{"id":159585,"date":"2025-09-21T21:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T21:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159585\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T21:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T21:04:07","slug":"al-pacino-on-dog-day-afternoon-at-50-it-plays-more-today-than-it-even-did-then-al-pacino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/159585\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Pacino on Dog Day Afternoon at 50: \u2018It plays more today than it even did then\u2019 | Al Pacino"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lions of 1970s cinemas are now lions in winter. \u201cI\u2019m so sad about Redford,\u201d says Al Pacino<\/a>, a day after the death of Robert Redford<\/a>, his fellow octogenarian actor. \u201cI liked him so much. He was such a sweetheart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is because he is currently filming King Lear that Pacino is preoccupied with our collective crawl toward death. He recently rewatched his younger self in Dog Day Afternoon, a Hollywood classic that celebrates its 50th anniversary on Sunday, and was struck by how many of the cast are now gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hits you, seeing all those people in Dog Day,\u201d the 85-year-old says by phone from Los Angeles. \u201cCan you imagine how you feel? Wow. It\u2019s like a dream. You\u2019re dreaming. You have a dream of someone and you\u2019re so happy about the dream and then you wake up and they\u2019re not there any more? They don\u2019t even exist \u2013 in three dimensions anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cinema, of course, is one way to cheat death, at least in two dimensions. On screen Pacino will forever be a raw, vulnerable, incandescent presence in Dog Day Afternoon, a crime drama based on the true story of a bank heist that went wrong \u2013 and one of the earliest mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge that transgender people existed.<\/p>\n

Pacino plays Sonny Wortzik, a desperate man who, along with his partner Sal (John Cazale<\/a>), attempts to rob a bank in Brooklyn, New York, to fund his partner\u2019s gender-transition surgery. The heist turns into a chaotic hostage situation as Sonny\u2019s personal struggles and a media frenzy unfold. The movie was directed by Sidney Lumet<\/a> and won an Oscar for Frank Pierson\u2019s screenplay.<\/p>\n

Pacino had just played Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a tough act for anyone to follow. He was approached about Dog Day Afternoon by Martin Bregman, who had been his personal manager and the producer of Serpico, also directed by Lumet and starring Pacino.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me he wanted me to do it, and I had read it and thought it was well-written but I didn\u2019t want to do it,\u201d Pacino recalls. \u201cI was in London at the time and I thought, I\u2019m running out of gas. I don\u2019t know if I could do this again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed having that kind of intensity again and going through that was too close, I thought, to The Godfather II, which was an intense experience in a lot of ways \u2013 not the actual work but everything that had been happening in my personal life was affecting me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacino turned the role down. \u201cI thought, all right, I understand it\u2019s a great offer and thank you but I don\u2019t think I can do this. I\u2019d like to pass.\u201d He adds with a chuckle: \u201cOnce again, I\u2019ve got some kind of gun and I\u2019m gonna go in a bank and rob it: I don\u2019t want to go through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacino settled back into life in New York but then \u201cBregman came back to me because they had someone else who said they wanted to do it, who was notorious, who was a famous actor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Widely reported to be Dustin Hoffman<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Pacino denies knowledge of this, describing instead how Bregman persuaded him to take another look at the script. \u201cHe calls me. I read the text and realise this is more than what I even thought it was. This is an interesting, powerful piece of work. I knew Sidney was involved, who I loved; we did Serpico together.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thought I had was, why did I pass this up? Where was I in my head? He [Bregman] was a very wise man. I said, \u2018Why aren\u2019t I doing this, Mr B?\u2019 He said, \u2018I don\u2019t know. Why aren\u2019t you doing it?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, OK, I\u2019ll do it.\u2019 He said, \u2018All right.\u2019 I guess he had some work to do or whatever he did but they gave me the part and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lumet gave the cast \u2013 many of whom had worked with Pacino on stage \u2013 three weeks to rehearse before shooting began, a rarity in the film industry. But Pacino had trouble finding his feet.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cFor some reason, I felt as though I didn\u2019t know who the character I was playing was. I kind of left that out of the rehearsals or something. I don\u2019t know what happened but I knew when I saw something on the screen I said: no. I saw I didn\u2019t have a character so I thought, what am I doing, where am I, who am I, where am I going?<\/p>\n

\u201cI went home that night, took half a gallon of white wine, which I don\u2019t usually drink, for some reason and spent the whole night finding a character within myself from the script. I come in the next day and of course Lumet is looking at me like, what happened, Al? The cast \u2013 my friends \u2013 are saying, \u2018I think he\u2019s having a breakdown.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I wasn\u2019t. I was becoming somebody else, I think. I was becoming the guy that\u2019s in the film. I don\u2019t know to this day if I was kidding myself or what. But I did go through that and it helped me. Let\u2019s put it that way: whether I was right or wrong to do it, it did help me with it. I had something to work with personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

A poster for Dog Day Afternoon. Photograph: Warner Bros\/Allstar<\/p>\n

One of the film\u2019s most famous lines was improvised on the spur of the moment. It was a reference a 1971 incident in which prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica correctional facility near Buffalo, New York, taking 42 staff members hostage and demanding improvements to inmate treatment and living conditions. The standoff ended in a violent assault by state police resulting in the deaths of 33 prisoners and 10 hostages, making it the deadliest prison riot in US history.<\/p>\n

