3. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Back before he was churning out tripe like The Devil's Advocate, and Righteous Kill, and Ocean's 13, and Jack and Jill, Al Pacino was actually making quality films. This mysterious time was called the 1970's, and a mere year after the last good Godfather film was made, Pacino starred in the Sidney Lumet film Dog Day Afternoon. In Dog Day, Pacino and Godfather co-star John Cazale play bank robbers. But this film doesn't play out like a normal heist film, as it weaves into uncharted territory including very blatant commentary on the role of media as well as the Attica prison riots. Not only that, but the entire purpose behind the bank robbery was something unusual, especially for the time; Pacino's character Sonny is gay, and is trying to get money in order to pay for his boyfriend's sex change operation. Ultimately, Sonny's boyfriend Leon rejects him, Sonny's accomplice is killed by the police right in front of him, and he's arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison. A pretty crappy afternoon for a guy who just wanted to help out.