Other Titles • Alpha Dog (2006) • Jesse James Hollywood
Synopses for Alpha Dog (2006)
1.
Inspired by actual events, Alpha Dog revolves around a mid-level drug dealer from the San Gabriel Valley whose thirst for power led him to become, at 19, the youngest man ever to appear on the FBI's Most Wanted list. A teenage suburban drug dealer Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is an ambitious young man whose lifestyle is a mecca for guns, sex and drugs. When a "client" cheats Johnny and a deal goes bad, he devises a plan to get his money back by kidnapping the client's younger brother - but it's not a typical kidnapping when it turns out that everyone knows and likes the kid. So what now? Things take an unexpected twist as Johnny and his crew get caught up in the dangerous and violent world they once idealized.
(117 votes)
2.
A difficult gestation period led to Nick Cassavetes's ALPHA DOG being delayed and facing possible legal battles after the real-life subject of the film (alleged kidnapper and murderer Jesse James Hollywood) objected to his portrayal. The cinematic version of Hollywood is named Johnny Truelove and played by Emile Hirsch (LORDS OF DOGTOWN). Truelove is a wild 18-year-old who deals drugs for a living and hangs out with his posse, who revolve around a core of Frankie (Justin Timberlake), Elvis (Shawn Hatosy), and Tiko (Fernando Vargas). When a client of Truelove's, Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), is unable to pay off his crystal-meth debt, the group kidnaps his 15-year-old stepbrother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), who becomes a Patty Hearst-like accomplice in his own abduction. Indeed, Zack positively revels in his new position, and lives it up with the boys at every opportunity he gets. But Cassavetes's film really revs into gear as the cops close in on Truelove's band of outsiders, and they face a tough decision about what to do with Zack.
The real draw here is Justin Timberlake, and he makes a decent job of his role as a bodyguard/friend to the kidnapped kid. Covered in tattoos and oozing testosterone, Timberlake revels in his role, and his female following will find plenty to gush over here. The film itself is executed at a lightning-fast pace, with quick jump cuts and on-screen captions that point out who the witnesses in the case were. Cassavetes plays around with split-screen techniques and nonlinear storytelling, but he remains acutely aware of what his young target audience is seeking from a modern crime drama, not letting the tension drop for a second. Small roles for Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis provide suitable support to the young cast, and a thumping rap and metal soundtrack supplies a perfect backdrop to the explosive on-screen shenanigans.
(100 votes)
3.
In the sprawling, privileged neighborhoods around L.A., bored teenagers with too much time and too much money string one hazy day into another, looking for the next thrill--doing suburban imitations of the thug life they idolize from rap music, video games and movies. When you're living without any consequences, anything can happen. And in the hot California summer six years ago, something did.
Inspired by true events, Alpha Dog follows three fateful days when the lives of a group of Southern California teens suddenly dead-ended. The film features a powerful ensemble cast including Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Christopher Marquette, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin and Bruce Willis and is written and directed by Nick Cassavetes.
Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) controls the drugs on the well-manicured streets of his neighborhood. Where Johnny goes, the party, the girls, and his loyal gang follow. When he's double-crossed over missing deal money by raging hothead Jake (Ben Foster), Johnny and his gang impulsively kidnap Jake's little brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), holding him as a marker and heading to Palm Springs. With no parents in sight, they grow used to having the kid around, and Zack enjoys an illicit summer fantasy of drinking, girls and new experiences.
Nick Cassavetes captures the driving energy and sordid anomie of contemporary youth culture in his unflinchingly told cautionary tale, Alpha Dog. Based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood, a midlevel drug dealer whose ambition and ruthlessness led him to become the youngest man ever to appear on the FBI's Most Wanted List, Alpha Dog offers a glimpse of the rawness and reality of teenage life on the edge.
The film stars Emile Hirsch as a teenage suburban drug dealer, Johnny Truelove, whose "gangsta" fueled lifestyle of sex, guns, and drugs is far over the top of customary adolescent restraints. When a competitor/client cheats him, he and his posse "kidnap" the client's younger brother, who is more than willing to spend days partying with little sense or anticipation of his fate. But as events spiral out of Johnny's control, the real consequences of his deadly games become inexorable.
Featuring a marvelous ensemble cast that includes Justin Timberlake (whose work is a revelation), Ben Foster (equally so), Bruce Willis, and Sharon Stone, this is dense, galvanizing filmmaking, seething with tension and culminating in a tragedy that would be shocking if we weren't so aware of the kind of world we live in, a place with kids who live without mores, parents who don't have a clue, and ongoing conflict between the lingering innocence of youth and moral disintegration and dissolution.
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