Dog Day Afternoon In The Prescott Wal-Mart

Sleaze Culture

Recently Hollywood has suffered from a lack new ideas.  This year alone will see a remake of Footloose and re-imagining of the Planet of the Apes franchise, not to mention a sequel to the very popular Hangover.  But brand spanking new material made into the next classic movie blockbuster?  Not happening in the 2011 film studios in the Los Angeles Metro Area.

Yesterday, while sitting at the local Capital Grille bar having a burger, I overheard three guys discussing a local robbery while drinking a bottle of Heitz ‘Martha’s Vineyard.’  It seems two Prescott, Arizona knuckleheads were arrested after trying to knock over the local Wal-Mart to pay for a sex change operation.

“They should make into a movie,” one guy exclaimed.

I had seen an article posted on AZCentral.com earlier in the day on the botched hold-up in question and the two geniuses behind the black bag job.

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Police in Arizona say two Walmart employees burglarized the store where they worked to pay for a car and a sex change operation.

Police arrested 23-year-old Spencer Danger Cullen and 19-year-old Adriano Valdes Altiveros III on Friday.

Reinhardt says Altiveros reportedly told detectives he stole cash to buy a car. He says Cullen told police she stole the money to go forward with a sex change operation.

Cullen and Altiveros remain in custody. The Yavapai County public defender’s office would not say Wednesday whether the pair had been appointed attorneys.

Prescott is about 80 miles north of Phoenix.

The problem with turning the Cullen/Altiveros saga into a film is this: it’s already been done.  1975’s Academy Award winning Dog Day Afternoon starring Al Pacino and John Cazale which was itself based on a Life Magazine article entitled “The Boys In The Bank” written by PF Kluge about a bank job pulled in 1972 to finance a sex change operation.

On the other hand, Hollywood could do worse remaking a classic Lumet/Pacino/Cazale film.  Oh yeah, the remake of Footloose arrives in theaters on October 14, 2011.

Never mind.

(Hat Tip: Penny Parker)