The Dog (I) (2013) User Reviews

A charming, weird, very funny, sometimes heartbreaking documentary

[runamokprods · 8/10 · 6 February 2017]

Often very funny, occasionally quite sad documentary on the life and hard times of "The Dog", John Wojtowicz, the real life man played by Al Pacino in "Dog Day Afternoon" – the hapless bank robber who held up a NYC bank to pay for his lover's sex change operation and (first) to get her released from a psychiatric hospital.

Wojtowicz is affable and funny, completely un self-conscious about his rather insane life, his voracious, intense and sometimes confusing sexual and romantic appetites, his love of the spotlight. But there are also moments when we realize this likable eccentric does have a side that is closer to dangerously crazy and delusional than to simply 'off-beat' and that tension is one of the fascinating tears that run through the man and the film.

It's also clear that John to a certain extent is also playing the role of 'John' for the cameras, which adds to the humor of the film (he has a very funny habit of saying things like 'action' and 'cut' to the documentary camera that is filming him), but also asks deeper questions about fleeting fame and how it can distort one's personality and perceptions of self and reality.

Perhaps the most lovely thing about "The Dog" is how truly un-judgmental it seems. While it celebrates the humor in the absurdities of John's life story and his person (and those around him), it never feels like we're watching a freak show that sniggers at it's subjects from a distance. These may be odd people, but the film never seems to forget that they are people first and odd second, or that we're all odd in one way or another. I feel like the filmmakers genuinely liked John. It's a complex and rich portrait of a very unique man, sort of a hero, sort of a villain, sort of crazy, sort of scary, sort of wonderful.

bow wow

[abcvision · 8/10 · 26 July 2014]

I had never heard about John Wojtowicz but thanks to the movie The Dog, I know all about this icon. The documentary has several overlapping themes: the early days of the gay movement, how John became an icon of a robin hood of sorts, and how he was a man full of love. John was his own man and even the bank robbery he was involved in did not define him. A 1975 Oscar winning movie was based on his legendary bank robber staring Al Pacino called Dog Day in Afternoon. He was a convicted bank robber but his reason was noble. He was for robbing the bank in order to raise the money needed to fund his lover's sex change operation. John admits in the movie that he is over sexed, but his commentary captures a period where free love and Vietnam War clashed. America was in an identity crisis between the conservative g-men outlook and the free love and eventual disco 70s. It is honorable that John put the interest of his love Ernest Aron (later known as Elizabeth Debbie Eden) ahead of himself and just wanted her to be happy. John risk his life and even though it turned out to be a failed robbery, eventually the notoriety helped fund the operation. John, known as "the Dog", comes across sincere and as a noble character who always tried to do the right thing and how his big heart got in the way. In the end, the Dog makes no apologies for being who he is and he sums it best in his final thoughts, "Live everyday as if it's your last and whoever doesn't like it can go fcuk themselves and a rubber duck." Don't miss a chance to get the story behind the man that inspired Al Pacino's legendary role in the Oscar Nominated Dog Day Afternoon. The Dog is Directed by Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren and set to be release in NY and LA on August 8, 2014.

Robbery and narcissism

[paul2001sw-1 · 7/10 · 22 February 2015]

'Dog Day Afternoon', starring Al Pacino, is a great film about a bank robbery; but in fact, it's based on a true story and one arguably even more bizarre than the version told in the film. However, John Wojtowicz, the real life robber, was a man who spent the rest of his life attempting to milk his own history for money, which slightly diffuses the impact of this documentary, which is less an act of uncovering a story and more one of simply turning up and listening to an extended bout of self-promotion. There's still some interest in a tale that combines an odd combination of radical sexuality and bank robbery, while John's mother is a truly remarkable woman. What's also remarkable is how closely actor John Cazale resembled the dead robber Sal.

Brilliant, Funny and Tragic -- and all simultaneously

[nick94965 · 4 May 2014]

The story of "Dog Day Afternoon" always intrigued me, since I never believed that the whole thing was true -- it didn't seem plausible that anyone like John, the "Dog" of the title, could really exist. After watching this documentary, I can say without a doubt that this person really existed, and not only that, but that he's even more entertaining in real life than Al Pacino was in the famous movie that was made about it.

John is a multi-faceted, bizarre, crazy clown of a man with the most fascinating approach to gay rights ever. He is hilarious, headstrong, outspoken, a sheer nut case, and incredibly sympathetic, even heart breaking in his dedication to those he loves. His purpose in robbing the bank, to get his lover a sex-change operation, always seemed to be a plot device added to the film by the scriptwriter. Amazingly, it is all true, and even more truth is yet to come.

One thing that really surprised me was the treatment of the relationship between John and his second "wife" -- Leon. John was actually married to a biological woman and had two children with her, and not only married Leon, he also married another man later in life. John was not only ahead of his time, way before gay marriage existed, he invented a new form of marriage, the likes of which would never be legal, at least in our lifetimes.

