Bad Weather

Dog Day Afternoon

Twister

If you’re like me, you’re literally melting in this heat. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, you’d think I’d stop complaining about it, but no, it is unnaturally hot outside and it’s (obvi) due to climate change—and knowing this makes it all the more miserable to experience. Climate change doesn’t just bring about erratic temperatures and heat waves, it causes all varieties of extreme weather conditions. Climate change even makes allergies worse, so please excuse me if I hibernate from the months of May to… October basically. The heat just doesn’t bring out the best in me, but it does inspire some pretty compelling films. I’ve watched some fairly hot films on this blog—The Swimmer, Punishment Park, Body Heat—none of them are solely about hot weather but the heat is so prevalent that it becomes impossible to ignore, much like in tonight’s first film. Sidney Lumet’s 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon was as hot as it was intriguing, and given that we’re currently in the dog days of summer, watching it in 106 degree heat with a less-than-great A/C felt a bit like a 4D experience. Dog Day Afternoon is based on a real attempted-bank robbery, that took place in Brooklyn on August 22nd, 1972. Al Pacino stars as Sonny Wortzik and John Cazale stars as Sal Naturile, two rookie bank robbers who’s botched job results in a 14-hour (condensed into 2) standoff with the police. This film has been on my watchlist for too long, so I hope you’ll excuse the fact that Dog Day Afternoon hardly fits into my Bad Weather theme. I knew I would probably love this movie, given my love for all of its parodies (Bob’s Burgers’ “Bob Day Afternoon”, for one), but when the film began and an Elton John song immediately came on, I was instantly sold. The opening is one of the most powerful parts of this very powerful movie, as it juxtaposes shots of the trash-filled, poverty-stricken side of 1970s New York City alongside the very affluent, tennis court and pool-riddled parts. From that moment, I knew this story would be one about the working class and the marginalized of society, but I didn’t know how deep it would go. It doesn’t take long for Sonny and Sal’s operation to fall through, and before they know it, they’re surrounded by an army of police and curious spectators. Sonny and Sal are inexperienced and they are certainly not killers, but they are determined to get out of there alive. As the day goes on it only gets hotter and more unpredictable and as Charles “The Governor” Durning’s Detective Moretti negotiates with Sonny over the phone from the Barber Shop across the street, the robbers and the hostages both run the gamut of human emotions. The excessiveness of the NYPD and their poor handling of this situation (not to mention the notably recent incident at Attica) cause the spectators and even the hostages to side with Sonny. It’s never too easy to like the police, regardless of their fictional or factual portrayals, but in Dog Day Afternoon not a single cop was appreciated. At one point, Sonny gets on the phone with a live on-air tv host who asks him why he has to rob a bank instead of getting a job, even a non-union job, to which Sonny, and the hostages, and likely the viewers of the television program laugh. Sonny says, “What's wrong with this guy? What do you mean non-union, like what? A bank teller? You know how much a bank teller makes a week? Not much. A hundred and fifteen to start, right? Now are you going to live on that? I got a wife and a couple of kids, how am I going to live on that? What do you make a week?” Sonny makes an excellent point, and suddenly this strange man with a gun becomes a hero of the lower and working class, one who was viable back in 1975, and in 2022 as well. If you were on the fence about who to root for in this story, eventually the police shut off the A/C inside the bank on this extremely hot day, thus proving the depths of their cruelty. While I was already Team Pacino, at this point in the film I was practically yelling “Attica” along with the ensemble cast. Dog Day Afternoon is a thrilling, pro-union, anti-establishment, anti-capitalist, marvel of a story, that features Al Pacino at his cutest and sweatiest—a welcome image of him to replace the one The Devil’s Advocate planted in my brain. The only confusion related to this film is its trans storyline—the one that belongs to Sal’s wife Leon. Dog Day Afternoon makes the claim that Sal and Sonny robbed the bank to finance the sex reassignment surgery of Sal’s wife Leon, played by Chris Sarandon and based on Sonny’s real-life wife Elizabeth Eden. But an investigative