Alpha Dog [Blu-ray]

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Overview

A drug dealer moves on to bigger crimes in an effort to settle a score with disastrous results in this drama inspired by actual events. Though barely out of his teens, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) has already built a lucrative career for himself selling drugs -- he has his own home, a luxury car, and posse of friends who do double duty as his crew, including Elvis (Shawn Hatosy), Frankie (Justin Timberlake), and Tiko (Fernando Vargas). While life at Johnny's house is usually a constant party interrupted by occasional dope deals, Johnny has lost all of his patience with Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a regular customer who has run up a large tab that he can't pay. Determined to clear Jake's account, Johnny and his boys plan to kidnap Jake and hold him for ransom, but when they happen upon his 15-year-old stepbrother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), they impulsively decide to take the youngster instead. Jake's father, Butch (David Thornton), and his stepmother, Olivia (Sharon Stone), are already furious with their junkie son when they learn about Zack's disappearance, and aren't sure what they should do. Meanwhile at Johnny's place, Frankie takes a liking to young Zack, who already admires his brother's high-flying lifestyle, and introduces the kid to the joys of grown-up partying, which he takes to with dangerous zeal. Also featuring Bruce Willis as Johnny's father, Alpha Dog was based on the real-life story of Jesse James Hollywood, who at the age of 21 became one of the youngest people to ever appear on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/13/2010
UPC:	0025192046148
Original Release:	2006
Rating:	R
Source:	Universal Studios
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:58:00
Sales rank:	6,148

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Emile Hirsch	Johnny Truelove
Justin Timberlake	Frankie Ballenbacher
Anton Yelchin	Zack Mazursky
Ben Foster	Jake Mazursky
Shawn Hatosy	Elvis Schmidt
Bruce Willis	Sonny Truelove
Sharon Stone	Olivia Mazursky
Christopher Marquette	Keith Stratton,Keith Stratten
Lukas Haas	Buzz Fecske
Alex Kingston	Tiffy Hartunian
Harry Dean Stanton	Cosmo Gadabeeti
Dominique Swain	Susan Hartunian
David Thornton	Butch Mazursky
Heather Wahlquist	Wanda Haynes
Vincent Kartheiser	Pick Giaimo
Alex Solowitz	Bobby 911
Fernando Vargas	Tiko `TKO' Martinez
Olivia Wilde	Angela Holden
Holt McCallany	Det. Tom Finnegan
Alec Vigil	P.J. Truelove
Vincent Laresca	Actor
Matthew Barry	Interviewer
Frank Cassavetes	Adrian Jones,Jonna Kirshner
Nicole Dubos	Neighborhood Girl on Couch
Regina Rice	Dance Bitch Girl
Laura Nativo	Party Girl
Jesse Erwin	Employee
Paul Johansson	Peter Johansson
Nancy De Mayo	Dale Dierker
Chuck Pacheco	Chucky Mota
Frank Peluso	Gay `Lumpy' Yeager
Shera Danese	Abby
Greg Williams	De Rosa
Joshua Alba	Klemash
Shirley Kurata	Lu
Patrick Nguyen	V.C.
Chris Kinkade	Juergen Ballenbacher
Amanda Seyfried	Julie Beckley
Charity Shea	Sabrina Pope
Bobby Cooper	Bob Nolder
Stephanie Fowler	Delores Stratten
Natasha Elliott	Bathroom Party Girl
Amber Heard	Alma
Janet Jones	Elaine Holden
Alan Thicke	Douglas Holden
Adrianna Belan	Leigh Fecske
Aaron Zigman	Composer

Technical Credits

Nick Cassavetes

Nick Cassavetes	Screenwriter
Sidney Kimmel	Producer
Chuck Pacheco	Producer
Marina Grasic	Executive Producer,Producer
Andreas Grosch	Executive Producer,Producer
Jan Korbelin	Executive Producer,Producer
Andreas Schmid	Executive Producer,Producer
Steve Markoff	Executive Producer,Producer
Avram Butch Kaplan	Executive Producer
Robert Geringer	Executive Producer,Producer
Robert Alonzo	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

The release of Alpha Dog was mired in controversy. The real-life murder-kidnapping that inspired it was still being tried in courts, and the deputy district attorney's role as a consultant on the film placed the trial in a state of legal limbo. That's too bad, because this ancillary fact -- along with the studio dumping it in January -- tended to obscure just how good Nick Cassavetes' film really is. Free from the exploitative qualities of Larry Clark's Kids, Alpha Dog shows the absolutely true transmogrification of bored suburban youths into drug kingpins and other reckless associates. At the same time -- and this is key -- it keeps its finger on their childlike humanity, which they retain even as their posturing forces them down the opposite path. Potentially complicating the message of Alpha Dog is the fact that it must partially glamorize its characters' portable poolside party lifestyle, because this is how the kidnapping victim -- who thinks he's undergoing a great moment of awakening -- experiences their excesses himself. But by film's end, Cassavetes, in his most mature film to date, has driven home the consequences of those excesses with unambiguous clarity. A key asset is his cast. Some of the most impressive, and in some cases underrated, young actors of their generation have gathered for Alpha Dog, including Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster as the feuding badasses who escalate the conflict. Foster, in particular, burns with an apoplexy we've never seen from him, wiry and intense as he neutralizes a dozen partygoers in his quest to find his brother. But two less likely suspects actually carry this film: singer Justin Timberlake, whose utter naturalism disarms the audience in every scene, and Anton Yelchin, whose innocent first tastes of the lifestyle are all the more touching, given the impending doom they carry with them.