MovieChat Forums > Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Discussion > Why did the police shoot Sal?

Why did the police shoot Sal?

posted 4 years ago by TheMan18 (13052)
9 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS ALERT - when they arrived, why did they shoot and kill Sal but arrested Pacino's character?

[–] TheMan18 (13052) 4 years ago

I mean, its not as if he committed enough crimes or killed much if any people during the heist to deserve death penalty, and even if he had a gun (so did Pacino's character) in that car, its not like he was that much of a threat to the police and hostages, they could have shot him in a shoulder, then rushed to grab his gun and have him arrested, no?

[–] Redsfan001 (6156) 4 years ago

Any loss of life is regrettable.

But once a person has decided to take hostages by gunpoint, he is fair game.

The safety of the hostages is paramount. The tactical planning by the FBI was impressive. The FBI didn't know if Sal had another gun and glancing shot would have had unpredictable outcomes.

The FBI went to Sonny because he was to smart enough to know that he wasn't going to get away with it, despite his desperate planning.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

Because the primary concern was getting the hostages out of there, Sal and Sonny walking out of there alive was a very distant secondary priority.

[–] TheMan18 (13052) 4 years ago

In the movie "Metro" (1997) for instance, Eddie Murphy's character shoots that bank robber in a shoulder while he has a gun to a female hostage, and he survives and gets arrested and doesn't shoot anyone in the process.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 4 years ago

Again the primary concern is to get the hostages out of there safely, when you take hostages all bets are off.

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 4 years ago

Dude, you just gave it away in your HEADER? DUH.

[–] TheMan18 (13052) 4 years ago

I didn't say "shot" and SPOILER ALERT - "killed" in it though. Those who haven't seen the movie could've thought I meant shot "at" or shot "in the shoulder" or something, or maybe that Sal was a minor character etc?

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 4 years ago

Ok, you win.

[–] liscarkat (18536) 2 years ago

Psycho shitbag Sal terrorized eight people all day and deserved to die. That was one loss of life that was not regrettable. I was hoping they'd put a round in Sonny's head, too. I don't give a fuck about his sad homosexual life or his dismal job prospects. That's no excuse for threatening innocent people's lives and traumatizing them. It's just narcissistic psychopathy.