Alpha Dog
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| Alpha Dog | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Nick Cassavetes |
| Produced by | Paul Ralph |
| Written by | Nick Cassavetes |
| Starring | Emile Hirsch Justin Timberlake Bruce Willis Shawn Hatosy Sharon Stone Ben Foster Anton Yelchin |
| Music by | Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography | Robert Fraisse |
| Editing by | Alan Heim |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | United States: January 27, 2006 (Sundance Film Festival) January 12, 2007 (wide release) |
| Running time | 124 min. (Sundance Film Festival) 122 min. (wide release) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Alpha Dog is a 2007 crime drama film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes, and released on January 12, 2007. The film is based on the true story of the kidnapping and subsequent events of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz in 2000, and the alleged involvement of Jesse James Hollywood, a young drug dealer in California[1]. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin with Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Set in November 1999, (the real events took place in 2000) Alpha Dog tells the story of Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), a young drug dealer in his hometown of Claremont, California. Despite being only 19 years old, Johnny owns his own house and car. Johnny has a circle of loyal friends, including Frankie Ballenbacher (Justin Timberlake) and Elvis Schmidt (Shawn Hatosy), the latter of whom does household chores for Johnny to pay his debt to him, but is constantly ridiculed by Johnny and Frankie for being spineless. Johnny's father, Sonny Truelove (Bruce Willis), supplies his son with the marijuana which he makes a fortune selling.
Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), one of Johnny's friends and part-time distributors, is shown interrupting dinner to ask his father for money to pay a drug debt ($800). After Jake is denied by his father and stepmother, his 15-year-old half-brother Zach (Anton Yelchin) asks to come along with him, which Jake doesn't allow. Later, at one of his many parties, Johnny meets with Jake Mazursky. When Jake tells Johnny that he has failed to collect a drug debt for him, they fight over the money. The fight culminates in Johnny pulling a pistol on Jake and kicking him out of his house after Mazursky gets the upper hand in the brawl. Jake decides to continue the fight by salting an insurance fraud set up by Johnny and a mutual friend, costing Truelove $30,000. In retaliation, Johnny calls Mazursky's boss, claiming to be Jakes parole officer, and tells the boss that Mazursky has been getting in trouble breaking into houses and using speed. As a result Mazursky loses his job and only other means of income. As an ex-con, Jake's chances of finding another job are slim, and he becomes furious with Johnny. Jake and several armed friends therefore break into and trash Johnny's house and steal his television. Although armed, Johnny does not confront them, instead hiding until they leave.
Late in the evening Zach visits Jake, who is with his girlfriend. Zach drinks with them, smokes pot, and tells of his frustration caused by his parents, who treat him like a small child. Zach's mother, upset, phones and tells Zach to come home. Jake drives a drunken, high Zach home, much to his parents' anger. The following day, Zach's mother finds a bong in Zach's room, precipitating an argument that Zach sneaks out of the house to escape.
Johnny and his friends want to take revenge on Jake, but do not find him at home. After smashing Jake's windows, they leave in a van and happen to pass Zach, who is walking by the side of the road. They see Zach and kidnap him, hoping to use him as leverage to make Jake pay his debt. Zach is initially restrained with duct tape, but this soon proves unnecessary: Zach starts enjoying the situation, now involved in the lifestyle he so envied of his brother Jake. He is then taken to Frankie's house in Palm Springs, California and begins to feel he is amongst friends and enjoys the break from home life with his over-protective mother. He is given alcohol and drugs and loses his virginity in a threesome. He is confident that Jake will soon pay his debt, and that he will then be released.
Johnny, worried about the legal problems kidnapping poses, calls his father's lawyer, who tells him that they can get life sentences for the kidnapping. Johnny then asks Frankie to kill Zach for $2500, but when Frankie rejects the offer, Johnny claims that it was just a joke. Frankie, however, suspects that Johnny was serious and talks about it to one of the girls while they are hanging out at his dad's house. The girl tries to relay the information to her mother but is unable to do so, as it is the mother's anniversary and she is too drugged up on Ecstasy to listen.
Johnny offers Elvis a way to pay back his debt: murder Zach. Elvis agrees and Frankie supplies shovels and duct tape, but refuses to help Elvis dig a grave. Elvis takes Frankie's friend Keith Stratten (Chris Marquette) along, pretending to give him a ride home. Reluctantly, Keith cooperates. While this is happening, Frankie offers Zach an opportunity to escape, but without explaining his concern. Zach does not feel in danger, and stays.
Sonny Truelove and family friend Cosmo (Harry Dean Stanton) show up at Johnny's girlfriend's house in an attempt to stop the situation from escalating. They urge Johnny to release Zach and assure him that they will work to get him a short sentence. The prospect of any jail time at all is unbearable to Johnny, though, and he refuses.
Later that night, Elvis, Frankie and Keith take Zach in a car, pretending that they are taking him home but instead driving him to the shallow grave that Elvis and Keith have dug. As they arrive at the site, two hikers walk past the group. Keith, who cannot bear the fact that that his new found friend is about to be murdered at the hand of one of his most trusted friends, hugs Zach one final goodbye and runs back down the hill to wait in the car. When they reach the grave site Zach becomes hysterical but Frankie promises him that everything will be alright. As his mouth is wrapped with tape Zach gets more and more agitated, but seems to accept Frankie's constant assurances that he will be fine. Suddenly, Elvis hits the back of Zach's head with a shovel, then proceeds to kill him with automatic fire from a sub-machine gun.
