Rating: R
Genre:
Crime
Release Date: 04/10/2007
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Based on a true 1972 story,
Sidney Lumet's 1975
drama chronicles a unique bank robbery on a hot summer afternoon in New York City. Shortly before closing time, scheming loser
Sonny (
Al Pacino) and his slow-witted buddy,
Sal (
John Cazale), burst into a Brooklyn bank for what should be a run-of-the-mill robbery, but everything goes wrong, beginning with the fact that there is almost no money in the bank. The situation swiftly escalates, as
Sonny and
Sal take hostages; enough cops to police the tristate area surround the bank; a large Sonny-sympathetic crowd gathers to watch; the media arrive to complete the circus; and police captain
Moretti (
Charles Durning) tries to negotiate with
Sonny while keeping the volatile spectacle under control. When
Sonny's lover,
Leon (
Chris Sarandon), tries to talk
Sonny out of the bank, we learn the robbery's motive: to finance
Leon's sex-change operation.
Sonny demands a plane to escape, but the end is near once menacingly cool FBI agent
Sheldon (
James Broderick) arrives to take over the negotiations.
~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide