Alpha Dog

Alpha Dog is a 2006 American 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. Starring Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Anton Yelchin, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried with Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone, and Bruce Willis, the film is based on the true story of the murder of Nicholas Markowitz and related events in 2000.^[3]

Plot

Johnny Truelove is a young marijuana dealer living in Southern California. His father, Sonny, supplies him with marijuana, which Johnny distributes to his gang of friends, including Jake Mazursky, who owes him a $1,200 drug debt. Jake makes a failed attempt at asking his father Butch and stepmother Olivia for the money. Meanwhile, Butch and Olivia are dealing with their rebellious teenage son Zack, who admires his older brother. A fight breaks out between Jake and Johnny when Jake tries to pay Johnny only part of his debt. After back and forth retaliation, Johnny and his two henchmen, Frankie Ballenbacher and Tiko Martinez, go to confront Jake in person, but when they arrive at his house he is nowhere to be found. As they leave, they find Zack walking on the side of the road and decide to kidnap him with the intent of holding onto him until Jake pays his debt.

Wanting a break from his home life, Zack makes no effort to escape. Johnny pawns Zack off on Frankie, who offers him a chance to escape, but Zack declines the offer, not wanting to cause any trouble for his brother. Zack stays with Frankie at his father's house, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. The next day, he ingratiates himself with Frankie's friends, including Keith Stratten, Susan Hartunian, and Julie Beckley, the youngest member of the group. A number of friends of the gang learn of Zack's kidnapping, though Susan is the only one who seems concerned.

Frankie grows nervous when Johnny tells him they could be in serious trouble for the kidnapping and hypothetically offers him $2,500 to murder Zack. Frankie furiously declines and Johnny claims it was just a joke. Instead, Johnny agrees to Frankie's plan to pay Zack to keep his mouth shut. However, after a threatening phone call from Jake, and a phone call from his lawyer who reveals he could face life in prison for kidnapping, he decides the risk of ending up dead or in prison is too great to let Zack go. Johnny calls his friend Elvis Schmidt and offers to erase his drug debt if he kills Zack. Frankie and his friends still believe Zack will be returning home at the end of the night and throw a raucous going away party. Zack has a good time at the party and later goes skinny-dipping with Julie and her friend Alma in the pool, which leads to a three-some. After the party, Julie gives Zack her number and Alma gives him a good-bye kiss on the cheek.

Elvis arrives at the hotel where Zack is waiting to be picked up, and Frankie and Elvis begin to argue when Elvis reveals Johnny sent him there to kill Zack. When Frankie leaves, Elvis takes Keith to dig a grave. Frankie offers Zack a final opportunity to escape, but believing that he is now part of the group and will be returning home soon, Zack prefers to wait at the hotel for Elvis to return. Meanwhile, Sonny, Cosmo (Johnny's godfather), and Johnny's lawyer confront Johnny, who refuses to call off the hit. Elvis and Keith return to the hotel, and Frankie and Elvis go outside to talk. Frankie, reluctant because of the friendship he has formed with Zack, finally relents when Elvis tells him they could face life in prison if Zack tells someone what happened.

Frankie, Elvis, Zack, and Keith arrive at the grave site. Zack is not aware of what's going on and grows suspicious when a deeply saddened Keith tells Frankie he can't go through with it, and goes to wait in the car after giving Zack a goodbye hug. When Zack sees the grave he begins to break down, and begs Frankie and Elvis to let him go. Frankie tells Elvis they shouldn't go through with it, but Elvis is keen on the job he's been given. Frankie calms Zack down, and ties him up with duct tape. Elvis then knocks Zack into the grave with a shovel, and shoots him multiple times with an automatic Tec 9, killing him.

Zack's body is found three days later. The epilogue shows the aftermath of the crime: his mother Olivia, now suffering from obesity and depression, is interviewed, and talks candidly about her failed suicide attempts and the loss that she has experienced from her son's death. Susan angrily confronts Frankie over Zack's death and goes to the authorities. Elvis is caught while trying to secure a ride out of L.A. Johnny flees the city and arrives at the house of old classmate Buzz Fecske, who drives him back to Cosmo's house, where he enters and is not seen again.

Tiko, Keith and Frankie are arrested, and after being convicted, they all serve their respective sentences: Tiko serves nine years in prison for kidnapping; Keith serves time at a juvenile facility until the age of 25 for digging Zack's grave; Frankie serves seven years to life for kidnapping and second-degree murder; and Elvis is put on death row for first-degree murder. Johnny, however, is nowhere to be found. The interviewer asks Sonny how Johnny was able to escape authorities for four years without help, but Sonny assures him that he doesn't know where Johnny is. In 2005, after over five years of being on the America's most wanted list, Johnny is finally found and arrested in Paraguay. Text informs the audience that Johnny is in California awaiting trial, and, if proven guilty, faces the death penalty.

Cast

Legal issues

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.^[8][9] On December 20, 2006, the California Supreme Court granted review on the case effectively staying the order to recuse Zonen.^[10] On May 12, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that Zonen should not be recused.^[11] 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 film.^[12]

After the delay, Hollywood's trial started May 15, 2009 with the defense's opening statements saying Hollywood was not involved with the murder.^[13] In his opening statement, Lynn described Hollywood as "a ruthless coward."^[14] On July 8, 2009 he was convicted of kidnapping and first-degree murder with special circumstances for which he can face the death penalty.^[4]

Release

Box office

During its opening weekend, Alpha Dog grossed $6,412,775 and was #7 at the box office.^[15] The film closed on February 22, 2007 after grossing $15,309,602 domestically, and totaled $32,145,115 worldwide over its six-week release.^[2]

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews; out of 143 critics, 55% of them were positive^[16] with 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."

Yelchin was praised as "able to bring all of the conflicting emotions of Zack," and conveying all of it beautifully.^[17]

Markowitz family reaction

Susan Markowitz attempted suicide three times.^[18] 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?"^[19] Nonetheless, Susan attended the film's release and reportedly was moved by Anton Yelchin's portrayal of Zack (Nick). After the screening, she embraced Sharon Stone, who played Olivia (Susan).^[18]

Awards and nominations

• Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2007

2nd place BSFC Award-Best Supporting Actor

• MTV Movie Awards 2007

Nominated MTV Movie Award-Breakthrough Performance

Justin Timberlake

• Teen Choice Awards 2007

Nominated Teen Choice Award-Choice Movie: Breakout Male

Justin Timberlake

For Black Snake Moan

• Young Hollywood Awards 2006

Won

Young Hollywood Award Breakthrough Performance - Male

Ben Foster

Home media

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.^[20] It was released on the Blu-ray format on July 13, 2010.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released by Milan Records on January 9, 2007.^[21][22]

References

External links

• Alpha Dog at the Internet Movie Database
• Alpha Dog at Box Office Mojo
• Alpha Dog at Rotten Tomatoes
• Alpha Dog at Metacritic
• Alpha Dog at AllMovie