Update - SFiFF 54 - 04/30 - (Gonna be a Dog Day Afternoon...)

12:15pm Saturday, April 30th

Heading over to a program featuring Frank Pierson, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and a showing of "Dog Day Afternoon." If the program is half as good as last night's Terence Stamp event, this should be good...

3:40pm

Just out of the Pierson program. Mr. Pierson spoke for about an hour, took a few questions, and screened "Dog Day Afternoon." He took a few moments to salute director Sidney Lumet, who passed away a few weeks ago. He, like many Hollywood "old-timers," mourns the passing of the studio system and lamented the prevalence of computer graphics/animation in today's cinema. While I don't necessarily disagree with him, I wonder if the same arguments were being made during the conversion to sound or the addition of color or widescreen.

I had the opportunity to ask him about his work. I stated that the journey from script to film was rarely an uninterrupted journey, and asked which of his scripts did he feel was the most faithful adaptation of his work, and which script did he feel was most butchered. He didn't really answer the question and just stated that his favorite scripts were his unproduced ones, because he could enjoy them in their entirety by just himself. He ignore the second part of the question. Perhaps he was feeling gracious.

Here's a look at "Dog Day Afternoon..."

Off to another screening...

H