The Dog
2014 | 101 minutes
OTTAWA PREMIERE | STARTS AUGUST 15
Personified by Al Pacino in the 1975 film, Wojtowicz was never what one might consider leading-man material. A short, self-described pervert, the Brooklyn lothario compensated with charisma for what he lacked in looks (and teeth). While married to his first wife, Wojtowicz sought sex in the bars and parks of Gothams West Village, which the still-randy ex-con tours for the cameras here, carrying himself like the neighborhoods unofficial mayor.
The helmers are careful to show Wojtowicz at his blustery, ebullient best (despite hints of severe mood imbalances), dynamically intercutting his semi-embellished stories with B-roll of the early-70s gay scene, vintage interviews and a series of historical events, including the widely televised Brooklyn bank robbery. Berg and Keraudren began filming Wojtowicz in 2002, devoting long hours to chronicling their subject until his death in 2006, after which the project took another seven years to complete.
Their approach is far more intimate and personal than that of previous sensation-seekers, whose interest in Wojtowicz and his case centered largely around his transgendered love interest, Ernest Aron, aka Liz Eden, who died of AIDS 15 years before this docu began filming. Via archival footage, the pic downplays the freakshow factor evident in other coverage while fully embracing the catty, unconventional terms of the couples relationship.
More incredible than the heist itself is the fact that Wojtowicz had participated in protests at the New York City Marriage License Bureau; that he and Eden were hitched in an early gay wedding ceremony; and that their status did little to curb either of their extracurricular sexual activities: She continued turning tricks for cash, while the Dog still wanted to screw everyone he met.
Naturally, the most compelling aspects are the lead-up to and retelling of the heist by Wojtowicz himself (already the subject of two other docs, The Third Memory and Based on a True Story), in which some surprising new details come to light. For example, Wojtowicz claims New York mayor John Lindsay called him during the robbery and threatened to kill all the hostages, which, if true, presents a very different picture from the historical record, where the incident is credited with inspiring the citys hostage negotiations team. Another fun fact: Just before entering the bank, the entire team went to see The Godfather, starring Al Pacino.
The robbery may have been the directors initial reason for contacting Wojtowicz, but they clearly developed a deeper fascination with him, which results in a more intimate character study. Beneath the colorful facade, they reveal the Dogs strange co-dependent relationship with his mother (a nosy old woman who describes following him down to the Village gay bars one evening), tag along for a visit with his developmentally disabled brother and interview his jailhouse husband, George Heath, who became his next obsession.
What emerges is a spunky yet surprisingly sad portrait of a sexually liberated man held captive by his past, forever chasing and trying to rewrite his own legend to the extent that Wojtowicz, who sued Warner Bros. for his share of a movie he considered largely inaccurate, actually returned to the scene of the crime wearing a T-shirt that read I Robbed This Bank, selling autographs and telling his story any who would listen. Such a pathetic character normally wouldnt warrant one film; the fact that the Dog spawned four proves theres more to Wojtowicz than his crime.