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Henry's sitting in his study drinking El Buho mescal, chewing the worm, haunted by hallucinations, thinking the empty page in his typewriter is staring at him and sending out telepathic messages—
go fucking write,
NOW, moth-a fucker,
WRITE, WRITE ANYTHING.
The tribe— Henry, his Cuban wife Lucia, and their lover Summer Wynd are eating on the front porch of their Key West bungalow as the Chihuahuas, Che, and Mia beg for scraps.
Their pet bird, Pedro the woodpecker is busy pecking on a high palm in the yard, sure it’s a Shortleaf pine. Lucia says,
the neighbors are going to call city animal control again, Pedro’s noisy, it’s disturbing. Henry replies,
fuck city animal control, they pick up dogs, keep em in the pound for 30 days, then gas em if no one claims em. Controlling anything is laughable— dogs in Key West don’t need to be controlled. Have you seen a pack of wilds running free in the city?
If dogs run free, then why not we?
Just do your thing, and you’ll be king,
if dogs run free.
Dylan said that.
Most everyone wants to be free, right?
Libertarians believe freedom is the most important value in life, knowing they can’t be free unless others are. Also believing that when people are free the world becomes more just, more prosperous, safer, and better for everyone.
A few months ago Lucia received her US citizenship, having completed the immigration process.
Like Henry and Summer Wynd, she has embraced libertarianism— something she couldn't do while living in Cuba.
Lucia was a Cuban celebrity, having acted in some of the countries most watched films of the 70s, such as— Havana Vampires, Soy Cuba, and Quick Amigos. She was Castro’s lover as well, one of many.
Still on the front porch, drinking Mexican Coffee with Henry and Summer Wynd she tells them,
Cuban people dream of being free, it’s a pipe dream for them because freedom’s a dirty word in Cuba.
I was drinking Chevaz Regal with Fidel in his Havana house one evening. One of his generals interrupts us and says,
El Presidente, la policía arrested a gang of libertarios in a Havana apartment, confiscating illegal books, then getting confessions. What should we do with the counter-revolutionary pigs señor? Lucia continues,
So, Fidel lights a cigar, he smoked the best, hand-rolled for him, taking a draw saying, educate the scoundrels, throw em in the hole!
Freedom rings in your ears as the oppressor steps on you— showing his fear.
In life, freedom comes and goes— but you're free when you're asleep.
Or, if death is what it’s cracked up to be, you can count on experiencing freedom in the form of a cerebral release, similar to an orgasm.
James Baldwin knows what freedom is, writing—
You know and I know that this country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too early. We cannot be free until they are free.
The tribe decides to go to the matinee show at the Tropic Cinema in downtown Keywest— a small remodeled art deco theater similar to The Majestic theater in the film The Majestic starring Jim Carrey.
After cleaning up and enjoying a toke, they pile onto the Vespa scooter, driving a short distance to the Tropic Cinema, parking in the bicycle lot.
Henry buys tickets, walking into the theater with the girls to their assigned seats.
The theater is nearly full so the threesome sits in the front row, finding three seats together, playing footsy, handsy, and find the weeny.
Dog Day Afternoon opens with a dissolved shot of a number of New York city-scenes shot outside on a hot summer day— the opening theme, Elton John's Amoreena is playing.
As the film rolls the tribe forgets about fucking around, cocking their heads upward, unable to look away from the ardent film that grabs them from the get-go.
On a hot day in August 1972 first-time crooks Sonny Wortzik, his friend Salvatore Sal Naturile and Stevie attempt to rob the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. The plan, if they had one, goes astray when Stevie loses his nerve and flees.
As Sonny interrogates the tellers and bank manager, he discovers he and Sal have arrived after the daily pickup, and the bank only has $1,100 in cash.
After rummaging through the cash at the teller's stations, Sonny mysteriously picks up the daily audit book and burns it in a trash can. The smoke raises suspicion outside, and the barber across the street calls the cops.
Soon, the building is surrounded by New York's finest so the two panicked robbers take the bank employees hostage.
Police Detective Sergeant Eugene Moretti calls the bank on a direct line installed by the cops, Sonny bluffs him saying he and Sal are prepared to kill the hostages.
Then, the bank security guard has an asthma attack and Sonny releases him as a display of good faith. Moretti persuades Sonny to step outside.
Using the head teller as a shield Sonny begins a dialogue with Moretti telling him all the cops want to do is kill him, then shouting Attica, Attica, Attica, a reference to the recent Attica Prison riot where 43 prisoners were killed. The crowd that has gathered outside sympathizes with Sonny's Attica reference and screams approval.
As the bystanders cheer the robbers, the veneer of lucidity implodes and the urgency surrounding the scene is out the window— Sonny and Sal have become local heroes in the people's eyes.
Back inside the bank, Sonny realizes things are looking grim, so he brainstorms with Sal, who says nothing as Sonny rambles and comes up with a plan to get out of the mess.
On the phone with Moretti again, Sonny demands a vehicle to drive himself and Sal to the airport so they can board a jet. He also demands pizzas and cokes be brought to the bank employees— who aren't behaving like hostages and are beginning to enjoy the hostage-takers' company.
