I am totally in love with a bit of dialogue in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), the great Sidney Lumet social drama/comedy/crime film.
Sonny's plan to finance his wife Leon 's sex change operation by robbing a bank has run aground. In exchange for freeing his hostages, Sonny wants a plane to take him to a foreign country. He asks his not-so-brilliant friend/co-conspirator Sal to what country he would want to travel. Sal cogitates for a while, then suggests, "Wyoming." After a pause, Sonny replies, "Sal, Wyoming's not a country." The exchange (by John Cazale as Sal and Al Pacino as Sonny) is delivered magnificently — Cazale with blank-faced understated sincerity, Pacino with tempered exasperation.
"Wyoming" was not in the script (nor in the essay from which the script was drawn) but was improvised by Cazale. A moment of pure genius.
If you haven't seen the film, run — not walk — to your nearest TV.
Leave a Reply