Dog Day Afternoon

“Anything can happen during the dog days of summer. On August 22nd, 1972, everything did.”

On a sweltering summer afternoon in Brooklyn, Sonny (Al Pacino) walks into a bank with a gun for reasons that unfold only as the hours pass. Police arrive within minutes, and Moretti (Charles Durning) takes position outside, turning the robbery into a standoff that stretches through the night. Lumet shoots the streets in grainy daylight and fluorescent interiors, letting the desperation mount through the smallest gestures.