Brooklyn · 22 August 1972 · 87°F
Two banks, one subway line. The real one was robbed on Avenue P; the film’s was a set on Prospect Park West, built so its walls came out.
The set is closed.
A former automotive workshop · Prospect Park West
The bank in the film is a set, built inside an old workshop on the block it was meant to stand on. Its walls came out, so the camera could go anywhere and the street could come straight in. Pull them out here, one side at a time, and see what lies that way: the avenue in front, the neighbourhood to the north, and to the south, down the F line, the bank that was really robbed.
All four walls up. You are inside the bank.
The set was built in a warehouse on the lower floor of a former automotive workshop; movable walls let the crew place cameras freely, and its street location let them move between bank and street. Which places lie behind which wall is this page’s own arrangement, by compass direction from the block.
Four walls up. Nothing but the bank.
450 Avenue P · Gravesend · 22 August 1972
On 22 August 1972 John Wojtowicz, Salvatore Naturile and Robert Westenberg tried to rob the Chase Manhattan branch here.
They expected $150,000 to $200,000 from an armoured truck due at 3:30pm. It had already been at 11am. They got $29,000.
Seven employees were held hostage for fourteen hours, and the siege went out live on television and radio.
The demands included pizza for the bank and a jet at Kennedy Airport.
The branch has since closed.
Wojtowicz had seen The Godfather that morning and based some of his plan on it. Life told the story on 22 September 1972, in a piece by P. F. Kluge and Thomas Moore called “The Boys in the Bank”; the film grew from it.
The branch has closed. Look at the corner from the pavement; the building is private.
The Godfather that morning; the Life article of 22 September 1972 by P. F. Kluge and Thomas Moore.
6sqft: How LGBT activism led to NYC’s most notorious bank robberyWikipedia: Dog Day Afternoon
They expected the afternoon delivery. Open the drawer.
The time-and-temperature sign
The film is set on a hot August afternoon. It was shot in the autumn, mostly at night.
The day of the real robbery reached 87°F, 31°C.
The robbers had planned for an armoured truck at 3:30pm. It had come at 11am.
The day of the real robbery reached 87°F, 31°C. The robbers had planned for an armoured truck at 3:30pm. It had come at 11am. Lumet shot between September and November 1974. The bank scenes took seven nights, and the temperature kept falling. The last bank scene began on a windy night of 40°F, 4°C. To stop their breath showing in a film set in August, the cast held ice in their mouths. The shoot finished three weeks ahead of schedule.
Sidney Lumet directed. He chose to have no score. The opening has Elton John’s Amoreena, coming from the getaway car’s radio. Victor J. Kemper shot it.
No score by Lumet’s choice; Amoreena on the car radio in the opening; Victor J. Kemper, director of photography.
SoHo and Midtown
Before the bank there was the movement: Wojtowicz went to the Gay Activists Alliance’s meetings in a SoHo firehouse. Half a century later the story went to Broadway.
99 Wooster Street, SoHo, Manhattan
From 1971 to 1974 the old firehouse was the headquarters of the Gay Activists Alliance, New York’s most important LGBT community centre of those years.
Wojtowicz was a member of the Alliance, under the name Littlejohn Basso.
A fire wrecked the interior in October 1974. The building became a New York City landmark in June 2019.
A landmark building between Spring and Prince Streets. See it from Wooster Street.
245 West 52nd Street, Manhattan
Stephen Adly Guirgis’s play of the film opened here on 30 March 2026, directed by Rupert Goold, with Jon Bernthal as Sonny Amato and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Sal DeSilva. It closed on 12 July.
The theatre opened in 1925 as the Guild Theatre and took August Wilson’s name in 2005.
A working Broadway theatre. The play closed in July 2026.
New York
Live marketplace results for film-location tours of New York. Check each itinerary for Brooklyn and SoHo.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours
Queens · Jamaica Bay
The demands ended with a jet. The limousine went to Kennedy Airport, and so did the film, for one day.
The airport scenes were shot in a part of the airport away from the terminals, lent to the production for one day.
In 1972 the night ended here: Wojtowicz was arrested at the airport, and Naturile did not survive it.
The TWA Hotel, in the 1962 TWA Flight Center, is the only hotel on the airport; its rooftop pool looks over the busiest runway.
The terminals are public; the airfield is not. The TWA Hotel’s rooftop pool looks over a runway.
Kennedy Airport · Overnight and day stays
The only hotel on the airport, inside the 1962 TWA Flight Center. Its rooftop infinity pool is open all year and looks over the busiest runway. Day stays are offered for long layovers.
See the hotelThe people
Al Pacino played Sonny Wortzik, based on John Wojtowicz. John Cazale played Sal; he and Pacino had worked together on The Godfather and on the play The Indian Wants the Bronx. We have found no photograph of Cazale free to show here. Around them: Charles Durning as Sergeant Moretti, Chris Sarandon as Leon, James Broderick as the FBI’s Sheldon, Lance Henriksen as Murphy, Penelope Allen, Carol Kane and Sully Boyar inside the bank. Frank Pierson wrote it and Dede Allen cut it.
