Guide Note

Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino. It follows a botched bank robbery by Sonny Wortzik (based on real-life bank robber John Stanley Wojtowicz) and his partner Salvatore Naturile, who barricade themselves inside the building with a number of hostages, and attempt to negotiate an escape.

Fast Facts

1. Release Date: September 21, 1975
2. Won the Academy Award for Original Screenplay by Frank Pierson
3. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Film Editing
4. Based on the Life Magazine article, "The Boys in the Bank"
5. The actual event took place on August 22, 1972 at a Chase Manhattan Bank in Gravesend, Brooklyn

The film, with its gritty urbanism, is regarded as one of the pillars of 1970s American filmmaking, and is noteworthy for its portrayal of Wortzik's homosexuality and his relationship with a pro-operative transsexual -- the character Leon Schermer, based on the real-life Ernest Aron and played by Chris Sarandon.