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John Cazale as Sal in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Vitals
John Cazale as Sal Naturile, desperate bank robber and ex-convict
Brooklyn, Summer 1972
Film: Dog Day Afternoon
Release Date: September 21, 1975
Director: Sidney Lumet
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On August 22, 1972, an attempted bank robbery in Brooklyn became a media circus as dozens of police and spectators surrounded the Gravesend branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank where armed bandits John “Sonny” Wojtowicz and Salvatore “Sal” Naturile spent nearly 14 hours holed up with the handful of bank employees they held hostage. The stranger-than-fiction story was the basis for P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore’s Life feature “The Boys in the Bank”, which was then adapted by screenwriter Frank Pierson and director Sidney Lumet into Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale as Sonny and Sal, respectively.
Before he died of lung cancer 47 years ago today on March 13, 1978, Cazale’s brief but brilliant screen career was batting a thousand. He had memorably co-starred in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter—all of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Despite his contemporary acclaim and generational influence, Cazale’s sole screen award recognition was a Golden Globe nomination for his tragicomic and characteristically intense performance in Dog Day Afternoon.
In his recently published memoir, Sonny Boy, Pacino recalls how his Actors Studio mentor Charlie Laughton had recommended the 39-year-old Cazale for the part in Dog Day Afternoon, despite director Sidney Lumet’s wish for a younger actor who was closer in age to the 19-year-old Sal. “Even though Sidney Lumet wanted somebody younger, Charlie was exactly right—John was an absolute pillar of that film, and the relationship between our characters was a brilliant inversion of how we related to each other in the Godfather movies. Anyone who went in expecting to see a rehash of Michael and Fredo Corleone was in for a surprise.”
Sonny is often talking up Sal’s ferocity, insisting that “he’s a killer!” to NYPD Detective Sgt. Moretti (Charles Durning). Though Sal’s edginess indicates that he may be capable of just such a reputation, Sonny more privately despairs that his partner-in-crime may not be the most capable criminal cohort… illustrated by their brief conference about making demands to be flown out of the country.
Sonny: If we leave the country, there’s no coming back here. You know what I mean? There’s no coming back. So if there’s anybody now that you want to talk to, you want to say goodbye to, do it now.
Sal: (a beat) No.
Sonny: Is there any special country you wanna go to?
Sal: Wyoming.
Sonny: No, Wyoming is not a country… that’s alright, I’m gonna take care of it.
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What’d He Wear?
Dog Day Afternoon reunited John Cazale and Al Pacino with costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone, who received an Academy Award nomination for Cazale’s feature film debut The Godfather. Johnstone dressed Sonny and Sal in suits for the robbery and, while Pacino’s Sonny is quick to strip out of jacket and tie into his shirt sleeves, Cazale’s Sal maintains his suit throughout the entire ordeal without so much as loosening his tie.
Sal’s suit is constructed from a heavily ribbed twill cloth in burgundy, the vibrancy of which may strike contemporary viewers as uncharacteristically flashy for this subdued character. However, while burgundy suiting was more common through the experimental tailoring expansions of the disco era, dressing Sal in such a colorful suit contrasts with his dry personality, emphasizing his discomfort within his suit, the situation, and—by extension—his entire life.
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Note the ribbed texture of his suit’s twill weave.
The single-breasted suit jacket has then-fashionably wide notch lapels which roll to a two-button stance over Cazale’s waist, with the two black mixed 4-hole buttons matching the three buttons decorating each cuff. Lined in a brighter scarlet-red Bemberg, the jacket has padded shoulders with slightly roped sleeveheads. He keeps the welted breast pocket unadorned, and the wide hip pocket flaps and long single vent are also accommodations to 1970s menswear trends.
Image may be NSFW.
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The flat-front trousers are held up with a black leather belt that closes through a simple silver-toned single-prong buckle. Like his matching suit jacket, the trousers are typical of ’70s fashions with their slanted front pockets (rather than with openings positioned along each side) and slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms.