As night sets in, the bank's electricity is shut off and FBI Agent Sheldon takes command of the scene, implementing a more stern approach. Sonny walks outside to talk to the agent, asking him why the power has been shut off.
Agent Sheldon tells him, no more favors.
Then, the agent asks Sonny to speak with his transgender wife Leon on the phone, hoping Leon can persuade him to surrender.
Sonny agrees, then reaching into a paper bag and pulling out wades of dollar bills, throwing them in the direction of the crowd who goes crazy.
Inside the bank, he's on the phone with Leon who's sitting in a barber chair across the street, the cops had plucked him out of Bellevue Hospital and brought him to the crime scene.
Leon uses the forum to bum rap Sonny, saying he attempted suicide to escape Sonny’s abuse, eventually turning down Sonny’s offer to join him and Sal in their escape.
Sonny's beginning to fall apart because of the pressure of the hostage situation and Leon's rejection of him. He tells the FBI Leon had nothing to do with the robbery.
The call is then terminated by Leon, who’s sobbing and can’t handle the scene anymore.
Then with the help of Mulvaney, the bank manager, Sonny sits at a bank desk and writes out his will, leaving money from his life insurance policy to Leon for a sex-change operation.
When the requested limo-bus arrives, Sal herds the hostages outside, pointing his carbine in their direction to keep them in line.
The group boards the limo-bus smiling, happy they are escaping the humdrum existence of working in a bank. Mulvaney the manager isn't happy though, wanting the ordeal to end so he can go home to his family.
Sonny walks around the vehicle checking through the open windows for hidden weapons or booby traps, then selecting Agent Murphy to drive. The limo-bus takes off for Kennedy airport, with a long line of police vehicles in tow.
Sonny sits in the front beside Agent Murphy who's driving with Sal behind. Murphy repeatedly asks Sal to point his gun at the roof so he won't accidentally shoot him if the vehicle hits a bump.
As they wait on the airport tarmac for the plane to taxi into position, Sal releases another hostage, who gives him her rosary beads for his first plane trip.
Agent Murphy again reminds Sal to aim his gun away. Sal does, then, Agent Sheldon seizes Sonny's weapon from outside the vehicle through an open window, allowing Murphy to pull a revolver hidden in his armrest and shoot Sal in the head. Sonny is immediately arrested, and the hostages are freed.
The film ends as Sonny watches Sal's body being taken from the car on a stretcher. The on-screen text reveals Sonny was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Leon, who changed his name to Elizabeth, gets her sex-change operation.
As Henry, Lucia, and Summer Wynd walk out of the Tropic Cinema they feel sad but uplifted, Lucia comments,
Poor Sonny and Sal, they took a wrong turn, and now one is dead and the other is going to be in the hole for twenty years. Henry laughs saying,
it's just a film baby,
she snaps back,
no, it's a true story, the film is based on a magazine article.
How do you know?
The girl working the snack bar told me when I went to buy a Butterfingers.
Boarding the Vespa they drive to a nearby soul food restaurant.
Henry parks the scooter on the sidewalk and the girls get off. They laugh, realizing they could have walked. Inside Bee's Soul Food they sit in a booth— Bee’s serves southern fare.
Bee's is in an old plantation-style house in Bahama village, a neighborhood settled by Bahamians who made their way there on boats in the 1800s, simply walking ashore, looking for a better life, which they found.
These days the picturesque village has become trendy, and many descendants of the founding Bahamians, like Bee, have made a killing on property.
Inside the tribe sets in a booth, feeling at home in the moody and down-home environment, unchanged for years as evident by the peeling yellow wallpaper.
A shapely Black waitress in her 30s with a blond wig on in a green waitress uniform comes to the table and hands them menus saying,
My name's Lucinda, Welcome to Bee’s, we have a full bar could I bring you a drink before you order, Henry asks,
What’s on tap Lucinda?
Cold 45 and Bud Ice,
how bout a pitcher of Colt 45 and 3 shots of Crown Royal?
I’ll be back with your drinks, sir.
The tribe looks over the menu, deciding what to order, Lucinda returns with the drinks. Henry orders for everyone,
dear, we’ll have catfish, pulled pork, chicken, greens, some Hoppin John, and cornbread.
Soon, Lucinda brings another pitcher, setting it down, smiling broadly saying,
your one lucky man havin two beautiful women. The room feels good, Henry smiles at Lucinda saying,
how bout a drink doll?
sure baby, I’ll have a Crown Royal. I don't like to drink alone will you all join me?
Lucinda returns with the drinks. They lift the shots toward the heavens. Summer Wynd says,
make a wish, Lucia says,
SEX, lots and lots of it.
When the soul food comes they dig in, shaking their heads saying,
yummy, ooh, wow,
Henry loaded and goes on,
Bees, I love it, it's a hole in the wall, but the joint's warm, homey, man, every Friday night it's gonna Bees and sexy Lucinda.
The girls trance-eat, ignoring Henry who at times viewed the world through coke bottle lenses. Then Lucia throws a leg bone at him saying,
big talk pendejo, you don't have enough stick for Lucinda.
By their fourth pitcher of beer, they’ve forgotten about Dog Day Afternoon.
People forget things, but dogs don't.
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