In the movie "Dog Day Afternoon", John holds up the bank in order to get enough money for his lover Leon's sex change operation. I could never believe that the man played by Pacino could do such a thing, but watching John in this film, it is believable -- again, the truth here is stranger than fiction. Even John's mother actually appeared on the scene as in the movie, which also seems impossible until you meet John's real life mother. At first, John's relationship with his mother seems merely abnormal -- later, it seems like these two people deserve each other in being two sides of the same bizarre coin.

Added to this is the fact that John never regrets his decision to go through with the robbery, regardless of having gone to jail and having spent a great deal of time in maximum security -- when interviewed after being captured, he still admitted that he was in love with Leon, and would have done it again if he had to do it all over again.

What complicates this unbelievable sacrifice is a very candid interview when John is on a cable-access-type show, when John and Leon, (now having had the operation and transitioned into Liz), are both giving their individual perspectives, and Leon/Liz hints that there might have been another reason as to why John robbed the bank, to which John is not admitting. This opens up yet another can of worms that is never answered. It leaves a gaping hole in John's motivation for robbing the bank, and brings us back again to the essential question: how is it possible that truth can be so much stranger than fiction?

Fascinatingly Perverse

[emkonn · 6/10 · 30 May 2021]

Like looking at a car wreck or circus freak. The protagonist John W. Is narcissistic, delusional and believes he is a cult/folk hero. The narrative is he robbed a bank and held the employees hostage to pay for his lovers sex change. The hostage aspect of his crime is reduced to insignificance while seemingly attempting to justify his actions as a result of the prevailing prejudice against homosexuals at that time. Listening to John talk about his actions and life make you realize how far fetched Al Pacino's character is from the actual person.

Did not rob me out of two hours of my life, but I was not exactly barking with joy!

[meeza · 7/10 · 29 June 2015]

The documentary "The Dog" tails the tale of the late John Wojtowicz; the real life homosexual bank robber who the hit 70's film "Dog Day Afternoon" is based on. As presented in "Dog Day Afternoon", Wojtowicz' committed a bank robbery in early 70's in New York, along with two amateurs, to pay for his boyfriend's sex change operation. In the doc "The Dog", Wojtowicz is presented as an outlandish, outspoken New Yorkan who had no regrets about his crime; and also does not restraint himself on telling all the ins & outs of his homosexual lifestyle. Directors Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren had a bit of bark in the making of the documentary but not enough bite. Sure, they do interview plenty of players involved in that infamous bank robbery including Wojtowicz's ex-boyfriends, his ex- wife, and the amateur would-be robber who chickened out. But somehow, I felt "The Dog" tried to bite more than it could chew by stating too many mundane happenings. Nevertheless, you attica check it out if you are going through one of those dog days; just beware of some of "The Dog" drawbacks I warned you about. *** Average

Criminally overlooked documentary.

[Sergeant_Tibbs · 9/10 · 7 February 2015]

Personally, I think Dog Day Afternoon is the greatest American film of the 20th century. It clicks for me like few films do. Naturally, it was easy for me to invest in The Dog about the real Sonny, John Wojtowicz. One thing I didn't expect was that the documentary would be so wickedly funny. Just like how Chris Smith's American Movie feels like it teeters on mockumentary, The Dog piles on classic one liners by people who don't realize just how funny they are. Wojtowicz is a hell of a character. He's repulsive, yet endearing, I can see how people are put off this film as he dares you to leave before its over in its opening seconds. He's a total control freak, offering saying action and cut for the directors. Here we have this guy bulging with fat and mouth full of rotten teeth admitting he's a pervert and motivated by sex. It's incredible what that one inert desire propels us into doing. The film adds layers upon layers of contradiction, fleshing out the character of John, the way he wants to be seen and the way he would never want to be seen. He's almost too good to be true.

For the first hour, it's brilliantly entertaining, earning belly laughs for the absurdity of the anecdotes. Even if they're embellishing in lies, the situations themselves and especially the delivery are still amusing. It's a really dense documentary, painting a vivid picture with a great soundtrack to match. While Dog Day Afternoon is a microcosm of these types of farcical events that happen in America, this documentary emphasises the man against the system aspect, and for a fan of Sidney Lumet's films, there's great real life footage of the fateful event that puts it into perspective. Then the film gets devastating as it details the deterioration of Wojtowicz, however much of a bad person he may be. I simply can't believe this film is being so criminally overlooked, the time put into this is phenomenal considering John died in 2006. The directors must have been sitting on this footage for a long time. I'm so glad they got to share it with us and make a film that does justice to the original masterpiece. Bravo. I'm head over heels for this gripping, hilarious, thorough, thoughtful and heartfelt doc.

