| Alpha Dog | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | Nick Cassavetes |
| Produced by | Sidney Kimmel Paul Ralph |
| Written by | Nick Cassavetes |
| Starring | Emile Hirsch Justin Timberlake Dominique Swain Bruce Willis Shawn Hatosy Olivia Wilde Sharon Stone Ben Foster Amanda Seyfried Anton Yelchin |
| Music by | Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography | Robert Fraisse |
| Editing by | Alan Heim |
| Studio | Sidney Kimmel Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | January 27, 2006 (Sundance) January 12, 2007 |
| Running time | 124 minutes (Sundance) 122 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $32,141,561 [1] |
Alpha Dog is a 2006 crime drama film written and directed by Nick Cassavetes, first screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2006, with a wide release the following year on January 12, 2007. The film is based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Nicholas Markowitz and related events in 2000. It portrays the involvement of Jesse James Hollywood, a young middle-class drug dealer in California.[2] The film stars Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Foster, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried, Anton Yelchin with Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis.
Contents |
Alpha Dog is based on events that took place in 2000 and characters are given fictional names. The film is set in November 1999. It tells the story of Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), a young drug dealer in Claremont, California and his circle of friends, which includes Frankie Ballenbacher (Justin Timberlake), Tiko "TKO" Martinez (Fernando Vargas), and Elvis Schmidt (Shawn Hatosy). The film demonstrates internal gang dynamics and social context that contribute to the events leading to kidnapping and murder.
The film starts with all the main characters, suspects, the victim, suspect's family, victim family, etc, as little children, playing around, reminiscing their childhood, when everything was carefree. At the end it shows Zack Mazursky.
The films opens with an interviewer talking to Sonny (Bruce Willis) about his son, Johnny. Sonny tells the story.
Johnny's father, Sonny Truelove, supplies his son with marijuana, from which Johnny makes a fortune dealing and selling. Johnny owns his own house where he holds meetings and parties. Another associate of the gang is Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), who owes Johnny a $1,200 drug debt. After a failed attempt at asking for the money from his parents, Olivia (Sharon Stone) and Butch (David Thornton) Mazursky, he goes over to Johnny's house where Johnny is having a party. A heated argument between the two results in a violent fight that Frankie and the gang break up, which also has Johnny pulling a gun on Jake. Jake tells Johnny that he'll never pay him the money. In retaliation, Johnny, his girlfriend, Angela, Sonny, and his godfather, Cosmo and his friends go to Jake's girlfriend, Wanda's job, where she is a waitress. Johnny writes on the receipt telling Wanda to deduct Jake's debt to pay for the bill. Johnny pretends to be Jake's parole officer and gets Jake fired from his job by telling his boss he's on drugs. Later that night, Jake and his gang break into Johnny's house, stealing his flat-screen TV, breaking his backyard window and defecating on the carpet, with Johnny there. Even though armed, he hides from Jake. The next day, Johnny, Frankie, and Tiko head to Jake's home but he is not there. On their way back, they stumble upon his 15 year old brother, Zack Mazursky (Anton Yelchin) - who snuck out of his house to avoid an argument with his parents - and decide to kidnap him in broad daylight, throwing him into the van.
Wanting a break from his home life, Zack makes little effort to escape. During Fiesta, Frankie offers him a chance to get away, which Zack declines, not wanting to cause any trouble for his brother. The two strike up an unlikely friendship. Zack stays at Frankie's house for the night and even helps him with his chores. Meanwhile, Olivia and Butch learn Jake owes money to "someone", and a furious Olivia forces Jake to go look for Zack. Jake enters a party looking for Johnny, after a heated argument with one of Johnny's friends for information, an enraged Jake gets into an intense fight with the party-goers, which results in him defeating them all in anger. The next morning, Zack meets some of Frankie's friends, including Keith Stratten (Chris Marquette), and strikes up a relationship with Julie (Amanda Seyfried), the youngest member of the group. They all learn of Zack's kidnapping, and Susan (Dominique Swain) is the only one actually concerned about it. Frankie grows nervous when Johnny hypothetically offers Frankie $2,500 to murder Zack and dispose of his body. Frankie furiously declines and Johnny claims it was a joke. Frankie suggests that they can "grease the kid" or offer Zack money for him to keep his mouth shut, and then sort the whole situation privately with Jake. Johnny reluctantly agrees and the night turns into a party at Frankie's house. Johnny speaks to Zack, taking Frankie's advice of "greasing the kid" and promises that the next day this will all be over.
