Friday, January 14, 2011

"Rock Box" Track of the Day: Elton John, "Amoreena"

Dog Day Afternoon was nearly given the same title as the Life magazine article it was based on: the corny and unsubtle 'Boys in the Bank.' Because the film intended the Pacino character's homosexuality to be a surprise twist for moviegoers who were unfamiliar with the real-life robbery, that would have been like if The Sixth Sense was instead called I Am Dead.
Song: "Amoreena" by Elton John
Released: 1970
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: It's featured in my favorite Al Pacino movie, Dog Day Afternoon.
Which moment in Dog Day Afternoon does it appear?: The opening credits.

Earlier this week, New York magazine film critic David Edelstein named Sidney Lumet's 1975 classic his favorite New York movie because of the soulfulness Pacino brought to Sonny, one of many New York characters he's played in his career, and the way the film turns "the whole crazy paradox of acting, of being private in public" into a metaphor for life in the big city. The opening montage of grimy '70s New York in the summertime--beautifully assembled by legendary editor Dede Allen (who died last April) and accompanied by John's lazy-day tune "Amoreena," the only non-diegetic piece of music in the film--is one of the reasons why Dog Day always winds up in discussions of greatest New York movies like Edelstein's.

Embedding was disabled for the clip of the Dog Day opening that was posted on YouTube, so view the sequence here.

All the other "Rock Box" Tracks of the Day from this week:
Stevie Wonder, "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)"
Madvillain feat. M.E.D. a.k.a. Medaphoar, "Raid"
The Who, "I'm One"
Puccio Roelens, "Caravan"

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