9/10

A Gay Love Story About A Self-Obsessed Pervert Who Hates Al Pacino

[spguagli · 7/10 · 20 August 2014]

Some people will do anything to get attention. John Wojtowicz - whose "dramatic love story" inspired "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino - blurs the line between a man who would do anything for love and a man who would do anything for a great story to impress people with.

"The Dog" documents the love life of the late John Wojtowicz (March 9, 1945 - January 2, 2006), a man who is not afraid to say what he thinks - and what he feels. He describes his first gay experience in great detail (while he was a self-proclaimed Republican in the army), and has no shame in revealing his deep sexual hunger - for men, for women, for trans people. It made little difference.

Read my full review here: http://tinyurl.com/orrbgdk

What a film....hilarious and compelling

[andrew-906-159799 · 10/10 · 25 January 2014]

Saw this film at the New York Film Festival. Wasn't totally sure what to expect. I had never seen "Dog Day Afternoon" but loved "The French Connection" and films set in the "grittier" New York of the 70s and 80s.

As a recent New York transplant I've become increasingly fascinated with the city and it's not so distant past.

Anyway that's the background. First off I'll say that "The Dog" really took me by surprise. What a great look inside the life of a really fascinating character.

Hilarious, vulgar but unapologetic the film fully captures a very very complicated and contradictory character. Not really knowing the background of "The Dog" I was surprised at how much the film is also about gay life and the gay "revolution" that was taking place in NYC at the time. Presented without politics or nostalgia the film really reminded me that before the recent strides gays and lesbians have made - the path towards acceptance and equal rights was paved by some really wacky - and not entirely savory - misfits, outcasts and maniacs!!

After watching "The Dog" I went out and rented "Dog Day Afternoon"...really fantastic film. Having seen that film I can say that "The Dog" is a must see for fans of "Dog Day Afternoon" and lovers of NYC!

Makes the viewer doubt almost any claim Wojtowicz makes

[steiner-sam · 6/10 · 18 May 2023]

It's a documentary on the life of John Wojtowicz, the bank robber who inspired the movie, "Dog Day Afternoon." The documentary came out seven years after Wojtowicz's death but uses contemporary materials and interviews from the 1970s to the 1990s.

The documentary clearly shows that Wojtowicz had mental health problems extending at least from his year of service in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967. There, he had his first gay experience, and his subsequent behavior tended to the compulsive and erratic.

"The Dog" confirms many of the outlines of the bank robbery day, though specific details remain sketchy. The documentary's core comprises various interviews with Wojtowicz after his release from prison until a few years before his 2006 death. There are also interview clips from his mother, Terry, his wife, Carmen Bifulco, and two of his male wives, Ernie Aron/Liz Debbie Eden and George Heath. An FBI agent, several colleagues from Wojtowicz's days in the gay rights movement, a reporter, and a psychiatrist also provide additional information. We hear nothing from his father or younger brother, but we meet his older brother, Walter, who is developmentally disabled and has been institutionalized since age five.

Without being explicit, the documentary makes the viewer doubt almost any claim Wojtowicz makes. Rather, it's a sad story of a little man who ultimately constructs his life around the 14 hours he spent in the Chase Manhattan bank.

Supreme narcissist manages to make his own story boring

[jake_fantom · 5/10 · 18 October 2014]

The subject of this documentary, which purports to describe the actual events behind the Al Pacino film, Dog Day Afternoon, is himself such a colossally self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, clueless idiot, that he manages to make the fantastic story of the world's most bizarre bank robbery... incredibly boring. John Wojtowicz, who robbed a New York City bank in 1975 to pay for a sex change operation for his boyfriend, takes up 90% of the screen time in this tedious and self-serving retelling of his botched robbery, in which one of his cohorts was killed. Utterly remorseless, Wojtowicz is hard to look at, and harder to listen to. However, the newsreel scenes of a vanished New York, and the recollections of some of the New York characters who entered Wojtowicz's orbit in the course of the robbery, make this otherwise dismal and dishonest documentary worth watching. If you have not yet seen Dog Day Afternoon, I suggest you see that first. I suspect the fictionalized account in that film is a truer version than what you will hear from John Wojtowicz.

A fun trip back to the 70s

[proud_luddite · 7/10 · 8 June 2019]

The subject of this documentary is John Wojtowicz who lead a bank robbery in 1972 in Brooklyn, New York to finance his male lover's sex change surgery. This event was the inspiration for the acclaimed film "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975) with Al Pacino playing the part of Wojtowicz.

With superb footage and engaging interviews, "The Dog" manages to recall with nostalgia that wonderfully bizarre energy and attitude of the early 1970s (when there was more emphasis on fun and passion and less emphasis on property resale value) including the beginnings of the sexual revolution and the gay liberation movement. The interviewees themselves are fascinating especially family members and ex-spouses.

