"The Dog" Documentary

I can't believe there's not a thread on this board about the 2013 documentary "The Dog," which works remarkably well as companion prequel/sequel to "Dog Day Afternoon."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3091304/combined

I watched "Dog Day Afternoon" for the first time last night -- it's a movie I'd vaguely known about for forever but had never bothered with. I was captivated by the story and as soon as the credits rolled I went to the net for more info... and I quickly found myself following it up with "The Dog." Glad I did. Although it's the centerpiece of the story, the robbery isn't thoroughly dissected in "The Dog;" the facts may have been fudged a bit but it seems the movie was pretty close to the way it really happened. However, there are a lot of unanswered questions and Hollywood chose to gloss over the then-emerging gay movement in which the tale was heavily steeped.

The makers of "The Dog" tracked down John Wojtowicz (aka Sonny), who eagerly shared his life's story in a handful of interviews in the years leading up to his death, and then they fleshed out the story with archival footage and interviews from other key people in Wojtowicz's life. The guy was an unabashedly sleazy pansexual horndog who (rather sadly) rode the robbery/film as a claim to fame for the rest of his life - but he was weirdly charismatic and his stories were engrossing.

I think the thing that struck me most was the uncanny similarities between Pacino, Sarandon and their real-life counterparts - their casting/performances were so pitch perfect and the archival news footage is so close to Lumet's take that the documentary really felt like an extension of the film. So if you like the movie and want to know more about the story, I urge you to watch "The Dog."