History Film / AlphaDog

* [[invoked]]{{Adorkable}}: Zack. It doesn't hurt that he's such a contrast to the rest of the tough, tattooed guys in the movie either.

* {{Adorkable}}: Zack. It doesn't hurt that he's such a contrast to the rest of the tough, tattooed guys in the movie either.

* HateSink: Johnny is a rare example of the main character being this, being the most unlikable of the main characters by far.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zack is killed at the end of his kidnapping and Johnny's gang completely falls apart as a result. If anything, the only real bittersweet element to it is that those directly involved are implicated. See WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue for details.]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler:The legal consequences to the individual members of Truelove/Hollywood's crew as a result of the kidnapping and murder of Zack Mazursky/Nick Markowitz is shown at the end. Tiko/Skidmore gets 9 years, Keith/Graham is convicted of Murder 2 and detained until 25, Frankie/Rugge gets life imprisonment and Elvis/Hoyt is on death row. Truelove himself was finally apprehended after eluding the authorities for five years and if convicted, faces the death penalty.]]

* HopeSpot: Quite a few actually make the ending all the more heart-wrenching.

* FromBadToWorse: Facing life in prison for kidnapping? Not to worry, [[spoiler:just add homicide to that?]] and surely it'll all work out.

* BoomerangBigot: Jake Mazursky is a Jew, but he and his girlfriend appear to be neo-Nazis, with several white supremacy tattoos on their bodies and a Hitler poster decorating his kitchen. Played for laughs more than anything, with her doing a Nazi salute while wearing a ModestyBedsheet when his (equally Jewish) brother Zack pays them a visit.

* FromBadToWorse: Facing life in prison for kidnapping? [[spoiler:Why not just add homicide to that?]]

* HopeSpot: A few actually make the ending all the more heart-wrenching.

*** Prior to that, Olivia, Zack's mom, tells Jake she'll write a check for whatever he owes to Johnny, but Jake tells her "it's not like that" and [[EmptyPromise promises]] her he'll find Zack.
** Johnny is told he'd possibly get light sentence (as opposed to life imprisonment) by his lawyer and his dad if he turns himself in and calls off [[spoiler:the hit on Zack]] and they came really close to making him do it, but Johnny resists and [[spoiler:Zack is murdered]].

** Prior to that, Olivia, Zack's mom, offers Jake to write a check to pay whatever debt Jake owes to Johnny, but Jake tells her "it's not like that" and [[EmptyPromise promises]] her he'll find him.
** Johnny is offered a possible light sentence by his lawyer and his dad if he turns himself in and calls off [[spoiler:the hit on Zack]] and they came really close to making him do it, but Johnny resists and [[spoiler:Zack is murdered]].

* TheNineties: Set in 1999.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zack is killed at the end of his kidnapping and Johnny's gang completely falls apart as a result. The only real bittersweet element to it is that those directly involved are implicated. See WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue for details.]]

* HateSink: Johnny is a rare example of the main character being a HateSink, being the most unlikable of the main characters by far.
* HopeSpot: At one point, Frankie actually offers Zack a chance to be free from his captivity and go home, but Zack, not wanting to exacerbate the situation for his brother, [[IChooseToStay chooses to stay]] [[spoiler:ultimately leading to his death a couple of days later]].

* NakedFirstImpression: As Ben lets in his little brother Zack inside his apartment, Ben's girlfriend walks up to them wearing nothing [[HandOrObjectUnderwear except for a pillow]].
* NakedOnArrival: Ben's girlfriend is introduced in the movie while the two of them are having sex until they are interrupted by Zack showing up outside of their apartment. This leads to the NakedFirstImpression as mentioned above.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zack is killed at the end of his kidnapping and Johnny's gang completely falls apart as a result. The only real bittersweet element to it is that everyone involved is implicated with some getting life sentences and others even put on death row.]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: [[spoiler:The legal consequences to the individual members of Truelove/Hollywood's crew as a result of the kidnapping and murder of Zack Mazursky/Nick Markowitz is shown at the end. Truelove himself was finally apprehended after eluding the authorities for five years.]]

* AntagonistTitle: The title refers to the kidnapping's ringleader Johnny Truelove, or rather what [[FakeUltimateHero he imagines himself to be.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zack is killed at the end of his kidnapping and Johnny's gang completely falls apart as a result.]]

* FreudianExcuse: The film shows the parents being every bit as indulgent and hedonistic as their children or at the very least unconcerned about the lifestyle they embrace. Sonny, for instance, pretty much raised Johnny to be a dealer and yet takes no responsibility for his part in the crimes committed. Zack's parents, in contrast, are overprotective and rule every part of his life, pushing him towards the other end. In fact, there don't seem to be any good parental figures.