With the heist in progress, Pacino\u2019s character sometimes steps out of the bank to talk to the police, watched by a crowd of extras who have begun to cheer each appearance. Before one such exchange, the assistant director Burtt Harris whispered to Pacino to ask the crowd about Attica.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cameras are rolling. He comes up to me. He says, \u2018Come here, come here. Al, say Attica.\u2019 I say, \u2018What the f\u2013.\u2019 He says, \u2018Say Attica.\u2019 I\u2019m on the run so I go out and I\u2019m there and it\u2019s in my head because I know all about Attica because I was around when it was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he sees a police officer moving towards him, Sonny shouts: \u201cHe wants to kill me so bad he can taste it!\u201d Pacino recalls: \u201cIt seemed like the right spot. I said, \u2018Remember Attica! Attica!\u2019 The crowd took off. It was like a fuse that started lighting everybody up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started screaming because we all felt the same way about what happened at Attica. I mean, it was amazing. I knew I had them then. Those kind of things can happen in film; they occasionally do. As long as you don\u2019t force-feed it, as long as it becomes a natural environmental thing that happens, it just happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another totemic scene, in which Sonny and his partner Leon (Chris Sarandon), who identifies as a woman, have a long phone conversation, was improvised across three takes that Lumet then cut together. Pacino says: \u201cOne day he told me right there outside, \u2018Al, this is out of our hands. It\u2019s got its own life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Lumet was a giant of cinema whose other works would include 12 Angry Men, Network<\/a> and The Verdict. Pacino says: \u201cHe was the greatest director I ever worked with, in terms of working with. There\u2019s other great directors, of course, I was fortunate enough to be with and film with, but as far as Sidney was concerned, he was understanding of the actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cDirectors came to see Sidney work. When he was on the cameras, how he operates, how he sets up a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacino was \u201cstunned\u201d to meet the Italian director Federico Fellini<\/a> on the set of Dog Day Afternoon. Fellini had wanted him for a part but then decided he was not the right fit. \u201cI remember him saying a compliment to me: \u2018You are too good-looking for this role.\u2019 I thought, wow, he knows how to handle an actor, doesn\u2019t he? What a thing to say. OK!\u201d<\/p>\n

Al Pacino and Penny Allen in Dog Day Afternoon. Photograph: Images\/Rex Shutterstock<\/p>\n

A stage adaptation of Dog Day Afternoon is heading for Broadway<\/a> next year, starring Jon Bernthal<\/a> and Ebon Moss-Bachrach<\/a>, both known for their work on The Bear, and directed by Rupert Goold<\/a>. Pacino wishes them well. Why does he think the film, which captures the grit of 1970s New York so entirely, continues to resonate after half a century?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it held up because somehow Lumet got to the humanity of it and the connection of it and the period. It plays more today than it even did then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacino\u2019s recent viewing of the film was on a big screen, which he heartily recommends. But he also enjoys TV \u2013 he loved Adolescence<\/a> on Netflix \u2013 and has also become addicted to YouTube. \u201cI live for it. It runs the gamut from A to Z. You can see anything you want – everything has been shot and interpreted.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he is well aware that also means plenty of disinformation. \u201cI saw the other day that I died again,\u201d he laughs. \u201cYou see it all the time with celebs. \u2018We want to give our condolences.\u2019 Well, I think either I have it wrong or you have it wrong. I seem to be here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Many in Hollywood might observe that Donald Trump<\/a> is contributing to the breakdown of a shared set of facts. Pacino, however, remains tight-lipped as always. \u201cI was never known to talk about politics,\u201d he says. \u201cI know something\u2019s going on that\u2019s a little different but at the same time I don\u2019t go there. I certainly don\u2019t go there in my public life. I just avoided it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That makes him different from his contemporary and Godfather Part II co-star Robert De Niro, who has<\/a> lambasted<\/a> Trump<\/a> repeatedly<\/a>. Pacino says cheerfully: \u201cHe\u2019s his guy. He\u2019s his own person. He feels things and he says them and I think it\u2019s really cool. I love Bob. Bob and I go back forever. He is someone I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redford might be gone but De Niro and Pacino march on. Ripeness is all, as Pacino will presumably say in the upcoming Lear Rex<\/a>, in which he stars with Rachel Brosnahan<\/a>, Jessica Chastain<\/a>, Ariana DeBose and Peter Dinklage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, he has reached an age when it is time to take stock. Last year he published a memoir<\/a>, Sonny Boy<\/a>, reflecting on his singular life and career. He jokes that he will speak to the Guardian again to mark the book\u2019s 50th anniversary, which would be 2074.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be old enough,\u201d he says, amused but with a touch of melancholy. \u201cI won\u2019t be here though. It\u2019s a shame, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s a shame we have to go away. God only knows: will we have memories when we go away? Memories are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lions of 1970s cinemas are now lions in winter. \u201cI\u2019m so sad about Redford,\u201d says Al Pacino,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-159585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}