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Dog Day Afternoon poster

Movies that feel likeDog Day Afternoon (1975)

Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a hostage situation and stand-off with the police. As Sonny's motives for the robbery are slowly revealed and things become more complicated, the heist turns into a media circus.

If you loved Dog Day Afternoon, the closest films we have are Panic Room (2002), Hannibal (2001) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970). All three share Dog Day Afternoon's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Caliber 9 (1972).

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See it on the Mood Map

If Dog Day Afternoon hit the spot, these will too

Panic Room poster
Panic Room
2002 Β· dir. David Fincher
πŸ… 76%β˜… 6.8crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both rooted in New York City

The difference: Trades the play of Dog Day Afternoon for an angle of its own

Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham, Raoul and Junior - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.

Hannibal poster
Hannibal
2001 Β· dir. Ridley Scott
πŸ… 39%β˜… 6.8crime Β· drama Β· thrillerPrime VideoPeacock

The same two preoccupations: fbi, and psychological thriller

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

After having successfully eluded the authorities for years, Hannibal peacefully lives in Italy in disguise as an art scholar. Trouble strikes again when he's discovered leaving a deserving few dead in the process. He returns to America to make contact with now disgraced Agent Clarice Starling, who is suffering the wrath of a malicious FBI rival as well as the media.

Le Cercle Rouge poster
Le Cercle Rouge
1970 Β· dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Two things both keep coming back to: police and heist

When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.

Marathon Man poster
Marathon Man
1976 Β· dir. John Schlesinger
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· crime Β· dramaParamount+

Both are built on the same subject: psychological thriller

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

The Parallax View poster
The Parallax View
1974 Β· dir. Alan J. Pakula
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

The Chaser poster
The Chaser
2008 Β· dir. Na Hong-jin
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.8crime Β· thriller Β· action

Tense and unsettling in the same breath

The difference: Leans harder into action than Dog Day Afternoon does

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

The Call poster
The Call
2013 Β· dir. Brad Anderson
πŸ… 43%β˜… 6.7crime Β· thrillerStarz

Both lean on grit more than on crime

The difference: Made in the 2010s, in a different era of the craft

Jordan Turner is an experienced 911 operator but when she makes an error in judgment and a call ends badly, Jordan is rattled and unsure if she can continue. But when teenager Casey Welson is abducted in the back of a man's car and calls 911, Jordan is the one called upon to use all of her experience, insights and quick thinking to help Casey escape, and not just to save her, but to make sure the man is brought to justice.

Cape Fear poster
Cape Fear
1962 Β· dir. J. Lee Thompson
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.7thriller Β· drama Β· crimePrime Video

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.

Caliber 9 poster
Caliber 9
1972 Β· dir. Fernando Di Leo
β˜… 7.4crime Β· thriller

The same preoccupation in both: police

Just out of prison, ex-con Ugo Piazza meets his former employer, a psychopathic gangster Rocco who enjoys sick violence and torture. Both the gangsters and the police believe Ugo has hidden $300,000 that should have gone to an American drug syndicate boss.

The Killing poster
The Killing
1956 Β· dir. Stanley Kubrick
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.9crime Β· thriller Β· dramaPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: heist

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

Inside Man poster
Inside Man
2006 Β· dir. Spike Lee
πŸ… 86%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Common ground in both: hostage and bank robbery

When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.

Serpico poster
Serpico
1973 Β· dir. Sidney Lumet
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.7crime Β· drama Β· history

Sidney Lumet working the same nerve twice

The difference: Sits closer to history than Dog Day Afternoon does

New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Dog Day Afternoon’s defining feeling.