Based on a true story that is so bizarre, screenwriter Frank Pierson might have struggled to make it up from scratch; Dog Day Afternoon features Pacino as a desperate small-time bank robber trying to raise money for his partner to have a sex-change operation. But his attempt at robbing the fictitious First Brooklyn Savings Bank in Brooklyn (based on the real Chase Manhattan Bank) goes drastically wrong, however, quickly forcing him into a siege with police, and also turning him into an inadvertent folk hero. Under Sidney Lumets assured direction and with iconic moments like Pacinos chant of: Attica! Attica! in reference to a prison riot in New York State, during which over thirty people were killed Dog Day Afternoon confirmed Pacinos status as an actor willing to take risks in his choices of roles, which is why it is a defining moment for the star, as he broke away from the role which had first made him famous.