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Just keep walking, Sal. You’re not cut out for bank robbery!
Sal maintains tonal consistency with his shirt and tie. The white shirt features a burgundy-and-navy graph check and is styled with a point collar, plain button-up front, button cuffs, and a breast pocket where he keeps a ballpoint pen clipped. His ivory silk (or silky polyester) tie is printed with a two-toned red static cross-check that coordinates to his reddish suit.
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Sal’s discomfort in a suit is quietly demonstrated by the unique way his tie is mis-tied so that the tail falls in front of the wider blade.
Sal wears brown leather derby shoes with black cotton lisle socks. The brown shoe leather aligns on the russet spectrum with his suit, but it fails to match his black belt leather; while some argue for or against the merits of the “rule” that shoes and belts should match, Sal’s brown shoes feel too warm for the cooler tones of his burgundy suit, and he may have been safer opting for black footwear like his partner-in-crime Sonny.
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The Gun
Sal sets the bank robbery in motion by pulling his Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun from a briefcase and presenting it to the bank manager. (“He started already, he’s got the gun out,” Sonny insists when their nervous confederate gets cold feet.)
Smith & Wesson developed the Model 76 in the mid-1960s, in response to the U.S. Navy’s request for a 9mm submachine gun to replace the open-bolt “Swedish K” Carl Gustaf M/45 submachine gun favored by SEALs in Vietnam. There was no operational issue (on the contrary, its reliability is why the SEALs demanded it), but its manufacturers in neutral Sweden objected to M/45’s weapon’s combat usage. To fill the urgent need to arm SEALs, the Navy requested a similarly rugged submachine gun that could feed up to 36 rounds of 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition with a select-fire switch offering safe, semi-automatic, and fully automatic modes that could fire at rates between 600 and 800 rounds per minute.
After just nine months, Smith & Wesson delivered the M76 in 1967, skipping much of the usual refinement to deliver a field-ready weapon comparable to the M/45. Like the Swedish weapon, the blowback M76 featured an open bolt design and fired 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition, though its 720 round-per-minute rate of fire surpassed the M/45’s 600 rpm.
Designated by the Navy as the Mk 24 Mod 0, the M76 served its duty for SEALs and found limited use among the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit, but demand remained otherwise low and production ceased in 1974, the same year that John Cazale carried one on screen in Dog Day Afternoon.
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The screen-used M76 has a substantially shortened barrel, the folding skeleton stock fully removed, and a sling. Though Sonny and Sal are depicted as amateurs, this modified M76 is a smart choice for the job—relatively portable yet intimidating-looking, offering substantial firepower should the boys in the bank need to shoot their way out.
For Sonny’s trips outside to negotiate and bargain with law enforcement, Sal takes the M1 Carbine that Sonny carried as his primary weapon. Chambered for the proprietary .30 Carbine round typically fed from 15-round box magazines, this gas-operated semi-automatic carbine was introduced for the U.S. military in 1942, primarily used during World War II and the Korean War but remaining in limited service through the Vietnam War.
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The real Sonny and Sal were actually armed with a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver, a .303 British sporterized Lee-Enfield rifle, and a 12-gauge Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun—all purchased by John “Sonny” Wojtowicz.
How to Get the Look
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John Cazale as Sal in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Although John Cazale’s costume was likely designed by Anna Hill Johnstone to emphasize Sal Naturile’s discomfort, you can update and adapt his burgundy suit, checked shirt, and distinctive tie into a smarter look today.
- Burgundy twill weave suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, wide-flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long single vent
- Flat-front trousers with belt loops, slanted front pockets, and slightly flared plain-hemmed bottoms
- White (with burgundy-and-navy graph-check) shirt with point collar, plain front, breast pocket, and button cuffs
- Ivory and two-toned red static cross-check tie
- Black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
- Brown leather derby shoes
- Black cotton lisle socks
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
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