Dog Day Afternoon SE?? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Chang]

Any news of one?

 

[Dane Marvin]

It'll happen. The Academy finally acknowledged Lumet this year (after five nominations -- 4 for directing with no wins) with The Lifetime Achievement Award. Warner will acknowledge "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Network" with Two-Disc SE's. I just know it.

 

[Adam_S]

Out of curiosity, why does he yell Attica Attica? I"ve seen the film and still don't know, and feel kind of dumb because its a reknowned and iconic scene.

 

[Pat Frank]

Because of the Attica prison riot, if memory serves.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I don't normally ask many questions during
the chats, but during our next one with
Warner on March 14th I'll make a point of
bringing this title up. It remains one of
my all-time favorites.

 

[Kenneth_C]

From the New York Times:

"[O]n Sept. 9, 1971, angry inmates at the Attica Correctional Facility, 30 miles east of Buffalo, N.Y., rioted. They seized control of an exercise yard and took guards as hostages. Thus began a chain of often-bizarre events that produced the worst prison insurrection in U.S. history, indeed the bloodiest single clash between Americans since street riots in New York City a century earlier.

Altogether, 43 people died at Attica, nearly all -- inmates and hostages alike -- when state troopers stormed the prison Sept. 13 and fired indiscriminately through a thick haze of tear gas. It was, a state investigating commission would later conclude, an assault both ill-conceived and poorly executed, leading to needless loss of life. One disenchanted state prosecutor ended up calling it 'a turkey shoot.'

As if the mass death were not shocking enough, officials at first lied about what had happened. They said inmates had killed the hostages, slitting their throats and castrating them. None of that was true, as autopsies showed the next day....

There was, for many, a queasy feeling that government might be capable of just about anything. Nor did the news media emerge looking good. Tales of inmates' atrocities were reported as fact. There was not nearly adequate attribution to officials who were spreading the lies.

'It was a little like the Vietnam war coming home,' recalls Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison monitoring group. 'You had a brutal application of government power and then the sheer audacity of government cover-up.'

For a sense of how deep the cynicism ran, catch Dog Day Afternoon the next time it is on television. In that 1975 film, Al Pacino, playing a loser who takes hostages after a botched bank robbery, whips up a street crowd to pressure the New York police to hold their fire. He does it by rhythmically chanting, 'At-ti-ca, At-ti-ca, At-ti-ca.'"

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Pacino on the phone: "W.N.E.W. plays all the hits."

Brilliant film, a true landmark in American Cinema. It fully deserves a great transfer and extensive extras.

 

[Kyle_D]

Damn, Lumet's acceptance speech was classy. "I'd just like to thank the movies."

I've been holding off on the single disc "Dog Day Afternoon" for the last 2 years in hopes of a 2-disc release, even though the current one is going for only 8 bucks or so. If I remember right, the print used on the current release is dirty as hell, with brown splotches the size of reel change markers showing up in the middle of the picture.

I'd love to see what Warner could do with this and "Network."

 

[Jeff D Han]

If I remember right, in last year's Warner chat,
they said that a SE of Dog Day Afternoon would likely
be released this year sometime. I hope that is true.

 

[Jay E]

A Sidney Lumet box set is much needed by Warner. A SE of Dog Day Afternoon would look really good in that set.

Running on Empty needs to be re-released in its OAR and Prince of the City just needs to be on DVD already.

 

[Sean Richardson]

And, even though the movie was released in 1975, the robbery it is fictionalizing (at least somewhat) took place on August 22, 1972.

The basic idea is, he's trying to get the crowd on his side so that the cops will be afraid to storm the bank and kill him.

 

[CraigL]

It's been on the HD networks a lot lately so hopefully there's a new transfer around.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Wow...I had forgotten that the current Running on Empty DVD was MAR. I knew there was a reason it wasn't already in my collection. That's a pity. It's River Phoenix's finest performance, IMHO. In fact, the whole movie is simply fantastic.

 

[RyanAn]

I have heard so many good things about this film and Pacino is one of my favorite actors, but I have not seen it. Is the DVD currently out worth the $9 just to eventually get the SE later on? Any inclination on when said SE may come out?

Thanks.

ry/

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Ryan,

Wait till the WB chat.

In my opinion, this is Pacino's finest film.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I agree on both remarks!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Better than the first two Godfathers?

 

[Fredric]

A good movie on the Attica riot is, of course, "Against the Wall" by Frankenheimer. Not yet on DVD. Hey, is there a thread where we can get people to ask about films for the Warners chat for us? I'd love to know the status of Grand Prix, as well as all the Lumet films in the 80s that are filmed in MAr, like Running on Empty and Power. The Pawnbroker is fullscreen, but it may be the intended AR. I'm not sure.

 

[Dane Marvin]

No, because we aren't supposed to discuss what we're going to ask them. We want them to be blindsided by our questions.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

CJ