Having seen They Live before Assault on Precinct 13 which was made over 10 years before I see the similarities. Two characters, different in many ways, are thrown in the middle of a situation they have to work together to get out of. Both films depict the grittiness of the city as people struggle to stay alive and neither film gives an explanation as to why the situation even began.
The two female characters contrast each other as one stands up willing to defend herself while the other cowards in fear. Oddly enough she is also the only one to suggest a reasonable solution to their predicament.
Every character puts in effort to fight the gang relentlessly attacking them and as in many John Carpenter films there is no decipherable hero although some may argue it is Napoleon Wilson for triumphing against the odds.
Trivia
The story that Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) tells about his father sending him to the police station when he was 6 years old with a note, is actually a true story of Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock told this to Francois Truffant in Truffaut's book "Hitchcock".
John Carpenter has said that he based his score to this film on both Lalo Schifrins's score to Dirty Harry (1971) and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".
After watching Dog Day Afternoon I was interested in researching the film and the story of John Wojtowicz. Writer Frank Pierson met Wojtowicz shortly before his death in 2006. When speaking to him he began to see a noticeable difference between the character Al Pacino portrays on screen based on his screenplay. Sonny as a character is more aware of his surroundings, John on the other hand seems only interested in taking what he needs from people. In the case of the public, more specifically Pierson, it is attention. Wojtowicz original intentions were in good nature, but judging from his interview he liked the attention he gained afterward moving his focus instead on publicity. I find the contrast between fact and fiction fascinating. If Sonny were written differently would I have felt the same about him? Would he be just as likable? His personality is what captivates you and ultimately causes his downfall.
A reoccurring theme in films about soldiers coming back from war, as we've seen in Coming Home, is the psychological damage it causes. We are aware Sonny and Sal are Vietnam vets and the effects it had on both of them is quite different. Sal is at the ready to shoot any hostage because killing is nothing to him. The same can be said for how each hostage reacts to robbery. One minute they are huddled in a room together, and later a woman is playfully tossing a gun around with no intent to overpower Sal and Sonny.
Trivia
John Cazale's role as Sal was originally intended for an 18-year-old, which was the age of the real Sal.
In the original script, Sonny and his trans-sexual lover were supposed to take part in a scene outside the bank in which a heart-felt goodbye was to take place along with a kiss. Al Pacino refused to do this, claiming it would take away from the phone conversation between Sonny and Leon. Frank Pierson was forced to make appropriate changes. This resulted in the just telephone conversation instead.
Other than fake sweat, there was no make-up used in the rest of the film.
SPOILER: Even though this film is about a bank robbery, and has several firearms throughout the whole film, only two shots are fired. The first is when Sonny (Al Pacino) shoots his rifle at a window to scare off the police that are trying to go around the back of the bank. The second and final one is at the end when Murphy (Lance Henriksen) shoots Sal (John Cazale) in the head, resulting to his death.
The opening sequence of Saturday Night Fever is very similar to Shaft not only in the sense it's the main character, male, walking through the streets of New York, but it gives insight into who the character is based on their interactions.
We get the idea Tony is a young, working class, ladies man with little direction in his life. Tony's family is very traditional, his father is used to working to support his family while his mother does housework. When his mother mentions getting a job, his father becomes angry, later we see similarities in the way Tony treats women. He sees women as nothing more than sex objects until he meets Stephanie who wont even give him the time of day. Used to being wanted by women, he sees this as a challenge. When he finally does get a date with her she speaks nothing, but how great her life is and all the famous people she's met. Later in the film Tony loses his job to help Stephanie move only to get it back when he returns because the customers and store owner like him. The store owner tells him he has a career at his store, at that point Tony realizes his life is going nowhere and he doesn't want to end up working in the store for the next 15 years.
His life consists of working during the day and going out to the club with his childish friends. Their juvenile antics catch up to them after a night drinking causes Bobby to fall off the bridge. Tony re-evaluates his life and the film ends with him apologizing to Stephanie for disrespecting her. He agrees to remain friends as well as move to Manhattan to start a career. The viewer isn't sure if Tony is capable of changing for the better, he is used to being the center of attention at the club, but can he deal with being a nobody?
Trivia
The film was rated R when it was released in late 1977. The studio was so eager to attract more young people to the film because they were buying the soundtrack album, that the film was cut by a few minutes and the shorter version was given a PG rating. The PG version was released in 1978. Both versions were released on VHS but only the R rated version was released on DVD.
When they shot the first bridge scene, director John Badham kept secret from Donna Pescow the fact that when 'the guys "fell off" the bridge they actually landed on a platform a few feet below. Badham and the other actors didn't tell her about the platform because they wanted a genuine look of horror and anger on Annette's face when Tony, Double-J and Joey appeared to fall off. Therefore Donna's reaction to them falling, and her facial expressions turning from horror and shock to outright anger, were real, and her next line, "YOU FUCKERS!", was not scripted.
This was one of the very first films to utilize the Steadicam, a camera-stabilizing device
Having seen They Live before Assault on Precinct 13 which was made over 10 years before I see the similarities. Two characters, different in many ways, are thrown in the middle of a situation they have to work together to get out of. Both films depict the grittiness of the city as people struggle to stay alive and neither film gives an explanation as to why the situation even began. 
