MovieChat Forums > Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Discussion > Did Sonny sell out Sal?

Did Sonny sell out Sal?

posted 13 years ago by GuyOnTheLeft
40 replies | jump to latest

A Wikipedia article states that the film "intimates" that he did, and that when the movie was shown in prison it resulted in a number of attempts to kill the "real Sonny". I commented to my wife that I didn't think this was intimated at all, and she disagreed and said she agreed that it was!

So, okay, I understand the rationale: it's because Sonny didn't tell Sal what the FBI dude told him outside about how "we'll take care of Sal". But Sonny did scream at him "You think I'd sell him out?!?" I figured Sonny didn't tell Sal what the FBI dude said because he knew Sal was volatile and would go nuts and blow the whole thing. My counterevidence to the "sell out" theory is that Sonny wouldn't have gotten all suspicious about the driver with the Afro, wouldn't have checked out the van so thoroughly, had he felt he was just going along with a setup. Also, when he got to the airport, he really seemed to be genuinely asking about food on the plane etc., not getting tense as he awaited the other shoe dropping.

Thoughts?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] liscarkat (18536) 2 years ago

I don't know about the real event or the novel, but in the movie there is no indication that Sonny sold out Sal. The only way to interpret anything in the movie that way is to use a lot of imagination and make up things that aren't strongly supported or aren't there at all.

[–] mplo (2356) a year ago

Sal had a much more volatile temper than Sonny. Unlike Sonny, Sal would've been all too happy to kill the hostages.