Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Frank Pierson. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, Chris Sarandon, and Charles Durning. Based on the events of an attempted bank robbery in 1972, Dog Day Afternoon tells the story of Sonny Wortzik, who holds employees of a bank hostage with his partner Salvatore Naturile in Brooklyn, New York. The film was inspired by the article "The Boys in the Bank", which tells a similar story of the robbery of a Brooklyn bank by John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile; this article was first published in Life in 1972. The film received generally positive reviews, some of which referred to its anti-establishment tones. Although it was nominated for major awards, Dog Day Afternoon won just a sole Academy Award and failed to win a Golden Globe. Pacino's "ATTICA!" line from the film, referencing the Attica Prison riots, has become widely quoted, and was #86 on American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Movie Quotes" list. (more...)
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