Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Sidney Lumet's 1975 Brooklyn bank heist. Attica, Wyoming, sweltering New York summer.
Writer: Frank Pierson
Frank Pierson won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Dog Day Afternoon, a film assembled substantially from the actual events and their reporting, and the script’s refusal to explain Sonny’s motives until late is what gives it its power.
He also wrote Cool Hand Luke, whose failure to communicate line has entered general use, and Cat Ballou.
He later served as president of the Academy and directed for television, and wrote candidly about the compromises of the 1976 A Star Is Born, which he also directed.
