Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Sidney Lumet directed this film about a bank-heist gone awry based on a true incident. Al Pacino (Sonny) and John Cazelle (both from The Godfather) decide to rob a bank and take it over, holding everyone inside hostage. The robbers use guns to scare and intimidate but Pacino's character doesn't want to hurt anyone. It's a great performance and you are convinced that he's this character, who wants the money to pay for his lover's sex change surgery. Chris Sarandon plays the lover who calls Sonny on the phone a few times; it's a small part but memorable. Charles Durning is also good as a cop who wants to negotiate and deal with Sonny to let the people out. Meanwhile, the local crowd outside gathers and even cheers on Sonny as a hero, and the hostages inside are getting hungry. In one of my favorite scenes, Sonny decides to order a pizza and cokes; the pizza delivery guy comes and you get the sense that this is his greatest claim to fame so far in life. The ending is sad, as the police follow Sonny and Cazale to the airport where they think they are going to be let go and fly away. It's an interesting film that shows how one criminal incident can grow into a cultural and news media sensation. 

12 Angry Men (1957) and a real-life jury duty experience

Earlier this month, I had my first experience as a trial juror. It was like watching a stage play: the judge, the lawyers, and the witnesses seemed as if they were all actors performing right in front of us. I had seen Witness for the Prosecution live on stage before - it was like that, like live theater.

When you're on a jury, you have the freedom to look around the room at anyone or anything at any time. When the lawyers were speaking, you could look at the judge or the defendant.

The accused was on trial for attempted murder.

During the course of the trial (two full days), seven witnesses testified, including several police officers, a prisoner, and the young man who was shot and full of scars.

The evening following the first day of jury selection, I went home and watched the 1957 version of 12 Angry Men for some inspiration.  I think it's the only movie ever made about a jury. I immediately felt a connection with the character played by John Fieder --- in the beginning of the film he tells Lee J. Cobb how excited he is to be a first time juror. I felt the same; it was all so new to me, too, and exciting. It felt good to be a part of the justice system.

Cobb's character then talks about being on many juries before. In our group, we also had some veteran jurors. Most of us, though, were first-timers.

To break the awkward silence, I tried to find things in common with other people just like one of the jurors does in 12 Angry Men.  It was a cramped space, and uncomfortable. The jury room in the movie was much larger than the one we were put into! Also in the movie, Jack Warden's character was so anxious to get out of the jury room and go home. That was how just about all of us felt! We all wanted to go home. Some people had an hour commute to the courthouse.

Another part of the movie that rang true was when Lee J. Cobb said how some of the lawyers went on and on talking "about nothing". Honestly, that's what it really felt like! Some of the lawyers just talked and talked and it was all seemed meaningless, certainly a waste of time. At one point, one of the witnesses - a police officer -  got so aggravated at the questioning from one of the lawyers. And public defenders kept asking the judge for time-outs, which meant more waiting for us, the jury.

I took lots of notes. The prosecuting attorneys brought forth some very good evidence. Four eyewitnesses all pointed to the defendant as the shooter. This appeared to be an "open-and-shut case",  as  Lee J Cobb referred to his case in the movie.

At times I got the feeling that the public defenders didn't always know how to defend him. This issue was touched upon in the movie, too.

After the lawyers gave their closing statements, it was time to go to the jury room to deliberate. The two alternate jurors were sent home (just like in the beginning of the movie). We chose a presiding juror (Martin Balsam in the movie).  And just like in the movie, we started with a secret ballot to see where everyone stood.

Believe it or not, the initial vote was 11-1 in favor of "guilty" ..just like the movie! No, it wasn't me who was the odd-man out, like Henry Fonda. It was the youngest person on jury. After about 25 minutes of deliberation, we all voted again, and unanimously agreed the defendant was "guilty" of attempted murder.

When the verdict was read in court, there was a loud scream from the visitor's section, which might have been the defendant's mother. There was also some clapping and cheering by some other people. It was eerie to hear that in real life (vs. on TV or in the movies).

When the trial ended, it was past 6 PM. And dark outside.

The jurors were given a police escort out of the courthouse to our cars in the parking lot.

After spending three days with all the other jurors, it was kind of a bittersweet feeling to say goodbye.

One of the men in our group was a recent immigrant from the Philippines; he became a citizen just two years ago, and now he and his wife are raising a family. I recommended he watch 12 Angry Men, and told him how much it was like our jury, with one major difference being that we couldn't smoke in our jury room.

Eventually we all parted ways, never to see each other again, just like the end of the movie.

Films directed by Sidney Lumet

1957 12 Angry Men
Henry Fonda, Lee J Cobb

1958 Stage Struck
Susan Strasberg

1959 That Kind of Woman
Sophia Loren

1960 The Fugitive Kind
Marlon Brando

1962 A View From the Bridge
Raf Vallone, Maureen Stapleton

1962 Long Day's Journey Into Night
Katherine Hepburn, Jason Robards

1964 The Pawnbroker
Rod Steiger

1964 Fail-Safe
Henry Fonda

1965 The Hill
Sean Connery

1966 The Group
Candice Bergen, Shirley Knight

1966 The Deadly Affair
James Mason, Simon Signoret

1968 Bye Bye Braverman
George Segal, Jack Warden

1968 The Sea Gull
James Mason, Vanessa Redgrave

1969 The Appointment
Omar Sharif, Anouk Aimee

1970 Last of the Mobile Hot Shots
James Coburn, Lynn Redgrave

1971 The Anderson Tapes
Sean Connery, Christopher Walken

1972 The Offence
Sean Connery, Trevor Howard

1972 Child's Play
James Mason, Robert Preston


1973 Serpico
Al Pacino

1974 Lovin' Molly
Anthony Perkins, Blythe Danner, Beau Bridges

1974 Murder on the Orient Express
Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Richard Widmark

1975 Dog Day Afternoon
Al Pacino, Chris Sarandon

1976 Network
William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, Beatrice Straight

1977 Equus
Richard Burton, Peter Firth

1978 The Wiz
Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor

1980 Just Tell Me What You Want
Ali MacGraw, Alan King, Myrna Loy

1981 Prince of the City
Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach

1982 Deathtrap
Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve

1982 The Verdict
Paul Newman, James Mason

1983 Daniel
Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin

1984 Garbo Talks
Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher

1986 Power
Richard Gere, Julie Christie

1986 The Morning After
Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges

1988 Running on Empty
River Phoenix

1989 Family Business
Dustin Hoffman, Sean Connery

1990 Q&A
Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton

1992 A Stranger Among Us
Melanie Griffith

1993 Guilty As Sin
Don Johnson, Rebecca de Mornay

1996 Night Falls on Manhattan
Andy Garcia, Ian Holm

1997 Critical Care
James Spader, Kyra Sedgwick, Helen Mirren

1999 Gloria
Sharon Stone

2006 Find Me Guilty
Vin Deisel

2007 Before the Devil Knows Your Dead
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke

The Wiz (1979)

This movie I remember seeing many years ago and enjoying, it's a modern update (at least for the 70s) of The Wizard of Oz featuring an all black cast and urban setting, catchy songs and memorable scenes. I will never forget Lena Horne as Glinda the Good Witch. Humorous is Richard Pryor as the wizard.

An impressive adaptation of the hit Broadway musical directed by Sidney Lumet and music by Quincy Jones. Diana Ross is Dorothy, and Michael Jackson is the Scarecrow, in his only film acting role.

MJ could have gone down the route of other singers, and made bad some bad films but he never did, to his credit.

B