Why So Blu?

The Dog (Blu-ray Review)

In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex change operation. The act resulted in a fourteen-hour hostage situation that was broadcasted across the nation. Three years later Al Pacino portrayed his crime in Dog Day Afternoon. Drawing upon extraordinary archival footage, the film shuffles between the 1970s and the 2000s. We gain a historic perspective on New York’s gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.

Film 

In 1972, John Wojtowicz attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover’s sex change operation. The act resulted in a fourteen-hour hostage situation that was broadcasted across the nation. Three years later Al Pacino portrayed his crime in Dog Day Afternoon. Drawing upon extraordinary archival footage, the film shuffles between the 1970s and the 2000s. We gain a historic perspective on New York’s gay liberation movement, in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love of his mother Terry, whose wit and charm infuse the film. How and why the bank robbery took place is recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses.

The Dog gives a more rounded account of the events portrayed in Dog Day Afternoon.  We get the before; where John Wotjowicz was in life and what led him to that moment.  And then we get the after, his prison sentence and his life following his release.  I guess they assume we just know the film and that too well, as they didn’t really cover too much in detail the hostage situation at the bank.  I mean, its accounted for and a good middle chapter of the film, but it felt like there was more detail that could have gone into it.  However, we know that story and what’s interesting to this film is what we don’t know.

There’s a lot interesting stuff in the early portion of the film that has to do with the New York GAA movement.  Its accompanied with some really interesting video from secret meetings during the time that I found pretty fascinating.  Also interesting was how the GAA movement pretty much disowned Wotjowicz following the attempted robbery and his jailing.  He was seen as a bad egg and pretty much an embarrassment from most of the members.

Wotjowicz is an interesting character to sit and listen to here in the film.  He’s a little overconfident in what he’s saying, but he’s self deprecating enough to know he’s probably mostly full of the truth.  His personality does get monotonous, however and that lies in his speech pattern.  If you were to play a drinking game and take a drink every time he used said “Okay?” or “Right?” to end a sentence, you’d be blacked out before he even gets to planning the bank robbery.  Its funny at first, but after a while its a little tiresome.

While we do have a beloved, and frankly all time great, film based on these events, and Wotjowicz owned the crowd that one night, he also continually returned to the scene of that crime to try and cash in on his fame.  Its really weird to think, but overall, this man was a criminal.  He put many people’s lives in danger and did serve his time for it.  He says its all in the name of love and doing what he felt was showing his loyalty and dedication to the highest degree, but the man is still a crook and wrong for what he did no matter how entertaining his story is or movie made off of his actions was.  That said, this film ends incredibly sad as you see a man get fully beaten and wither away due to cancer.  Its a pretty tough watch.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (labeled as 2.35:1 on the case)

Clarity/Detail:  The interview portions that are all the new footage either aren’t properly lit or weren’t done with a high resolution camera as they appear a little soft and smooth.  It does look like a DVD upconvert.  However, the photographs in the film are very high resolution oozing with depth and detail.  Older footage in the film looks as good as can be.  Of course a lot of the source material is in some rough shape but its perfectly displayed here.

Depth:  Its on the flatter side of the things, aside from the still images featured in the film.

Black Levels:  In the newer footage and images blacks are accurately displayed.

Color Reproduction:  Colors are a little dim but feature a nice little palette.  His ex wife’s purple sirt kinda is way too vibrant and bleeds a little, but that’s the only problematic thing with colors.

Flesh Tones:  For the new interviews they are smoother and consistent.  Detail is merely ok.

Noise/Artifacts:  A little bit of noise in the interview sessions.  Older footage features plenty of grain, scratches and film dirt.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English

Dynamics:  This is a documentary, so its all about the interview dialogue and score.  They’re presented nicely and never get into one another’s way.  The vintage clips are impressively rendered here and sound nice.

Low Frequency Extension:  Not much aside from pumping up some of the score.

Surround Sound Presentation:  Maybe some score here or there, but this really could have been 2.0.

Dialogue Reproduction:  As I said before, the dialogue is clear and clean.  Impressively in the vintage clips the audio sounds surprisingly well restored.

Extras 

The Dog comes with a Digital Copy of the film and a 12-page booklet featuring photos and a filmmaker Q&A.

Audio Commentary

• With Directors Allison Berg & Frank Keraudren and Film Curator Thom Powers

Deleted Scenes (HD, 40:27)

Trailers – The Dog, 20,000 Days On Earth, A Band Called Death, The Act Of Killing, The Final Member, The Overnighters

Summary 

The Dog was a documentary I was really looking forward to, and it wound up just being a little better than “Ok” for me.  Its a very interesting life story, but could have condensed itself just a tad, or expanded a little better in some areas.  This Blu-ray has a surprisingly average video transfer with solid audio.  The extras aren’t much to list out, but it really offers a terrific batch of additional material.  I’m not one to say “OMG you gotta buy this documentary” as documentaries (save a few) aren’t things I really gravitate toward more than once.  But, definitely see this one if you get the chance, and if you love it a ton, then this Blu-ray is definitely worth the purchase.