Dog Day Afternoon (HD-DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Film: B+
Sidney
Lumet has made many great films, but there is something special about Dog Day Afternoon (1975) that makes it
a one of a kind gem. Al Pacino gives one
of his greatest performances as Sonny, who has decided to rob a bank for very
personal reasons (not just tasking the money and running) and with his friend
Sal (the late, great John Cazale) are well on their way.
Unfortunately,
circumstances beyond their control make everything go wrong and a classic
confrontation results with Sonny winning the crowd’s respect and as the real
reasons become clear, challenges everything about the already challenging
situation where the cops and system are as indicted as much as Sonny and Sal
will be if they are caught alive.
Frank
Pierson’s great script (which won the Academy Award) is ambiguous about good
and evil, which helps the film ask so many more questions about the situation,
this country and the time it was made in.
Despite being somewhat of a time capsule, the energy, humor and wit of
the script, its director and the great cast make this film as much of an event
as the one depicted in the film.
Charles
Durning is the good detective sergeant who knows this can be resolved if Sonny
can be negotiated with. At first, he
wonders if it is a political cause or just pure greed on Sonny’s part. Also look for fine performances by actors who
were (as is the case with so many Lumet films) n most cases not as know, like
Carol Kane, Lance Henriksen, Dominic Chianese, Chris Sarandon and James
Broderick. What it says about TV then
and now only gains resonance and as for being a classic from the golden age of
1970s filmmaking, it is proof people knew how good the films were after all
versus the myth by “certain parties” that somehow no one knew this at the time.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is from an older HD master and it shows
with some detail, depth and definition limits we have seen in some older HD
masters from several companies. It still
looks better than the newest DVD, but there are still nuances by the great
cinematographer Victor J. Kemper (The
Hospital, Friends Of Eddie Coyle,
The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud, Magic) that this transfer is not doing
justice too. This was not any fancy kind
of color, but deserves a new 4K HD upgrade since it is a key film of the
1970s. The Dolby Digital Plus 1.0 Mono
is fair, but a 5.1 upgrade of some sort would have been nice. Extras includes an excellent feature length
audio commentary track Lumet, vintage Lumet:
Film Maker featurette, original theatrical trailer and four-part making of
documentary a film this great deserves.
If you
have never seen Dog Day Afternoon and
can see it in this format in particular, don’t miss it. It is a classic that is a must-see for all
serious film fans.
- Nicholas Sheffo
