Philip Charles Mackenzie

Dog Day Afternoon -- True story about a bank robbery gone haywire one hot August day when two optimistic losers, the frantic master-mind Sonny, and his slow-witted buddy Sal, attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank.

On the blistering afternoon of August 22, 1972, two optimistic losers attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank -- the frantic master-mind Sonny (Academy Award-winner Al Pacino, "Scent of a Woman," "Carlito's Way"), and his slow-witted buddy Sal (John Cazale, "The Godfather," "The Deer Hunter"). But then the cops arrive. The crowds arrive. The TV cameras arrive. Even the pizza man arrives. As their heist turns into a circus, Sonny and Sal's notoriety grows, and their chances for survival shrink. Pacino teams with his "Serpico" director Sidney Lumet ("The Verdict," "Prince of the City") for a jolting comedy-drama that earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and a win for Frank Pierson's streetwise screenplay based on a real-life incident. Recently selected by the prestigious American Film Institute as one of the 400 greatest American films of all time. "Funny...vivid...Lumet's most accurate, most flamboyant New York movie," raves The New York Times of this box-office hit.

On one blistering afternoon in August, two optimistic losers attempt to rob a bank. But then the cops arrive, the crowds arrive, and the TV cameras arrive. As their heist turns into a circus, the robbers realize their chances for survival shrink.

A man robs a bank to pay for his lover's operation; it turns into a hostage situation and a media circus.