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The Dog
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Dog, The
Released by: Drafthouse Films
Released on: November 4th, 2014.
Director: Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren
Cast: John Wojtowicz
Year: 2013
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The Movie:
Directed by Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren over the span of more than ten years, 2014's The Dog is a look at the live and times of the late John Wojtowicz, best known as the man behind the Brooklyn bank robbery that took place on August 22, 1972 and inspired the film Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino.
Through interviews with Wojtowicz himself, as well as those who knew him and were close to him like his mother Terry, Berg and Keraudren paint an interesting portrait of a conflicted and troubled man. At the same time, Wojtowicz is so full of himself and such an over the top character (he seems to be playing a part more often than not) that you can't help but at least be entertained by him.
The movie traces him from his younger days into early adulthood when he married his first wife, Carmen Bifulco. They had two kids together and she was evidently unaware that he was experimenting with other men on the side. Eventually he came out to her and they split up and he wound up spending a lot of time in Chelsea and became a marginal figure in the burgeoning gay rights movement in New York City at the time. Through this scene he met a man named Ernest Aaron. They fell in love and while Ernest wanted a sex change, John initially fought back against that idea. Once he relented and he realized he'd never come up with the money to get him the operation, John and two others robbed the aforementioned Chase Manhattan Bank on East Third Avenue in Brooklyn. The cops showed up along with a huge crowd and it became a media frenzy.
Wojtowicz went to prison and sold the rights to his story to Warner Brothers. With that money, Ernest got the sex change and became Elizabeth (and then dumped him) and he wound up meeting and becoming involved with another inmate named George Heath. After five years in prison, Wojtowicz was released and from there he remained a bizarre celebrity figure, periodically hanging out in front of the bank wearing a shirt that read 'I ROBBED THIS BANK' in high contrast black and white. Wojtowicz would eventually move back in with his mother and die from cancer in 2006.
Berg and Keraudren are savvy enough to let Wojtowicz tell his story in his own words. When he's not speaking, we get input from some of the aforementioned characters alongside reporters and others involved in the man's life, but for the most part this is Wojtowicz telling things in his own inimitable way. As the movie plays out, things get increasingly bizarre and by the time the movie finishes, things have hit an interesting mix of outlandishly funny and genuinely tragic.
Wojtowicz was very definitely a romantic at heart but it seems obvious he had commitment issues that meant most of the people he fell for just weren't going to stick it out with him. On top of that he had obvious anger management issues and a proclivity for verbally abusing pretty much anyone who didn't agree with him. He was a loudmouth in that special way that only people from Brooklyn can be who happened to fall into his five minutes of fame without really realizing what would happen. Obviously during the era in which the robbery took place his sexuality was a huge deal and in that regard, he was exploited, but he seemed to relish it. In fact you get the impression that if he were alive today he's tour with the documentary and gladly do outlandish Q&A sessions before or after theatrical screenings just to keep his face out there.
It's a pretty fascinating picture. It doesn't fill in every blank there is (we learn next to nothing about his father or one his two brothers, for example) but we do see him interact with his mother and handicapped brother and through these scenes we do experience some of his family dynamic. The movie is quick with its pace, almost too quick in spots, but it's never less than engrossing. As full of shit as Wojtowicz might have been at times, they guy lead an interesting life and that life translates to this documentary in fascinating ways.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.78.1 widescreen and the transfer quality is, because of the different archival sources used, understandably erratic. The newly shot interview footage looks great - nice and clean and clear and colorful and everything you'd want it to be, but as we go back over the ten year span the movie covers, quality shifts a bit. The archival footage? It varies a lot depending on the clips in question. Old 70s and 80s era news casts tend to be taken from tape sources and as such, they're soft and worn out looking. Tracking lines and tape wear is obvious at times. Overall though, things are fine. This isn't going to blow your mind with the utmost in video clarity but it looks good enough.
A DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is provided in English, with optional subtitles provided in English only. The clarity of the track is fine, with the music spread out rather well between the different channels in the mix to make for a fairly immersive experience. Again, the same problem applies here in regards to the archival clips in that some of the older ones aren't in the best of shape, so there's some hiss and some level bumps here and there. Overall though, the mix is fine and it gets the job done without any serious issues.
Extras start off with an audio commentary from directors Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren that proves to be quite illuminating. They talk in-depth about what drew them to this subject, what it was like getting in touch with John Wojtowicz and his mother, the conditions under which certain scenes were shot, what he was like to deal with as a personality and more. From there, take the time to dig through the forty minutes of deleted scenes. There's a bit more here with the various characters that make up the populace of the film including John, his mother, his brother, his first wife and even Ernie. Quite a bit of this stuff is pretty interesting and was likely cut for pacing reasons.
There's a trailer for the feature here alongside trailers for other Drafthouse titles, menus and chapter selection. Inside the case is an insert card with a download code for a digital HD version of the movie as well as a booklet of liner notes from Berg and Keraudren that offer some warm insight into what their relationship with John and Terry was like while they made this movie over a ten year period.
The Final Word:
Dog doesn't answer all the questions that there are to ask about Wojtowicz but it does let the man tell his story in his own words and without hesitation. As such, it makes for a pretty fascinating watch as it covers not only a bizarre true crime event but also the gay rights movement of the era and simultaneously acts as a great character piece. The Blu-ray release from Drafthouse Films looks about as good as it realistically can, given how this was made and it contains a decent selection of extras too. Recommended.
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