25 Greatest Ever Movie Anti-Heroes

11. Sonny Wortzik (Dog Day Afternoon)

To begin with, there's nothing really heroic about Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) attempting to rob a bank with his buddy Sal Naturale (John Cazale), though as their robbery becomes increasingly bungled, the audience may begin to find themselves cheering on the hapless thieves. Plus, though Sonny is armed throughout, there's never any real inkling that he'd kill any of his hostages as he claims to the police, for one letting an asthmatic hostage leave the premises in an unexpected bout of compassion. Sympathy for Sonny reaches a high-point when the reason for the robbery is revealed, that he wants to pay for sex reassignment surgery for his lover Leon (Chris Sarandon), though of course, in the end, Sal is murdered by the police and Sonny is jailed. Sonny's a tragic character more than anything, but over the course of the movie he goes from armed bank robber to someone the audience can actively root for (alongside the huge crowds that gathered to watch the bank standoff in the movie). At the end of the day, though Sonny's actions are excessive and initially seem plainly villainous, he's ultimately acting in the name of love, and what's more heroic and chivalrous than that?