Universal Pictures
In 2006, Denzel Washington graced the big screen with his performances in two high-quality thrillers, “Deja Vu” and “Inside Man”. These films reflected “Vertigo” as a time-travelling action movie and director Spike Lee’s modern take on Sidney Lumet’s classic “Dog Day Afternoon”, respectively.
Penned by Richard Gerwitz, “Inside Man” revolves around a robbery turned hostage situation at a Manhattan bank. Washington portrays Detective Keith Frazier, an NYPD hostage negotiator, who confronts the gang leader, Dalton Russell (played by Clive Owen). While the first choice to direct “Inside Man” was Ron Howard, Spike Lee took the reins and made the film a standout, becoming his highest-grossing film to date.
Spike Lee’s versatility as a director stems from his vast knowledge of films. Besides directing, Lee is a film professor at New York University, his graduate school. He idolizes Lumet and was thrilled to create a film inspired by Lumet’s masterpiece, “Dog Day Afternoon”.
“Dog Day Afternoon”, which hit the screens in 1975, was based on a real-life bank robbery cum hostage situation that occurred in Brooklyn in 1972. John Wojtowicz (played by Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik in the film) and Salvatore Naturile (played by John Cazale) tried to rob a Chase Manhattan bank to fund Elizabeth Eden’s gender-affirming surgery, Wojtowicz’s wife. The film sheds light on Sonny’s attempts to help his beloved “Leon Shermer” (Chris Sarandon) embrace her true self, although some sources suggest other motives for the robbery, including mob involvement.
The tagline of “Dog Day Afternoon” emphasized its basis on a true story, stating: “The robbery should have taken 10 minutes. 4 hours later, the bank was like a circus sideshow. 8 hours later, it was the hottest thing on live TV. 12 hours later, it was all history. And it’s all true.” While “Inside Man” is not based on a true story, it’s interesting to compare these two films in terms of storytelling.
Inside Man was a modern riff on Dog Day Afternoon
Warner Bros. Pictures
Born and brought up in New York, Spike Lee often sets his films, including “Inside Man”, in his hometown. When adapting David Benioff’s “25th Hour”, he incorporated a new element by portraying a New York City recovering from the 9/11 attacks. Sidney Lumet, too, was a New Yorker who made films without leaving Manhattan for Hollywood. His film “Dog Day Afternoon” perfectly captures the essence of New York, opening with a montage of Brooklyn on the reputed hottest day of the year, and the unbearable humidity is palpable in every shot. Lee confessed to film critic Emmanuel Levy that this film was one of his favorites.
In the same interview, Lee stated that he considered Gerwitz’s script for “Inside Man” a modern version of “Dog Day Afternoon”. While both films revolve around a bank robbery that turns into a hostage situation, they differ in their perspectives. “Dog Day Afternoon” focuses on the robbers and their mistakes, ending with Sonny’s arrest and Sal’s death. However, “Inside Man” is told from the police’s perspective, with the robbers being mysterious and masked. Despite some challenges in acting opposite a masked Clive Owen, Washington’s character and the rest of Dalton Russell’s crew adhered to a complicated plan, enabling them to escape unscathed. Hence, “Dog Day Afternoon” is a comedy-drama about blunders, while “Inside Man” is a flawless thriller.
Nevertheless, Lumet’s influence on Lee’s work is undeniable. In 2017, Lee told Vulture that before filming “Inside Man”, he screened “Dog Day Afternoon” for his cast and crew as a tribute to Lumet and to convey his vision for the film. They even managed to include a minor cameo from the original film: Lionel Pino, who played a pizza delivery boy serving food to Sonny and his hostages in “Dog Day Afternoon”, reprised his role in “Inside Man”, this time delivering pizza boxes with bugs for the police to eavesdrop on the robbers.
Warner Bros.
Three decades later, he reprised the same role in “Inside Man”, but this time, the pizza boxes contained bugs for the police to listen in on the robbers.
Lee and Washington are collaborating again for a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “High & Low”, and I’m positive they will do justice to the film, just as they did for Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon” with “Inside Man”.
Credit: www.slashfilm.com
