Mar 30, 2026 9:00pm PT

‘Dog Day Afternoon’ Broadway Review: Jon Bernthal Takes the Al Pacino Role in a Canny Piece of Stagecraft That Can’t Rival the Movie’s Haunting Power

Owen Gleiberman

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Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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Evan Zimmerman

Why turn “Dog Day Afternoon,” one of the greatest and most iconic of New Hollywood movies, into a Broadway play? It’s not the first legendary film of the ’70s to get a stage adaptation (there was the Bryan Cranston version of “Network,” not to mention “Rocky the Musical”). And it likely won’t be the last (“Carnal Knowledge,” anyone? How about “All the President’s Men” or “The Heartbreak Kid”?). On some level, the stage version of “Dog Day Afternoon” that opened tonight at the August Wilson Theatre answers the “Why do it?” question with an existential: because it’s there.

'Dog Day Afternoon' Broadway Review: Jon Bernthal Takes the Al Pacino Role in a Canny Piece of Stagecraft That Can't Rival the Movie's Haunting Power