THE DOG, directed by Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival is set to be released in Summer 2014 by Drafthouse Films and Cinedigm. THE DOG is described as a documentary portrait of the late John Wojtowicz, whose attempted robbery of a Brooklyn bank to finance his male lover’s sex-reassignment surgery was the real-life inspiration for the classic Al Pacino film “Dog Day Afternoon”.
THE DOG is a feature-length documentary about John Wojtowicz, the real-life bank robber behind the film Dog Day Afternoon. In August 1972, John robbed a bank in Brooklyn to pay for the sex-change operation of his lover, Ernie. Things didn’t go as planned, and as John and his collaborator Sal Naturile tried to leave the bank with the loot, they found themselves surrounded by the New York City Police Department, the FBI, and hundreds of spectators. What was supposed to last only a few minutes became a 14-hour standoff, involving 9 hostages and unfolding live on television. The story would later reach an even broader audience through Al Pacino’s unforgettable performance in Sidney Lumet’s classic 1975 film.
The documentary, THE DOG, is John Wojtowicz’s own account of what happened that day, of his relationship with his lover, Ernest Aron — and so much more. This is John Wojtowicz, an unforgettable, larger-than-life character, telling his life story in his own words. Through John’s personal photographs and letters, as well as incredible archival footage of the actual bank robbery and the day’s aftermath, the film reveals an outrageous, unapologetic, hilarious and perplexing man who chose to live his life by his own rules, for better or for worse.
Reality and fiction, celebrity and infamy, memoir and myth — the lines get blurred as John Wojtowicz entertains us, offends us, and enthralls us by sharing the tales of his unusual life.