The epilogue shows the after-effects of the crime. Zach's mother Olivia (Sharon Stone) is interviewed; she talks about her wrong suicide attempts and the loss that she has experienced from her son's murder. All of the gang members are currently serving time, with Elvis on death row. Also Johnny Truelove Jesse James Hollywood was on America's Most Wanted List for 5 years being the youngest ever before he was caught and sent to California for trial.
[edit] Cast
| Role | Actor | Real-life Counterpart |
|---|---|---|
| Johnny Truelove (gang leader) | Emile Hirsch | Jesse James Hollywood (in prison awaiting trial; faces death penalty if convicted) |
| Frankie "Nuts" Ballenbacher | Justin Timberlake | Jesse Rugge (sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after five years) |
| Elvis Schmidt (shooter) | Shawn Hatosy | Ryan Hoyt (on death row at San Quentin; his trial took place from October 2001 to February 2003) |
| Jake Mazursky (elder half-brother of victim) | Ben Foster | Benjamin Markowitz |
| Zach Mazursky (victim) | Anton Yelchin | Nicholas Markowitz (murdered by Ryan Hoyt) |
| Olivia Mazursky (mother of victim) | Sharon Stone | Susan Markowitz |
| Keith Stratten | Chris Marquette | Graham Pressley (in prison till year 2008) |
| Susan Hartunian | Dominique Swain | |
| Bobby "911" Kaye | Alex Solowitz | Brian Affronti |
| Tiko 'TKO' Martinez | Fernando Vargas | William Skidmore (in prison till year 2011) |
| Angela Holden | Olivia Wilde | |
| Buzz Fecske | Lukas Haas | Chas Saulsbury |
| Sonny Truelove | Bruce Willis | John "Jack" Hollywood |
| Wanda Haynes | Heather Wahlquist | |
| Julie Beckley | Amanda Seyfried | |
| Pick Giaimo | Vincent Kartheiser | |
| Cosmo Gadabeeti | Harry Dean Stanton | John Roberts |
| Det. Tom Finnegan | Holt McCallany | |
| Sabrina | Charity Shea | |
| Alma | Amber Heard |
[edit] Legal issues
The Santa Barbara County deputy district attorney Ronald J. Zonen provided copies of virtually every document in his file, and served as an unpaid consultant to the film, motivated by his desire to have Jesse Hollywood captured. Zonen prosecuted Hollywood’s co-defendants and was poised to prosecute Hollywood. This alleged conflict of interest led to the decision by the California Court of Appeal for the Second District, who ruled on October 5, 2006 that based on Zonen's disclosure of the files — which included confidential information and service as consultant to the film — he should be recused from further involvement in prosecuting Hollywood.[2]
On Wednesday, March 22, 2006 Jesse Rugge's parole petition was denied.
On December 20, 2006, the California Supreme Court granted review on Hollywood and a factually-unrelated case, Haraguchi v. Superior Court, involving the recusal of another prosecutor from Zonen's office, thus effectively staying the order to recuse Zonen.[3] It is unclear how long it will take for the California Supreme Court to decide whether Zonen or his colleague will remain on their respective cases.
NBC's Dateline and Fox Network's America's Most Wanted have been covering the Jesse James Hollywood story.
[edit] Reception
During its opening weekend, Alpha Dog grossed $6,412,775 and was in 7th at the box office.[4] The film closed on February 22, 2007 after grossing $15.2 million domestically, and totaled $30,774,935 worldwide over its six week release. [5]
The film has received 56% positive reviews on rottentomatoes.com.[6], the consensus being, "a glossy yet unflinching portrait of violent, hedonistic teenagers. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone chew the scenery, while Justin Timberlake gives a noteworthy performance." Up-and-comer Anton Yelchin is praised as "able to bring all of the conflicting emotions of Zack," and conveying all of it beautifully. [7]
Alpha Dog was released on DVD on May 1, 2007. It includes a DVD/HD DVD combo package where both forms are included in one box.
[edit] Susan and Jeff Markowitz's repudiation
Since attending the film's premiere, Susan Markowitz has attempted to commit suicide three times. Jeff Markowitz later elaborated upon their disgust: "She is so tortured by what happened that she has tried to take her own life. The last thing that either of us want is to see this picture. How would any loving parent feel about a Hollywood movie that glamorizes their son's death and allows celebrities to cash in on a brutal, evil murder?" [8]
[edit] References
- ^ Jesse James Hollywood, drug dealer orders murder and flees the Crime Library - The Crime library
- ^ http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B188550.PDF
- ^ http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/actions/SL122006.PDF
- ^ Alpha Dog - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Alpha Dog (2007)
- ^ Alpha Dog - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Anton Yelchin Interview - Anton Yelchin on Alpha Dog, the True Story, and Charlie Bartlett
- ^ "'Alpha Dog' Victim's Mother Attempts Suicide", Hollywood.com, 2007-01-07.
[edit] External links
- Alpha Dog at the Internet Movie Database
- Alpha Dog at Rotten Tomatoes
- Alpha Dog at Metacritic
- Alpha Dog at Box Office Mojo
- Alpha Dog at Allmovie
- "Alpha Dog – The real criminals pictures."
- "The real story behind 'Alpha Dog'" at MSNBC
- Critical analysis of the film by Critical-Film.com reviewer Jason Pitt
