Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Wow.
I picked it out because I know this film's in the canon and I haven't seen any of Pacino's early stuff. (I want to appreciate him.)

What struck me first about this film was that there's no background music. I wonder when we started doing that in our mainstream films. I understand why we do it but I think it works wonderfully to have moments of silence in this particular film.

I had no idea what the film was about until I grabbed teh DVD, and the words on the front made me think it would be dece. I thought it would be pretty predictable but I happen to enjoy this kind of film so I didn't mind too much.

Hmmm at the closing credits they said, "Based on a magazine article." That sounds nuts to me. Well...it sounds like the article couldn't have been that long and makes me wonder how much embellishment or extrapolation took place. Then again, maybe the BULK of the story came from a magazine and supplemental info came from the news, police reports, etc.

Al Pacino; I'm not sure what to say about him just yet. I'll have to find another one to watch, maybe Scent of a Woman (1992) since that's what he won an Oscar for. That guy's been nominated all over the place.

Great nugget of information discovered in my Internet Movie Database perusal? One of the supporting actors in this film, Chris Sarandon, did the voice of Jack Skellington from A Nightmare before Christmas (1993)! Huzzah! I couldn't really picture it...his accent and tone threw me off and when I tried to get a reference sample to compare to, all I had was Skellington singing in my head..which I know was done by Danny Elfman, not Sarandon.

I don't want to spoil this film...I think people should watch it with out any outside information...But when the film twisted in such a way that made me say, "OOOOHHHHhhhh. THAT'S what they're talking about." Until that point, I had been convinced that would be one of those acclaimed films that I just didn't get...or simply didn't like. But then I realized what made it such an excellent film. It's good. It really made me think...but not about anything deep. I was thinking about people. (Few films make me do this, and I have watched films that have this effect on other people. I ...yeah, I think I don't like following this train of thought because it seems to obvious when filmmakers are trying to get you into it.)

Hmm. I don't feel like I can say much more without giving too much away. I guess the mainest note I have is that I enjoy when films surprize me - not a Fight Club (1998) or The Sixth Sense (1999) kind of surprize but - when I think it's going in one direction for like an hour and then it takes a huge turn --not that it's a cheap jump-the-shark tactic to suddenly redeem the thing, no. It's a moment where you realize that the film hitherto has been building to this point. The foundation was set creatively, deliberately, meticulously and it works. I think I saw the same thing with Two for the Money (2005) ...which also had Al Pacino in it..crazy. What was great about Dog Day Afternoon was that the changed happened so subtley. It walked in confidently and didn't make a fuss. But you know it's something monumental. It was cool. I like...I enjoyed the part where Sonny (main character) was dictating a letter. Fascinating.

Last thing: I enjoyed how this was a canon film but I didn't recognize any references or see any copycat-age. It's cool. I feel like the thing was isolated. Some kind of vertical column. I enjoyed it.