Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Director Sidney Lumet loved rebels. From his big-screen debut with 12 Angry Men (1957) to his last film, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), he captured the dignity of fighting against the odds. In this narrative inspired by a true story, he found one of his most dynamic and sympathetic heroes. Al Pacino’s Sonny Wortzik (based on criminal John Wojtowicz) tries to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for a gender reassignment surgery for his partner, a transgender woman. But when he gets there, most of the money is already gone, and he inadvertently triggers a media circus. As Pacino plays the crowd gathered outside and bonds with his hostages in the bank, Lumet captures the man’s innate humanity, turning a too-crazy-to-be-true story into one of the screen’s greatest expressions of the absurdity of modern life.

d. Sidney Lumet, 125m, DCP