The next day at Zack's home, Olivia and Butch do everything they can to find Zack. Johnny calls Jake with the intent of explaining the situation, but learns that Jake already suspects it was him who kidnapped Zack and screams that he'll kill Johnny. Johnny hangs up and calls his lawyer and explains the situation as a hypothetical scenario. When his lawyer tells him that Johnny is looking at life in prison for his actions if Zack rats them out, Johnny becomes increasingly anxious, and asks what should they do and the lawyer jokingly says dig a deep hole and he gets suspicious and Johnny hangs up. Meanwhile, Susan is still concerned about Zack still being missing, but Frankie tells her if she say anything Johnny could go to jail and they'll wind up dead. Susan thinks he's being paranoid, but Frankie tells her the offer Johnny made to him to kill Zack. Frankie tells her he's not going to do it and that Johnny is quick tempered. Susan gets over it when Johnny calls Frankie to tell him that Zack is going home. That night, while Frankie, Zack, and the gang are at a party at a hotel, Johnny approaches Elvis, who is in deep debt with Johnny, and offers to cancel the debt if he agrees to have Zack murdered. Elvis is skeptical at first, but agrees and they go to their friend Pick (Vincent Kartheiser) to borrow his mother's car. Johnny takes his girlfriend Angela (Olivia Wilde) out for her birthday. Back at the party, Zack loses his virginity when he has sex with Julie and her girlfriend, Alma (Amber Heard). Johnny calls Frankie, telling him to clear out the party and he's heading up there to take Zack home. It's Frankie, Zack & Keith. Elvis arrives at the hotel and explains to Frankie that Zack is not going home and was ordered by Johnny to have Zack killed. Frankie is enraged at Elvis, and angrily tells him he won't let him do it. Elvis instead takes Keith and they go to a remote location in the hills to dig a grave. When they get back to the hotel, Elvis tells a disturbed Frankie that they are all looking at life in prison if Zack goes home. Frankie sadly agrees and he, Elvis, and Keith trick Zack into thinking he's going home.
When Johnny brings Angela home, his godfather Cosmo (Harry Dean Stanton), Sonny, and his lawyer are waiting for him. Sonny questions Johnny on Zack's whereabouts. Johnny plays dumb, but when Sonny tells him there's Missing Person Reports about Zack on every street corner. They all try to convince Johnny to let Zack go and that Sonny will try to bribe Zack and his family. Johnny doesn't think that will work. The lawyer tells Johnny he's gonna be looking at some jail time. The lawyer guarantees that Johnny will do two years minimum sentence. Johnny refuses to go to jail and tells them he put a hit on Zack. Sonny & Cosmo tells Johnny to call off the hit on Zack Johnny is unwilling to do so. Meanwhile, Frankie, Elvis, Zack, and Keith arrive in the hills and begin walking to the grave. Zack is not aware of what's going on and grows suspicious when a deeply saddened Keith silently tells Frankie he can't go through with it, and, after giving Zack a goodbye hug, goes to wait in the car. Zack sees the grave and begins to break down, sobbing and begging Frankie and Elvis to let him go. Frankie tells Elvis that they shouldn't do it, but Elvis is keen on the job he's been given. Realizing now that there's no going back, Frankie calms Zack down and tells him that he would never hurt him, and ties a weeping Zack up with tape. He is astonished when Elvis violently knocks Zack into the grave with the shovel and then fires at Zack with the pistol, killing him. Frankie and Elvis then silently leave.
