And I wasn’t afraid to show him.” Before he’s murdered, Zack also resolves to be nicer to his mother, saying, “She’s my best friend.” After Zack’s murder, she says, “When my son died, I died. Olivia is the only adult in the film who exhibits any concept of limits, consequences or discipline. And as Zack talks about Mom, we learn that she tries to help him with his homework. Accordingly, Olivia challenges her passive husband, Butch, to deal with early signs of Zack’s acting out (such as when she finds a bong in his room). She’s determined to keep him from turning out like his half-brother (Zack and Jake share the same father). For her, the sun rises and sets on her son, Zack. Sonny recognizes his failure, and he tells the reporter that the tragedy is not about “drugs, guns or disaffected youth,” but parenting-or lack thereof. Alpha Dog begins with a reporter interviewing Sonny after Zack’s murder. There’s little that’s commendable about Sonny, but he does offer insight that frames the story. He’s also a drug dealer, securing shipments for his son when necessary.
Sonny Truelove is an older version of his son, Johnny. Two important characters in Alpha Dog fill parental roles. No one takes the kidnapping too seriously until Johnny learns that it could lead to life in prison-after which he hatches a brutal plan to deal with the problem. Frankie acts as Zack’s delinquent chaperone, moving him from party to party as Johnny tries to figure out his next step. And what a party it is, with Frankie giving the boy unceasing access to alcohol, marijuana and available young women. Zack is amiable, and he treats his kidnapping more like a slumber party than an abduction. So when Johnny, Frankie (and another of Johnny’s goons) see Jake’s half-brother, Zack, walking through a park, yanking him into their van seems a perfectly reasonable way to accelerate Jake’s payment plan. Johnny lets Jake know what he thinks by shoving him through a glass table. When Johnny refuses to give Jake time to round up the money, it ignites a powder keg of rapidly escalating conflict. Enter one Jake Mazursky, a strung out, volatile-and violent-customer who owes Johnny $800. Another important character among Johnny’s retinue is Elvis Schmidt, an insecure pup who’ll do anything to be inducted into Johnny’s debauched inner circle.īeing the alpha means never backing down, never admitting defeat or fear. Johnny’s lieutenant is the big-talking Frankie Ballenbacher. Truelove is the “alpha dog” among his pack of friends whose primary pursuits are watching hip-hop videos, playing video games, drinking beer, smoking dope and having sex. Onscreen, Hollywood morphs into Johnny Truelove, a young pot peddler living a life of wanton hedonism with his friends. The story may be the same, but names have been changed.
In January 2007, his trial is about to begin.Īlpha Dog is director Nick Cassavetes’ carefully researched dramatic reenactment of the events surrounding this sordid story. Hollywood managed to elude capture for five years before being arrested in Brazil in March 2005.
Hollywood held the boy for a week (in which victim and villains partied together), then, in desperation, ordered his associates to murder Markowitz in the mountains near Goleta, Calif. Alpha Dog is also Justin Timberlakes acting debut, and while he did give a great first performance, the film deserves to be remembered for much more that just that.In August 2000, a 20-year-old drug dealer named Jesse James Hollywood kidnapped 15-year-old Nick Markowitz, the half-brother of a man who owed him a drug debt. The mature content and troubling dialogue is meant to be an accurate interpretation of the real life individuals that lived out this lifestyle and its also meant to leave the viewer shaken and uncomfortable. What Alpha Dog does most effectively is provide an overlooked glimpse of Americas troubled youth and how drugs, sex, and guns can often lead to dire consequences. The crime involved a group of young and privileged drug dealers that are in over their heads after they kidnap an acquaintances 15-year-old brother. Despite many of the actual names and locations being changed for the movie, Alpha Dog still remains mostly factual to the tragic story of a ransom related homicide that took place in Southern California during the summer of 2000. Alpha Dog Year Of Release: 2007 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 55% Powerful, realistic, shocking, and a criminally underrated crime drama, Alpha Dog might be the most overlooked film thats based on a true story.