On April 11, the Action will premier an all-new 35mm print of Sidney Lumet’s bank heist classic, Dog Day Afternoon/Un après-midi de chien (1975). Easily one of his greatest screen roles, Al Pacino stars as Sonny, a married bisexual who decides to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his male lover’s sex change, taking eight employees hostage and turning the siege into a two-day media blitz. Based on true events and powered by Lumet’s flair for depicting the urban underbelly of 70’s New York, Dog Day Afternoon presents a city overflowing with racial and political tensions, where one gunshot is liable to ignite everything into flames.

In early and late April, the Action will feature two new prints of legendary director Nicholas Ray’s Party Girl/Traquenard (1958) and The True Story of Jesse James/Le Brigand Bien-Aimé (1957). Best known for his teen-exploitation classic Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Ray had a short but prolific Studio career that successfully combined star and genre vehicles with his own darkly personal image of post-WWII America. Jesse James stars Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter as rebels of another sort, playing the notorious James Brothers (Jesse and Frank) on the run from the law after a botched bank robbery. Party Girl would be Ray’s last Hollywood effort, and features the director at the height of his technical prowess, composing glorious widescreen dance and action sequences in this gangster melodrama set in explosive 30’s Chicago.

- Action Christine: 4, rue de Christine, Paris 6. M° Odéon, Saint-Michel. 01 43 29 11 30
- Action Écoles: 23, rue des Écoles, Paris 5. M° Maubert-Mutualité, Jussieu. 01 43 29 79 89
www.actioncinemas.com

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