* TheLoinsSleepTonight: If you can't get it up with ''Olivia Wilde'', you are far more stressed out than you'd like to admit.

It stars Emile Hirsch as Johnny Truelove, an impulsive and cocky PsychopathicManChild marijuana dealer living in late '90s Southern California. Johnny, alongside best bud Frankie Ballenbacher (Music/JustinTimberlake), suckup Elvis Schmidt (Shawn Hatosy), and a host of other friends and business associates, spends his day-to-day life partying, getting high, and generally living the hip-hop thug life he idealizes from music, movies, and video games, much to the dismay of Johnny's father, Sonny (Creator/BruceWillis). Where Johnny goes, the money, the friends, and the girls follow.

* {{Adorkable}}: Zack. Doesn't hurt that he's such a contrast to the rest of the tough, tattooed guys in the movie either.

* BoisterousWeakling: Johnny acts like and thinks he's a tough guy, but is rather hopeless in a fight with no one to back him up. Early in the film he tries to kill Jake, only for Jake to immediately gain the upper hand and nearly drown Johnny in his own swimming pool.

* FreudianExcuse: The film shows the parents being every bit as indulgent and hedonistic as their children or at the very least unconcerned about the lifestyle they embrace. Sonny, for instance, pretty much raised Johnny to be a dealer and yet takes no responsibility for his part in the crimes committed. Zack's parents in contrast are overprotective and rule every part of his life, pushing him towards the other end. In fact, there don't seem to be any good parental figures.

* {{Jerkass}}: Where to start? Johnny Truelove, while not an ''entirely'' bad guy, is thoroughly unlikable.

* KnightTemplarBigBrother: When Jake learns that Johnny has kidnapped his little brother to get back at Jake, he promises his estranged stepmom that he will do anything to get Zack back. Jake immediately goes on a rampage, crashes a local house party held by some of Truelove's friends by beating up half the people in the room and when Truelove calls him up, Jake threatens Truelove with enacting brutal and painful vengeance unless he releases Zack. Subverted however, as it doesn't help Zack's return at all and prompts Truelove to relocate with his victim.

* NakedOnArrival: Ben's girlfriend is introduced in the movie while the two of them are having sex until they are interrupted by Zack showing up outside of their apartment. Which leads to...

* OneManArmy: As screwed up as Jake Mazursky's life is, he's a very brutal fighter. As soon as he finds out his brother has been kidnapped by Johnny Truelove, he bursts into a house party regularly frequented by Truelove, and when the party goers get hostile at his confrontational tone, he beats up half the room.

* PsychopathicManChild: Johnny Truelove is an impulsive, shortsighted, criminally dumb wannabe gangster trying to project a "tough guy" image. He kidnaps Zack on a whim, threatens people wherever he goes, and doesn't realize how many witnesses he creates because of his own poor planning. He doesn't even keep tabs on [[spoiler:the murder he orders]] while going out with his girlfriend and having fun, and rejects the option his father offers to release Zack and spend minimal jail time even though he has no other plan himself. [[spoiler:He remains elusive for so long only because of blind luck.]]
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: And an extra scene was filmed and added to the end when [[spoiler:Jesse James Hollywood (the real life criminal in which the character of Johnny Truelove is based on) was arrested]] in real life.

* VillainProtagonist: Johhny and his friends are the main characters, as well as drug dealing screw ups who kidnap a teenage boy. Eventually, [[spoiler: they kill him.]]

* StockholmSyndrome: Zack's response is a combination of this and not taking the situation seriously. He's beaten up, kidnapped, tied up and gagged. And yet he shows absolutely no ill will towards his captors. He ends up having a great time with them, and freely offers to claim he ran away to keep them from getting in trouble. This is based on reports that the Nicholas Markowitz was often seen in public with the people who kidnapped him, and apparently made no real effort to escape.

* AntagonistTitle: The title refers to the kidnapping's ringleader Johnny Truelove, or rather what [[FakeUltimateHero he imagines himself to be.]] He's actually an idiotic PsychopathicManchild who sets up an [[StupidCrooks astoundingly bad criminal scheme]] and ends up paying for it.

* ThoseWackyNazis: Jake Mazursky and his girlfriend are shown to have Neo-Nazi tattoos, the girlfriend does a Nazi salute, and Jake has a huge poster of Hitler at a rally hanging in his kitchen. Neither of them are really vilified, however. Ironically, [[BoomerangBigot Jake's also Jewish.]]

* DirtyCoward: Elvis.

