Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

A film about a bank heist that doesn't go to plan probably won't seem like much of an original concept to a modern audience weaned on QT, but Dog Day Afternoon sells itself as being true, which is unusual. I've no idea whether it's as factual as it claims to be, but it's an enjoyable journey, nevertheless.
Al Pacino's rifle-wielding character is a kind of likeable rogue that somehow manages to turn amateur hour at the bank into a public media extravaganza, morphing a desperate hostage situation into one that highlights a number of social problems. His partner in crime (John Cazale) is more reserved but leaves a dent all of his own in viewer sympathies. Things increase at length, but Dir.  Sidney Lumet's no-frills approach keeps the heart of the story to the fore.

3½ state-employed con-men out of 5

Alice's Restaurant (1969)

"They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and they took twenty-seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach, the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to mention the aerial photography."

If that passage means something to you, then you might like the film. If that passage means nothing to you, then you might not like the film.

Easiest damn review I ever knocked out.

2½ turns of the hat out of 5