The Dog Review: Gritty

On August 22, 1972 Brooklyn, NY witnessed one of the greatest failed bank robberies in history. John Wojtowicz, along with Salvatore Naturale and Robert Westenberg, attempted to rob a “Chase Manhattan” bank on Ave P and East Third Street in Gravesend Brooklyn in order to finance his “wife” Ernest Aron’s (later Elizabeth Debbie Eden) sex change operation. This bizarre event spawned the 1975 film “Dog Day Afternoon” with Al Pacino playing John. 42 years after this incident there is finally a documentary about John Wojtowicz called “The Dog.” It’s an interesting movie to say the least.

“Drafthouse Films” takes the viewer from when Wojtowicz got drafted, to the heist and up until his death. This journey is told through interviews of Wojtowicz, his mom and his wives. Nobody in this film holds anything back. We get the all the gritty details of his life.

“Gritty” is also the perfect word to describe this film. There is plenty of string language to make even Samuel L. Jackson blush, talks about the gay rights movement of the sixties and Wojtowicz’s way of thinking. The media painted him out to be a psychopath; here he comes off as just any other Brooklyn Italian. The only difference is he’s a little too outspoken for most people.

The film also paints him out as just someone who does things because, as Wojtowicz, he has this old-school Italian mentality that he has to be the alpha male. Considering how he pretty much forced Naturale to have sex with him before the heist is saying a lot. In fact, according to the film, that’s how he got everyone to have sex with and even marry him.

One positive thing this movie does is it gets interviews from people from the media. One such person is Robert Kapstatter, the “Daily News” reporter who interviewed him. This allows the film to show exactly how big of a deal this heist was. It even caused the Republican National Convention to become a minor news story. That’s how big this was.

Another great thing this film does is it shows the heist in its entirety. This is works in that so much happened there that we as an audience needs to know what transpired on that day and reaction from the hostages. This almost makes Wojtowicz out to be some kind of celebrity. In a weird way, the film does just that considering what happened afterwards.

Only mentioning “Dog Day Afternoon” and not making it the sole purpose of the movie was a smart idea on the director’s. A movie based on a real event usually makes that even seem insignificant. Almost as if it never happened. Of course, the real story is usually more interesting than the movie.

If you’re interested in the 1972 Brooklyn bank heist or the film based on it then this documentary will not disappoint you. It’s as informative and gritty as it should be. Combine that with Wojtowicz’s Brooklyn Italian attitude and you get one of the most real documentaries that have come out in a long time.