DIRECTOR: Sidney Lumet

BOTTOM LINE: Sidney Lumet’s masterpiece is based on true events. On a hot August afternoon in 1972, Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) and Sal Naturile (John Cazale) attempt to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank but only find $1,100 in cash and end up being surrounded by the police. Sonny wants the money to get his lover Leon a sex change and, as a long day journeys into night, things begin to turn into a circus.

Pacino is magnificent. With Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” movies, “Dog Day Afternoon” is his defining role. And director Sidney Lumet, working wonders in an enclosed space, gets the scenes between Sonny and Leon (Chris Sarandon, excellent) exactly right. Funny but endearing. Not a trace of condescension.

With “Brokeback Mountain,” the best, the greatest LGBTQ+ movie ever made.

POST TITLE: Twenty-Seven Queer Films 1967-1976. Queer Cinema Comes Out

CATEGORY: My Favorites

SUBCATEGORY: Queer Film

STREAMING: Amazon Prime and Apple TV+