Despite all the cover up, Zack's body is found three days later. The epilogue shows the aftermath of the crime. Olivia, now suffering from obesity and depression, is interviewed. She talks candidly about her failed suicide attempts and the loss that she has experienced from her son's murder. Susan confronts Frankie over Zack's death and goes to the authorities. Elvis goes to Pick's house for help but Pick turns him down, angry over the murder. Soon the police arrive and Elvis makes a run for it, though he is quickly stopped and arrested. Johnny hears what happened, and he and his girlfriend leave L.A. for New Mexico. After going out to get cigarettes, he sees Angela being arrested and hitchhikes a ride to meet his old school friend, Buzz. Buzz agrees to drive Johnny out of the country, but changes his mind several times and ultimately goes back to L.A. to see Cosmo. Buzz drives away after a look from Cosmo.
Soon after, the gang members are found and arrested. Tiko is arrested at his house, with FBI agents raiding his house. Keith turns himself in out of guilt. Frankie is arrested after he finds his dad cooperating with the police. After being convicted, they all serve their respective sentences: Tiko serving nine years for the kidnapping; Keith serving at a juvenile facility until the age of 25 for digging Zack's grave and second-degree murder; Frankie serving a seven years to life for special circumstances of aggravated kidnapping. Elvis is put on death row for kidnapping and murdering Zack. Johnny, however, is nowhere to be found.
Back in the present, an interviewer is asking Sonny how Johnny was able to escape authorities for four years. He thinks Sonny helped Johnny and knows exactly where Johnny is. Sonny assures that he doesn't know where Johnny is. Eventually, after over five years of being on the America's Most Wanted list, Johnny is finally found and arrested in Paraguay, by Interpol, in 2005. Text on the screen informs the audience that Johnny is in California awaiting trial, and, if proven guilty, faces the death penalty.
| Role | Role in story | Actor | Real-life counterpart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Truelove | Leader. The Alpha Dog | Emile Hirsch | Jesse James Hollywood (convicted July 8, 2009 of the kidnapping and murder of Nick Markowitz and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[3]); 20 years old at the time. |
| Frankie "Nuts" Ballenbacher | Victim's watcher and supervision, best friend | Justin Timberlake | Jesse Rugge (sentenced to life in prison, for the kidnapping of Nick Markowitz with the possibility of parole after seven years. His petition for parole was denied in 2006.); 20 years old at the time. |
| Elvis Schmidt | Leader's servant. Shooter | Shawn Hatosy | Ryan Hoyt (currently on death row at San Quentin for the murder of Nick Markowitz); 21 years old at the time. |
| Jake Mazursky | Elder Half-Brother of Victim | Ben Foster | Benjamin Markowitz; 22 years old at the time. Served three years in prison for robbery. Since released. |
| Zack Mazursky | Victim | Anton Yelchin | Nicholas Markowitz (murdered by Ryan Hoyt, a member of Jesse James Hollywood's crew.) Nick was 15 when he died. Hollywood has since been tried and convicted for the kidnapping and his role in the murder. |
| Olivia Mazursky | Mother of Victim | Sharon Stone | Susan Markowitz |
| Keith Stratten | Confused pot-head | Chris Marquette | Graham Pressley; 17 at the Time. In July 2002 tried as a minor and October 2002 as an adult. Served five years in juvie for digging Nick's grave. Second degree murder. (Released from the California Youth Authority in 2007.) |
| Susan Hartunian | Concern for the Victim | Dominique Swain | Natasha Adams-Young (Given Immunity in Exchange for Her Testimony). Friend of Rugge, Graham, and Nick; 19 at the time. After reading in the paper that Nick was murdered, she confronted Rugge and asked if he had anything to do with it. Despite Rugge explaining that he didn't, she knew he was lying and she told her father, a lawyer, what happened; he in turn called police. |
| Bobby "911" Kaye | drug dealer | Alex Solowitz | Brian Affronti joined Hollywood and the crew minutes after they had kidnapped Nick; 20 at the time. |
| Tiko 'TKO' Martinez | Leader's muscle | Fernando Vargas | William Skidmore Nine years in state prison for kidnapping and robbery out of a plea bargain; 20 at the time. Skidmore was released in April 2009.[4] |