* StockholmSyndrome: Zack's response is a combination of this and not taking the situation seriously. He's beaten up, kidnapped, tied up and gagged. And yet he shows absolutely no ill will towards his captors. He ends up having a great time with them, and freely offers to claim he ran away to keep them from getting in trouble.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Jake and Johnny. And then Jake beats the shit out of an entire party's worth of people.

''Alpha Dog'' is a 2006 crime drama based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood and his involvement in the kidnapping/murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000.

* AnachronismStew: An Xbox was shown even though the console didn't appear until 2001, and the film takes place in late 1999.
* AntagonistTitle: The title refers to the kidnapping's ringleader Johnny Truelove, or rather what [[FakeUltimateHero he imagines himself to be]]. He's actually an idiotic PsychopathicManchild who sets up an [[StupidCrooks astoundingly bad criminal scheme]] and ends up paying for it.

* ButtMonkey: Elvis, from most of Johnny’s group. In one scene, they resort to throwing homophobic insults to make fun of his “kiss-ass” attitudes towards Johnny.
* ChekhovsSkill: Averted. Zack's Tae Kwon Do skills are displayed in a throwaway scene [[spoiler:yet they have no practical application as Zack is led to his death.]]

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: An ''extreme'' aversion. Right from the start it's clear that these are a bunch of loser assholes that only an idiot would want to emulate, though Zack himself admires them and grows to enjoy his "kidnapping."
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Since this movie takes place in the late 1990s, plenty of characters are prone to homophobia since it was the normal attitude at the time, and the movie doesn’t hold back from showing the attitudes.
** Early on in the movie, Johnny and his group casually drop homophobic insults towards Elvis because of his suck-up attitude towards Johnny. It should come as no surprise considering not only because of the timeframe the movie is set in, but also the type of lifestyle these people live (see DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster above).
** Even the NiceGuy Zack [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero isn’t exempt from acting homophobic]]. He describes trying to act nice to his stepmother as “kinda gay” in a conversation with Frankie and the others [[spoiler:before his death]].
** In one scene where Frankie and Zack go to a liquor store, some partygoers around them yell out homophobic slurs to something offscreen.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Most of the wannabe criminals in Truelove's crew have girlfriends or family members they care about. Tiko is even arrested watching television ''with his whole family'' when the police break down the door, and Truelove is celebrating his girlfriend's birthday during [[spoiler:Zack's murder]].

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Averted. Zack breaks down crying and desperately pleads and begs as they put the tape over his mouth all while Frankie and Keith are in tears.]]

* HypocriticalHumor: The guys don't like gangsta rappers and joke when seeing a video "The only thing these guys are shooting is music videos", [[YouAreWhatYouHate even though they act exactly like them]].
* IdiotBall: Arguably the entire point of the movie. These guys, especially Johnny, come up with a pretty stupid idea and execute it in perhaps the dumbest way imaginable. To say "they brought this on themselves" [[{{Understatement}} hardly begins to cover it]].

* KarmaHoudini: Subverted. Johnny looks like he has escaped capture for his crimes until an epilogue informs us that he was captured and faces the death penalty if found guilty. (See RippedFromTheHeadlines.)

* ThoseWackyNazis: Jake Mazursky and his girlfriend are shown to have Neo-Nazi tattoos, the girlfriend does a Nazi salute, and Jake has a huge poster of Hitler at a rally hanging in his kitchen. Neither of them are really villified, however. Ironically, [[BoomerangBigot Jake's also Jewish]].

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Since this movie takes place in the late 1990s, plenty of characters are prone to homophobia since it was the norm at the time compared to today, and the movie doesn’t shy away from showing the attitudes.
** Early on in the movie, Johnny and his group casually drop homophobic insults towards Elvis because of his suckup attitude towards Johnny. It should come as no surprise considering not only because of the time this movie is set in, but also the type of lifestyle these people live (see DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster above).

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Most of the wannabe criminals in Truelove's crew have girlfriends or family members they care about. Tiko is even arrested watching television with his whole family when the police break down the door, and Truelove is celebrating his girlfriend's birthday during [[spoiler:Zach's murder]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Frankie, Elvis, and Keith genuinely like Zach and are horrified at Johnny's utter heartlessness (not that it stops ''them'' from doing the deed anyway).

* FakeUltimateHero: Johnny likes to make himself out to be a tough resourceful leader but is in fact cowardly, short tempered and deeply stupid, rarely thinking of the consequences of his actions.

* {{Jerkass}}: Where to start? Johnny Truelove, while not an ''entirely'' bad guy, is thoroughly unlikeable.

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: When Susan learns that Zack has been kidnapped, she immediately begins panicking and trying to make everyone understand how serious it is. Everyone else, including Zack, look at her like she's crazy, and go on hanging out like nothing's happened.