Dog Day Afternoon

Dog Day Afternoon is a film based on a true story. Sonny (Al Pacino) enters a bank with the intent to rob it and get out as soon as possible. But a few things go wrong and the cops are there before Sonny and his partner Sal can get out of the bank.We find out that Sonny is gay, and robbed the bank so he could pay for is wife (Chris Sarandon) sex change operation. After 8 hours the stand up ends with Sal being shot and Sonny giving up.

I have to say this is my favorite film of the class so far. I think I really connected with Al Pacino's character Sonny. We all have family and/or friends that we would do something crazy to help. It may not be to the extent of robbing a bank, but maybe you would do worse. A gay lead character or not I think everyone knows how it feels to want to help someone but not be able to.

I have to say, having Al Pacino and Chris Sarandon as two lovers is amazing. Al Pacino is such a man's man, no pun intended. It really gives new light on the way people imagined gays, back then. I think everyone thought gays were very flamboyant like Sonny's lover Leon. And the fact that someone so famous would be willing to play a gay man for a film is a big deal as well. Even now we don't see many film with gay lead characters. This film was so a head of its time.

The way Sonny manipulates the crown is so great. He brings up the Attica Prison Riots getting the crowd on his side right away. This also means the police have to be very careful how they go about this. The crowd change throughout the film as well. Once they find out Sonny is gay the crowd really becomes split. Some people think Sonny is evil and a bad bad man and then there is a group of people chearing him on with gay pride flags and posters.