and-a-half stars out of four. In 2009, Dog Day Afternoon was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.


Cast:

Al Pacino ... Sonny Wortzik
John Cazale ... Sal Naturile
Chris Sarandon ... Leon Shermer
Charles Durning ... Det. Sgt. Eugene Moretti
James Broderick ... Sheldon
Penelope Allen ... Sylvia
Carol Kane ... Jenny