Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Dog Day Afternoon is, start to finish, non-stop twists, turns, accidents, betrayals, misunderstandings, surprises, and panic. Unlike most films depicting any sort of heist, the movie begins right as Sonny (Al Pacino) and his accomplices walk into the bank they plan to rob, guns under their arms in large white packages. As soon as Sonny viciously rips open his box while standing in the teller line this raucous and turbulent drama takes off like a rocket. Right away things go terribly wrong: one of Sonny's two accomplices gets cold feet and runs off, and that's before they've even discovered that there's practically no money in the bank's vault. Then while Sonny tries to plot his next move, he's discovered by Brooklyn police, automatically making our hero the proprietor of a full-blown hostage situation, complete with helicopters, snipers, press, and crowds of people, most of whom eventually take Sonny's side in the conflict.

From the minute this film started I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. It'll have you on the edge of your seat, grinding your teeth with nervous anticipation for whatever is going to go wrong next (because very quickly you'll discover a pattern of things going wrong). The characters are rich and complex, in particular Sonny, who you never stop learning interesting things about. Speaking of which, I'd just like to say, the Netflix description makes a big deal about the fact that Sonny is robbing the bank to pay for his gay lover's sex change operation. Now, it's certainly an interesting element of the story, but the fact is you don't even learn about Sonny's lover until about an hour in to the film. This film is about a bank robbery, executed by desperate, disturbed Vietnam vets, that goes tragically wrong. A guaranteed thrilling and riveting crime drama that packs more excitement into two hours than you ever thought possible.

Oh ya. And it's a true story.