The Dog

Directors Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren in person at both screenings!

On August 22, 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to hold up a Chase Manhattan branch in Brooklyn. He went in with two accomplices, one of whom lost his nerve and walked away. Wojtowicz’s objective was to pay for a sex change for his wife, a transvestite named Ernie. The robbery devolved into a 14-hour standoff that magnetized the attention of the neighborhood and then of the entire city, ended tragically for Wojtowicz’s remaining cohort, and landed him in prison for six years. Sound familiar? It should if you’re a movie fan. But if you thought that the events depicted in Dog Day Afternoon were crazy, wait until you see Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren’s portrait of the real motor-mouthed, uncorked Wojtowicz. Every side of the story behind the real robbery is about four times crazier, and the larger story of Wojtowicz’s life is hilarious, hair-raising, and giddily profane, all at once.