Editing Dog Day Afternoon (section)

== Plot ==
On August 22, 1972, first-time crook [[John Wojtowicz|Sonny Wortzik]] and his friends [[Salvatore Naturile|Salvatore "Sal" Naturile]] and Stevie attempt to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. The plan immediately goes awry when Stevie loses his nerve and flees. Sonny discovers that they arrived after the daily cash pickup, and they find only $1,100 in cash.

Sonny takes the bank's [[Traveller's cheque|traveler's checks]] and burns the register in a trash can, but the smoke raises suspicion outside, and the building is surrounded by police. The two panicked robbers take the bank employees hostage.

Police Detective Sergeant Eugene Moretti calls the bank, and Sonny bluffs that he is prepared to kill the hostages. Sal assures Sonny that he is ready to kill if necessary. A security guard has an [[asthma]] attack, so Sonny releases him as a display of good faith. Moretti convinces Sonny to step outside. Using the head teller as a shield, Sonny begins a dialogue with Moretti that culminates in his shouting, "Attica! Attica!", to invoke the recent [[Attica Prison riot]]. The crowd begins to cheer for Sonny.

Sonny demands a vehicle to drive himself and Sal to the airport, so that they can board a jet. He also demands that pizzas be brought to the hostages, and that his wife be brought to the bank. Sonny's life-partner Leon Shermer arrives and reveals that the robbery was intended to pay for Leon's [[Gender-affirming surgery|sex reassignment surgery]], and he divulges that Sonny has children with his estranged wife Angie.

As night sets in, the bank's lights are shut off as [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agent Sheldon takes command of the scene. He refuses to give Sonny any more favors, but when the bank manager Mulvaney goes into diabetic shock, Sheldon allows a doctor to go inside. Sheldon convinces Leon to talk to Sonny on the phone. Leon had been hospitalized at [[Bellevue Hospital]] after a [[suicide attempt]]. Leon turns down Sonny's offer to join him and Sal in their escape, and Sonny tells the police that Leon had nothing to do with the robbery.

Sonny agrees to let Mulvaney leave, but the manager refuses to leave his employees. The FBI calls Sonny out of the bank to talk to his mother, who fails to persuade him to surrender. Inside, Sonny dictates his will to one of the hostages, acting as a secretary, leaving money from his life insurance for Angie and for Leon to have the surgery.

When the requested limousine arrives, Sonny checks for hidden weapons or booby traps, and selects Agent Murphy to drive him, Sal and the remaining hostages to [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|Kennedy Airport]]. Sonny sits in the front beside Murphy, with Sal behind him. Murphy repeatedly asks Sal to point his gun at the roof so that Sal will not accidentally shoot him.

As they wait on the airport tarmac for the plane to taxi into position, Sal releases another hostage, who gives him her rosary beads for his first plane trip. Murphy again reminds Sal to aim his gun away. Sal does, and Sheldon seizes Sonny's weapon, allowing Murphy to pull a revolver hidden in his armrest and shoot Sal in the head. Sonny is immediately arrested, and the hostages are freed.

Sonny watches as Sal's body is taken from the car on a stretcher. We learn that Sonny is sentenced to twenty years in prison, that Angie and her children subsist on welfare, and that Leon is a woman living in New York City.