Wojtowicz himself is hilarious with his tough Brooklyn accent talking bluntly and profanely about his past sexual escapades with both men and women. This film also does a great job in exposing the collective obsession with celebrity. Though Wojtowicz earned his fame notoriously as a bank robber, many people still thought of him as a celebrity. The "fame" went to his head but this is only a part of what makes him a fascinating documentary subject.

Hugely engrossing

[Red_Identity · 15 October 2014]

I love Dog Day Afternoon. Granted, I haven't seen it in years, but I think it's a great film. What a surprise to see that the real-life events that it's based on are actually even more interesting. This really could have been a feature film, but I'm so glad that instead it's a documentary. John Wojtowicz is an even more interesting person than his character in Dog Day Afternoon. Really great job balancing out many of his life events and not trying to cram too much in and still leaving a big emotional impact. Great stuff, and I highly recommend it. It can be highly funny and also have a big emotional impact. Heartbreaking without being sappy.

They Should Have Used A Wideshot

[TheFearmakers · 6/10 · 18 June 2023]

The true story of the real guy that Al Pacino made legendary in the bank robbing thriller Dog Day Afternoon...

The real guy, first name John, not Sonny, isn't playing with a full deck, and as he talks about going from a "warmonger" Goldwater conservative to a peacenik McCarthy democrat during and after the Vietnam war, first believing the war and later hating the war, he's forgetting that Goldwater lost to Johnson, and it was John F Kennedy and Johnson who started the Vietnam war, and Johnson who proudly sustained it, but, again, not a full deck here... and any chance a documentary can blame Republicans for everything, they'll do so...

Also, while he did kinda look like Pacino or De Niro in his youth, he is very, very hard to look at (filmed six years before his death around 2000) and the talking-dead doc camera is just way too close to his face which includes horribly damaged teeth, sickly chapped lips and a giant grotesque sty on top of his eyelid... He's just gross...

For this documentary to fit into how docs are now, he has to brag about being a gay revolutionary instead of a career criminal lowlife who robbed a bank and pointed guns at human beings...

It's very doubtful he robbed a bank with a young dangerous hoodlum (who was younger than John Cazale in the movie, and not quietly endearing but loud and scary) just for the sex change of his boyfriend to girlfriend...

He robbed the bank to have a load of money... He didn't just take the amount needed for a sex change... He wanted a lot of money the fast way...

But like all left wing docs, a genuine scumbag is turned into a kind of anti-hero, which isn't the doc's fault since Lumet's classic Dog Day Afternoon did the same thing, only it was entertaining, and shockingly the FBI are also made to look decently enough....

Overall THE DOG is an interesting viewing and a way to pass the time, it's just a bit too idolizing of someone who was a criminal and continued to be a criminal. But, that's show biz...

The truth is, though... neither Pacino or Lumet wanted anything to do with this kook, ever, even when he got out of and back into jail for the rest of his troubled life.

He's not Pacino.

[JohnDeSando · 22 August 2014]

"I robbed this bank." T-shirt Dog wears in front of the infamous bank.

The Dog is a documentary tribute to the genius of Al Pacino. Although it's not at all about Pacino, his depiction of Brooklyn-Italian John Wojtowicz in Dog Day Afternoon, who robbed a branch bank in the summer of 1972 to fund the sex-change operation of his lover, was so spot on that, as eccentric and wild as John is, Pacino's performance was constantly on my mind.

The doc, filled with repetitive declamations from John about his willingness to chew up life, is most interesting for me briefly when his first wife, Carmen, hints that John may have robbed the Brooklyn bank because of debt to the mob, not just the sex change. Wish I could have seen that back-story because the film mostly lets John ramble on.

Alas, the film belongs to Republican Vietnam vet John, whose arc moves to and past his defining role in the botched robbery. While he claims to have married as many as four men, we watch him age in a manic pose, always talking, usually defending his bizarre bisexual exploits, seeming never to step out of his rebel role, fighting and eventually losing to cancer.

Even prison can't dull his enthusiasm for the bizarre sexuality that has been his signature. It is the '70's after all, when the Gay Activists Alliance was born. For John, it's a chance to find partners more than sympathy with the emerging Greenwich Village Stonewall initiative. The doc pays little attention to the actual robbery (I suppose it would be futile to try to match Sydney Lumet's superb film adaptation) and chooses to emphasize Dog's bravado and his close relationship with his mother, Terry (amateur psych sleuths can already smell Oedipus if not Freud). She is one tough little lady, enduring his increasingly strange actions with a love and equanimity suggesting she could also be the subject of a doc. It's doubtful how she could be held even partially responsible for a man who robs a bank and takes hostages.

Dog embodies self absorption and willful violation of civility that eventually make him much less likable than the odd Brooklyn punk he started out as. Thanks goodness for the archival news footage and Al Pacino.