Our blu-ray pick this week is the 40th anniversary of one of the great films of the 1970's, featuring one of Al Pacino's greatest performances from the best run of his career (the fact that he didn't win the Oscar for either Godfather film, this, or Serpico is one of the biggest awards oversights in history). Sidney Lumet directed this gritty look at a bank robbery gone horribly wrong, and interestingly, is one of the first films ever to feature a transgender character in the form of Pacino's boyfriend played by Chris Sarandon, whom he happens to be robbing the bank for, so that he can get the money for a sex-change operation. The acting from everyone is a tour-de-force in this movie and Lumet was able to encapsulate so many of the attitudes and undercurrents that were filtering through the culture of mid-1970's America in a series of perfectly subtle yet unmistakable moments. It's one of my favorite films.
Original 1975 Trailer: