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Sidney Lumet was never a flashy director. His films had grit, his style was subtle, but the movies he made were often memorable. Lumet passed away on April 9th, having worked as a filmmaker for 50 years. His last film, released in 2007, was Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, a sweaty, intense character study about men pushed to the breaking point, men pushed into a life of crime starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. His first film, released in 1957, was 12 Angry Men. How many of us would kill to direct a debut film half as good as 12 Angry Men? That film, starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, and 10 other New York-based actors, introduced themes that Lumet would keep coming back to in his career. In his best films, there’s a palpable desperation in the surroundings, etched onto the characters’ faces.

Lumet made many films in his 50-year career, and not all were perfect. (12 Angry Men is a classic, but Lumet also directed The Wiz. Seriously.) But the films Lumet made that were great are among the most iconic American films. From 12 Angry Men, Lumet would go on to direct classics such as Network, Fail-Safe, The Pawnbroker, The Verdict, and Prince of the City. One actor he worked with only twice was Al Pacino; their first collaboration was 1973’s Serpico, but today, we’ll look at their second collaboration: Dog Day Afternoon. Dog Day Afternoon is well-known, at the very least, for a memorable quote: “Attica! Attica!” OK, it’s more of a memorable word than a quote, but the image of Pacino, pacing back and forth outside of a bank, shouting this word to the masses surrounding the bank, is indelible. The film is just as striking.

Dog Day Afternoon is not remembered as Lumet’s finest work; because of its chilling insight into the current state of the mainstream media, Network receives that crown from most critics and scholars. My tastes lie a bit more with 12 Angry Men, but there is no denying the power that Network exudes. Everyone remembers another iconic line: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” And why shouldn’t they? Among American satires, Network stands alongside Dr. Strangelove as being the most incisive, the most insightful, and the most scathing. But Network is also about the people behind the scenes, and while some portraits work (Ned Beatty’s short scene as the head of the company that owns the titular channel is truly frightening), some are almost too cartoonish, even if they’re not wholly unbelievable.

Dog Day Afternoon is less a skewered vision of the world than a plainer look at how tough it gets for people, and how quickly hot tempers and hot temperatures can escalate, spiral out of control. The plot is simple, based on a true story from 1972: two men (there is initially a third, but he chickens out almost immediately) rob a Brooklyn bank. When they realize that they’re too late, and the bulk of the bank’s cash has been taken away in the daily pickup, things start to go wrong. Sonny (Pacino) wants to take some traveler’s checks but leave no traces; this means he has to start a small fire inside the bank that attracts attention from passers-by, who call the police. Suddenly, Sonny and his accomplice Sal (the late John Cazale) are holding the bank employees hostage in front of hundreds of cops, journalists, and onlookers.

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