Pacino's own favourite performance, this 1975 Sidney Lumet film is a masterpiece in restraint. Focussing on a botched bank robbery, it explores desperation, desire, the media and police state -- all in a couple of hours.

Al plays Sonny, the brains behind the operation, a relatively composed youth who wants to use the loot to finance his lover's sex-change operation. As time ticks mercilessly by, he loses his cool while his character becomes increasingly human.

Suddenly thrust into an inconceivable spotlight, Sonny Wortzik has nowhere to go. And he doesn't. Trapped with him, we are treated to what is truly one of the finest acting jobs ever.