At the end of the movie Dog Day Afternoon, it says the character Sonny played by Al Pacino was sentenced to 20 years in prison. That was in 1975 or something. I’m trying to find out what happened to him. was he released or what? where is he now?
By doing some searching, I found out that the real man’s name was John Wojtowicz, and he’s apparently out of prison and living in Brooklyn, NY with his mother, on welfare. It appears he only served 7 years in prison.
There’s an interview here with a French filmmaker who located Wojtowicz and got his help in making a movie, “The Third Memory,” with John re-enacting the real-life experiences behind the robbery.
His lover, who after her sex change was named Liz Eden, died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1986. The National Archive of Gay & Lesbian History maintains an archive of her correspondence with Wojtowicz.
You can read P.F. Kluge’s original article, “The Boys In The Bank,” which inspired the movie, about halfway down this page.
Thank you so much for your research!!