Austin Film Festival: Deconstructing “Dog Day Afternoon” with Peter Craig and Robin Swicord

On Saturday, October 26th at 3:45 in the Driskill Hotel Maximilian Room, I moderated a panel with screenwriters Peter Craig (The Town) and Robin Swicord (Little Women). The goal: To deconstruct and analyze the superb 1975 crime drama Dog Day Afternoon, screenplay by Frank Pierson, directed by Sydney Lumet.

We drilled down deep into the movie’s characters, themes and structure. Here are just a few of the subjects we covered:

* The movie is relevant to contemporary sensibilities given the popularity of movies such as No Country for Old Men, The Town and Prisoners, as well as TV series like “Breaking Bad” and “Justified.”

* Pierson did a masterful job creating a multidimensional Protagonist in Sonny (Al Pacino), equal parts intelligence, excitability, grandiosity, and sensitivity, a complex figure who is compelling in every scene.

* The movie sustains a fundamental mystery — why Sonny is robbing a bank — all the way up until the 69th minute.

* Deft writing that created distinctive, interesting characters all around, from primary to secondary, even to tertiary figures.

* Pierson considered dropping out of the project because he could not find a hook, then discovered a unanimous perspective of Sonny’s character from the bank hostages: That he was always saying, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll make you happy.”

* Sonny’s transformation, going from reactive to proactive when he realizes the power he has — the growing crowd’s support, media interest, etc.

* The fascinating contrast of two ‘negative’ influences in Sonny’s life, his real wife Angie and his mother, versus the ‘positive’ feelings he had for Leon, his other unofficial wife, even though Leon could not bring himself to do anything more than speak with Sonny on the phone, never seeing him personally during the bank hostage ordeal.

* The key role of Sal (John Cazale) whose fixation with death presages the end of the story.

A special bonus: Robin brought hand written notes she had taken at an AFI presentation Pierson had given a few years previous. It is interesting to note key questions the veteran screenwriter asked before committing to the project:

Why make this movie at all? Why should this be a story that needs to be told? What does the film mean? What impact should the story have on the audience. Why is this person the protagonist and why should he be the center of the story?

One thought occurred to me as we were watching this clip:

Sonny’s use of “Attica!” is eerily similar to the 1976 movie Network, written by Paddy Chayefsky and also directed by Lumet, the famous phrase of Howard Beall, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” In a way, both Sonny and Howard are modern day prophets excoriating The System, raging against the Haves and speaking up for the Have-Nots. Both Robin and Peter resonated with this observation, and that’s one of the beauties of panels such as this: How insights can emerge when collectively going at a movie.

Here is the dramatic ending of the movie:

Thanks to Peter Craig and Robin Swicord for their participation in the panel.

Tomorrow: More on the Austin Film Festival.