| Angela Holden | Leader's trick | Olivia Wilde | Michelle Lasher, Hollywood's girlfriend; 19 at the time. Arrested for harboring a fugitive (Hollywood). |
| Buzz Fecske | Leader's getaway driver | Lukas Haas | Chas Saulsbury, Hollywood's friend. Last met during junior high. Tried to help Hollywood get out of the country. Arrested for harboring a fugitive. |
| Sonny Truelove | Big time "Mob Boss" | Bruce Willis | John "Jack" Hollywood Jesse James's father. Arrested in 2005, the same day son Jesse James was captured in Brazil, for manufacturing the illicit narcotic GHB,[5] but the charge was later thrown out in court. Jack remained in custody on an outstanding 2002 warrant for a marijuana-related charge, and later received 18 months in an Arizona prison.[6] Since released. |
| Wanda Haynes | Half-brother's victim's girl | Heather Wahlquist | Ben's fiancée. |
| Julie Beckley | Victim's girl | Amanda Seyfried | Jeanine, Nick's girlfriend; 17 at the time. |
| Pick Giaimo | Brain dead stoner | Vincent Kartheiser | Casey Sheehan, Hollywood's friend. His vehicle was used in the murder of Nick Markowitz. Arrested, then bailed out; 20 at the time. |
| Cosmo Gadabeeti | Harry Dean Stanton | John Roberts, Jesse James's godfather, and Jack's best friend. His van was used in the kidnapping of Nick Markowitz. | |
| Detective Tom Finnegan | Holt McCallany | Officer looking for Hollywood; he arrested the crew as well as interviewed witnesses. | |
| Sabrina Pope | Charity Shea | Kelly Carpenter (given immunity in exchange for testimony), Rugge's girlfriend; 16 at the time. | |
| Alma | Amber Heard |
During filming, Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Ronald J. Zonen provided copies of many documents on the case and served as an unpaid consultant to the film, citing his desire to have Hollywood captured. Zonen prosecuted Hollywood’s co-defendants and was poised to prosecute Hollywood. After Hollywood was captured in Saquarema, Brazil and subsequently returned to the United States, his defense lawyer claimed there was a conflict of interest, and the California Court of Appeal for the Second District ruled on October 5, 2006 that, based on Zonen's disclosure of the files and consultant service—he should be recused from further involvement in prosecuting Hollywood.[7][8] On December 20, 2006, the California Supreme Court granted review on the case effectively staying the order to recuse Zonen.[9] On May 12, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that Zonen should not be recused.[10] Nonetheless, Zonen was replaced as lead prosecution attorney by Deputy Dist. Atty. Joshua Lynn.
In addition, Hollywood's attorney James Blatt tried to block the release of the movie.[11]
After the delay, Hollywood's trial started May 15, 2009 with the defense's opening statements saying Hollywood was not involved with the murder.[12] In his opening statement, Lynn described Hollywood as "a ruthless coward."[13] On July 8, 2009 he was convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder with special circumstances for which he can face the death penalty.[3]
During its opening weekend, Alpha Dog grossed $6,412,775 and was #7 at the box office.[14] The film closed on February 22, 2007 after grossing $15.2 million domestically, and totaled $32,145,115 worldwide over its six-week release.[1]
The film received mixed reviews 54% of reviews on rottentomatoes.com being positive,[15] 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.[16]
Susan Markowitz has attempted to commit suicide three times.[17] Jeff Markowitz elaborated, "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?"[18] Nonetheless, Susan Markowitz attended the film's release and reportedly was moved by Anton Yelchin's portrayal of her son. After the screening she embraced Sharon Stone, who played her in the movie.[17]
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. DVD sales gathered $12,324,535 in revenue from 743,036 units sold.[19] It was released on the Blu-ray format on July 13, 2010.
| Alpha Dog | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | January 9, 2007 |
| Recorded | 2005-06 |
| Genre | Rap |
| Label | Milan |
| Producer | Aaron Zigman |
A soundtrack for the film was released by Milan Records on January 1, 2007.[20][21]
|
|||||