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Inspired by actual events as recounted in a Life magazine article, Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon premieres in New York. Written by Frank Pierson, the film, set in Brooklyn on a hot August day in 1972, tracks 12 tense hours in the lives of two naive young men who suddenly find themselves at the centre of a media frenzy when their botched bank robbery and subsequent hostage-taking engenders a protracted police standoff that captures the imagination of the entire city. As the beleaguered pair, Al Pacino essays a text-book study in agitated, feverish frustration opposite John Cazale's forlorn, brooding reticence. The film wins the Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
