Alpha Dog

Theatrical Release Date: 2007 01 12 (USA)

UPC: 025193250520

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Nudity, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content]

Summary: 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. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Crime

Awards: Film Presented – Sundance Film Festival

Features: A Cautionary Tale - The Making of Alpha Dog
Witness timeline - Get detailed information on each witness as the shocking events unfold

Alpha Dog

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 05/01/2007

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 118 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Alpha Dog
1. Parenting (Main Titles) [4:33]
2. Business As Usual [3:21]
3. Knocking 'Em Dead [6:05]
4. It's On [6:58]
5. Got to Get Out [4:58]
6. Pay Up [3:52]
7. Playing Games [5:58]
8. Day One [2:00]
9. Looking for Truelove [:08]
10. Day Two [:42]
11. Finding a Solution [:33]
12. Day Three [1:27]
13. Marco... Polo... [1:03]
14. Going Home [1:41]
15. Looking at Life [5:02]
16. No Choice [:28]
17. Their Own Rules [1:29]
18. Closing In [2:29]
19. On the Run [:42]
20. End Titles [4:42]

Derek Armstrong

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. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Shera Danese  Actor 
Christopher Marquette  Actor 
David Thornton  Actor 
Dominique Swain  Actor 
Vincent Laresca  Actor 
Shawn Hatosy  Actor 
Lukas Haas  Actor 
Vincent Kartheiser  Actor 
Heather Wahlquist  Actor 
Nick Cassavetes  Director 
Nick Cassavetes  Screenwriter 
Avram "Butch" Kaplan  Executive Producer 
Andreas Grosch  Executive Producer 
Sidney Kimmel  Producer 
Andreas Schmid  Executive Producer 
Aaron Zigman  Composer (Music Score) 
Steven Markoff  Executive Producer 
Jan Körbelin  Executive Producer 
Marina Grasic  Executive Producer 
Chuck Pacheco  Producer 
Robert Geringer  Executive Producer 
Emile Hirsch  Actor 
Justin Timberlake  Actor 
Bruce Willis  Actor 
Sharon Stone  Actor 
Ben Foster  Actor 
Anton Yelchin  Actor 
Alex Kingston  Actor 
Harry Dean Stanton  Actor 
Alex Solowitz  Actor 
Fernando Vargas  Actor 
Olivia Wilde  Actor 

Country: USA