GAYLETTER

The story is so wild Al Pacino made a movie about it (Dog Day Afternoon 1975). Directed by Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren The Dog tells the story of John Wojtowicz, a man who attempted to rob a Chase bank in Brooklyn in 1972 in order to buy his girlfriend, Liz Eden, gender-reassignment surgery (she was a trans woman). The robbery lead to a 14-hour siege that made international headlines, and a long jail sentence for John. 

As John says in the trailer below, he’s a true romantic. What lead him to making, what he considered to be, the ultimate romantic gesture — robbing a bank so his girlfriend could become the woman on the outside that she was on the inside — is explored in-depth in this film that was shot over 10 years. Using old news footage of the robbery, along with 10 years of interviews with John, and also interviews with many of the leaders of the gay liberation movement at the time, The Dog is a fascinating film.

John was a true pioneer of the gay rights movement. He loved sex and was unabashed in his desires for men, once even making out with a cop on the street after he called him a “faggot.” Way before same-sex marriage was even discussed in the media, John helped organize one of the earliest marriage equality protests and he was an active member of the Gay Activists Alliance. But more than anything he was, and is, a great storyteller, something this film brilliantly illustrates.

If you’re looking for a unique movie to see this weekend, then The Dog is it. It’s one of the strangest tales ever told, but wonderfully entertaining.

So when is someone going to rob a bank for me!?

In theaters today and iTunes August 15