Disappointment for a huge fan!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

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

"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.

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.

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!