journalist at The Village Voice reported that Eden’s surgery was peripheral to the real, likely mob-related motive. The fact that Leon is trans and Sonny is gay is secondary to the main story here, but its notable inclusion is curious, to say the least. For 1975, Dog Day Afternoon is downright progressive for its portrayal of queer characters, and to many it is seen as a triumph of queer cinema. It was odd though, to me, that Elizabeth’s name would be Leon in the film, and that her husband would use “he” pronouns when referring to her. Again, it was 1975 and this film is not perfect, but it is one of the earliest representations of a trans person, that I’ve seen, that wasn’t completely hateful. I won’t spoil the ending of this film for you, but this isn’t one of those bank robber movies that have a happy ending. I couldn’t look away from this film, and I can’t get over the fact that Al Pacino fully turned down this role because he was too exhausted from having just filmed The Godfather Part II, until he found out that Dustin Hoffman would be taking his place. The tension of this film is palpable, the persistently growing heat is undeniable, and even as unpleasant as all of that sounds, I’d still rather be held hostage by Al Pacino than chase tornadoes with Helen Hunt. More appropriately fitting into the Bad Weather category was Jan de Bont’s 1996 film Twister, and while this same director made the famously over the top film Speed, this was somehow even more ridiculous. Twister has an all star cast, featuring Bill Paxton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jamie Gertz, Carey Elwes, Alan Ruck, and although I was almost certain this was a Jodie Foster vehicle, it is indeed Helen Hunt. Set in rural Oklahoma and other parts of Tornado Alley, Twister follows Dr. Jo Harding (Hunt) and her underfunded team of students as they prepare for the biggest storm in decades. Bill Paxton plays Dr. Harding’s ex husband and current weatherman named Bill (naturally) who decides to bring his new fiancé to retrieve the last of his and Jo’s divorce papers, smack in the middle of a research breakthrough and eventual F5 tornado—the largest kind ever recorded. Right as Bill and his fiancé arrive in his hometown they are immediately swept up in a tornado of drama, before any tornadoes even show up. Dr. Jo is seemingly still in love with Bill, and Bill with her, but their one true love is storm chasing. And I say this not to be corny, but as someone who just watched the movie and observed zero chemistry between anyone, except for these scientists and their passion for tornadoes. Twister is more of an amusement park ride than it is a story, which is fine. The stunts and effects were actually incredible, especially for the 90s, and each twister—from F0 to F5—is arguably the best part of this movie. [The effects were so realistic, it felt a bit eerie to watch given Texas’ recent slew of springtime tornadoes.] At one point when Dr. Jo and Bill are driving away from a tornado, an actual house falls into the road and they have no choice but to drive right through it. And Cary Elwes, in his first ever role (that I’ve seen) where he doesn’t sound like he’s trying to talk like Prince Charming, was the perfect villain—one that the other villain (the tornadoes) wonderfully engages with. Is Twister a great movie? I’m still trying to decide that. Was it fun? Absolutely, but I also think it’s troubling that I literally just watched this movie and I remember nothing more about it than what I’ve written. In fact, a lot of the details (when this is set, what Dr. Jo’s profession is) I gathered from my research because the film didn’t quite emphasize any details beyond: these scientists are crazy but someone’s gotta do it! Twister is a true Bad Weather movie, as opposed to a Disaster Movie, because it actually has a happy ending and a verifiable solution to its problem—no matter how hard it was to fathom. It was fun enough and entertaining enough for me to get over the fact that this film alludes that Bill Paxton has the ability to “sense” how bad a storm will be—not the only inaccuracy of this otherwise mostly-factual tale. Tonight’s films were thrill rides of different flavors, tones, and intentions, but both were plenty captivating and plenty surprising. I’m just glad ERCOT didn’t shut my power off while I was watching these, but not everyone avoided rolling blackouts from the most under-equipped and poorly-planned grid in the country. If I lose power during these over 100 degree days, I’m going to Helen Hunt these people down. Stay cool, dear reader—only 2-3 more months until we’re out of the heat and into a humidly unpredictable Fall. 🥵