"Based upon a magazine article." Not sure that I have ever seen that scroll through the credits of a movie, but I suppose it gives credit to the phrase "truth is stranger than fiction." The film was made three years after the events that it was based on--a bank robbery turned hostage situation that kept the country glued to their television sets as everyone remembered the Attica prison riots.
Al Pacino gives one of his best performances, and my personal favorite, as Sonny, one of the two robbers (well technically three, but one left before the party began) who wants the money in order to pay for his gay lover's sex change operation. This movie is as much as character study of the emotionally disturbed man, and what brought him to the lengths that he did, as much as it is an account of the robbery itself. Pacino is a once a hero, a victim, a pariah, and an idol for the streets of New York. The crowds cheer for him as he challenges the 200 + cops, and jeer his when they learn his motives. Remember this was Stonewall New York, not legalized marriage New York, and "homosexual" was still a mental disease. The actor does a brilliant job of getting the audience and the crowd to like him and to sympathize with him, all the while keeping a gleam of psychosis barely visible.
His partner is Sal (John Cazale, The Godfather films) who is probably more mentally deranged than his leader, but is silent and watchful. I could not determine whether he was deep in thought, or just stupid, but either way the sight of him with a gun was disconcerting at least. Then there is Sonny's lover, Leon (Chris Sarandon), a weak man who believes it when he told that he is a woman trapped in a man's body. It is merely his lack of moral fiber that keeps him with Sonny.
The robbery should have gone smoothly in about 15 minutes, but instead ended being twelve hours. I am not sure if he was the first to do this, but Sonny was one of those types of people that could keep calm on the surface and when in a jam, requests a helicopter and a jet to Algeria. He doesn't snap, he recognizes the cliches and the lies of the police, and best knows how to use the media to his advantage. This movie is very much about the power that t.v. has on those that participate in the events. At one point a hostage has a chance to escape, but she powerfully declares to a camera that her place is with her girls, and she marches back indoors. She is relishing the spotlight, and is not the only one.
There is a humor to the script--in fact it is a very great humor. One of the hostages talks to her husband who calls right at the beginning of the robbery. She explains the situation, pauses, looks at Sonny and asks, "What time will you be finished?" Other times you see the women ballroom dancing, or Sonny teaching them how to shoulder a rifle in the military. But it isn't always funny. On the surface it is, yes, but each little bit reveals much about Sonny as a person. For example, he has a chubby wife, and a very zealous mother, and with both he can never get a word in edgewise. Nobody listens to him, and they wonder what drove him to marry another man. Perhaps he was not really crazy, maybe he just crumbled under the pressure. Instead of an operation for Leon, what if all he needed was a little vaca.?
Their is some great editing work, fine acting all around, a great script and a solid story. There are parts that lag, but it's almost okay. I justify them by thinking what it would be like in a little bank with no lights, no air conditioning, and a half-crazed group of women for twelve hours, and then it becomes acceptable. There are also incredibly suspenseful parts, particularly towards the end when Sonny's plan begins to fall into place. Pinch yourself and be reminded that these were true events.
Stories like this don't come around often enough. Why can we not have solid film making like this all the time? The stories are available, they happen every day. So why do we settle for cheap schlock when we have entertainment all too willing to be captured on film? Everyone likes their moment in the spotlight, so why not give it to them?
3.5/4
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