John Wojtowicz was a romantic - he says that's why he tried to rob a bank to finance his lover's

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31457718

gender reassignment surgery.



The failed robbery inspired the film Dog Day Afternoon and several documentaries, the latest of which, The Dog, is an affectionate, no-holds-barred portrait of a New York eccentric.

"Nobody would ever rob a bank to give a guy a sex-change operation, that's why they made a movie about it," says Wojtowicz in The Dog - the story of the man who committed one of the most sensational crimes the US has ever seen.



Carmen Bifulco and John Wojtowicz at their wedding in 1967

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Westenberg said he couldn't go through with it and walked out, the bank's safe turned out to be half empty, and one of the staff managed to raise the alarm. Soon the building was surrounded, and the eight staff had become hostages. The police set up shop in a beauty parlour across the road, and negotiations began.


John Wojtowicz and Ernie Aron at their wedding in December 1971

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"Weddings to me, is a holy institution," he says in the film. "Love is a holy institution. If I love someone I want to marry that person. I want to make a commitment to that person. And in straight society you do that by getting married. So I don't see why gays can't do that."

Fascinating revisit of 1970's social reality. Read more:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31457718