John Wojtowicz

John Wojtowicz was an American bank robber whose 1972 attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank became the basis for the film Dog Day Afternoon.

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Chase Manhattan Bank robbery: A 1972 attempted bank robbery in Brooklyn that became a prolonged hostage standoff. Wojtowicz took part in this robbery, the defining event of his public life.
Elizabeth Eden: The name used by Ernest Aron, a transgender woman whose relationship with Wojtowicz figured in accounts of the robbery’s motive. Wojtowicz said he sought money for Eden’s gender-affirming surgery.
P. F. Kluge: An American journalist and novelist who wrote the 1974 article “The Boys in the Bank.” Kluge’s reporting supplied source material for Dog Day Afternoon.
Al Pacino: An American actor who played Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon. Pacino’s performance shaped the screen image associated with Wojtowicz.
Dog Day Afternoon: A 1975 American crime film directed by Sidney Lumet and inspired by the Brooklyn bank robbery. The film transformed Wojtowicz’s crime into a widely seen dramatization.
LGBTQ history in the United States: The history of LGBTQ people, movements, institutions, and rights in the United States. The public framing of Wojtowicz’s motive reflects the period’s treatment of transgender people.
The Boys in the Bank: A 1974 magazine article by P. F. Kluge about the Brooklyn bank robbery and its participants. The article helped carry the robbery from news coverage into the film’s source material.
Frank Pierson: An American screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for Dog Day Afternoon. Pierson adapted the real robbery into a scripted dramatic narrative.
Sonny Wortzik: The fictional bank robber played by Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. Wortzik is the film’s fictionalized counterpart to Wojtowicz.
Ernest Aron: The birth name of Elizabeth Eden, a transgender woman associated with John Wojtowicz. Aron’s relationship with Wojtowicz formed part of the story behind the robbery.