It opened in New York on 21 September 1975, the day after its premiere at San Sebastián, and joined the National Film Registry in 2009.
Cast and roles, Pacino and Cazale in The Godfather and The Indian Wants the Bronx, Pierson and Allen, three weeks of rehearsals, seven nights for the bank scenes, six Academy Award nominations and Pierson’s win, the San Sebastián premiere on 20 September and New York opening on 21 September 1975, the National Film Registry in 2009.
9 places you can visit, all in New York City, most of them a walk from an F train.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A residential block facing the park. Stand on the park side of the avenue and look across; the buildings are private.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A parish church on the corner of Prospect Avenue, a short walk north of the bank block.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working bar, open daily from 10am to 3am.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public circle at the park gate. The Greenmarket runs here every Wednesday, 8am to 2pm.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The F and G stop for the set. Take the F south to Avenue P for the real bank.
Prospect Park West between 17th and 18th Streets, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
Lumet shot the street scenes on Prospect Park West between 17th and 18th Streets.
A residential block facing the park. Stand on the park side of the avenue and look across; the buildings are private.
245 Prospect Park West at Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn
Holy Name of Jesus Church was built in 1874 and its school in 1923; both stand on Prospect Park West.
A parish church on the corner of Prospect Avenue, a short walk north of the bank block.
Prospect Park West at 16th Street, Brooklyn
Farrell’s has had three owners since 1933 and is said to have been one of the first bars in New York to get a licence after Prohibition.
A working bar, open daily from 10am to 3am.
Prospect Park West, 15th Street and Prospect Park Southwest, Brooklyn
The circle is named for Emil Bartel and William Pritchard, local men killed in the First World War, and was dedicated in 1922.
A public circle at the park gate. The Greenmarket runs here every Wednesday, 8am to 2pm.
Prospect Park West at 15th Street, Brooklyn
The station is on the Culver Line, served by the F and G trains, and opened on 7 October 1933.
The F and G stop for the set. Take the F south to Avenue P for the real bank.
Stay
The only hotel on Kennedy Airport, in the 1962 TWA Flight Center.
Kennedy Airport · Overnight and day stays
The only hotel on the airport, inside the 1962 TWA Flight Center. Its rooftop infinity pool is open all year and looks over the busiest runway. Day stays are offered for long layovers.
See the hotelGo there
Walking tours of Brooklyn and film-location tours of New York.
Brooklyn
Live marketplace results for walking tours of Park Slope and Prospect Park. None is built round this film; check each route for Prospect Park West.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursNew York
Live marketplace results for film-location tours of New York. Check each itinerary for Brooklyn and SoHo.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
The year-round Greenmarket at the park gate on Prospect Park West.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Three originals from 1975 in our poster store: two American one-sheets and the French grande.
The original American poster, 27 × 41 in, from 1975. Near mint, previously folded, now rolled. Also offered framed.
In stock
View posterThe other 1975 American one-sheet, 27 × 41 in, built round the hours of the siege. Near mint, previously folded, now rolled.
In stock
View posterThe French poster, 47 × 63 in, from 1975. Near mint, previously folded, now rolled.
In stock
View posterDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
10 of 10 places · 11 of 11 Moments
Prospect Park West between 17th and 18th Streets, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
Lumet shoots the crowd, the police and the bank front on Prospect Park West between 17th and 18th Streets.
Sonny’s shouting match with the police ends with him calling out “Attica!” to cheers from the crowd.
245 Prospect Park West at Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn
The parish church stands on Prospect Park West, near the filming locations.
Prospect Park West at 16th Street, Brooklyn
Farrell’s has poured on Prospect Park West, near the filming locations, since 1933.
Prospect Park West, 15th Street and Prospect Park Southwest, Brooklyn
Bartel-Pritchard Square, at the park entrance, is the north end of the neighbourhood.
Prospect Park West at 15th Street, Brooklyn
The F and G stop at 15th Street–Prospect Park, under the park wall.
Avenue P at McDonald Avenue, Brooklyn
The F stops at Avenue P, on the elevated Culver Line, at all times.
Avenue P at East 3rd Street, Gravesend, Brooklyn
Wojtowicz, Naturile and Westenberg try to rob the Chase branch on Avenue P; seven employees are held for fourteen hours.
99 Wooster Street, SoHo, Manhattan
Wojtowicz is a member of the Gay Activists Alliance, whose headquarters is the Firehouse in SoHo.
245 West 52nd Street, Manhattan
Stephen Adly Guirgis’s play of the film runs from March to July 2026.
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens
The airport scenes are shot away from the terminals, on ground lent to the production for one day.
