Here is a link for more info:

http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_347145737.html

*groan* This doesn't shock me. However, as a law student, I am taking Entertainment Law as I type. Based on my limited knowledge of the movie and of the Jesse James Hollywood case, as the characters names have been changed and are documenting events that are public knowledge, I am sure that Universal Pictures will win their First Amendment argument.

I really don't care either way if the movie is shown or not but what I'm afraid of is if the movie is allowed to be released that it will somehow help his court case when it starts. Like if his lawyer argues it painted an unfavorable picture of him and therefore tainted the jury pool. Any thoughts on that cricci?

I'm sure one of the jury selection questions will be "Have you ever heard of the movie (whatever it's called)?"

I think it'll be a lousy flick. Kids wanting to be gangster drug lords. Ooh boy. And we've already had a "teens killing another teen" flick. It's called "Bully".

"Bully" was based on an actual murder in Florida as well. GREAT book, but the movie did leave a little to be desired.

And JimmyHendricks is right. In jury selection (or voir dire,) the jurors will almost certainly be asked by the defense if they have seen Alpha Dog. If the juror HAS seen it, the defense can ask them their thoughts on the movie. Based on their responses, the defense (or prosecution) can move to strike the potential juror for cause that they will be biased. I'm surprised that the judge didn't address that first, to be honest. You can ask jurors almost ANYTHING in voir dire.

Perhaps Hollywood's lawyers are acting on the assumption that the movie will be a box office smash... I'm not so sure of that. I'll go see the movie, but I hightly doubt it's going to be the next "Passion of the Christ," so to speak. (And no, I'm not pushing any sort of political/religious agenda here. I simply wrote down the last movie I remember being a box office smash... but I'm sure there are more recent ones I have overlooked.)

Well jury trials are becoming increasingly tainted. I mean some lower end movie like that might not get a lot of people watching it. However it seems in a lot of cases the jurors have their minds made up before the trial is even made up because they have heard so much about these defendents in the news. Most if not all they hear is negative stuff and they always hear it from the prosecutions end. I think people like to think that the prosecutors are the ones that always fight for justice and truth and never wrongfully convict people and in fact the opposite is true. Now in the Hollywood case it appears he was the ring leader of all this so I hope he gets life because I am against the death penalty.

"Bully" was based on an actual murder in Florida as well. GREAT book, but the movie did leave a little to be desired.

I actually thought Larry Clark did a great job on that film. :cool:

I just saw a commercial for Alpha Dog on FX and personally it made me very sad. Here is a link to the film on the IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426883/ Apparently they showed it at Sundance because there is a review of it already up.

I wouldn't worry.......after reading some of the reviews of that movie on IMDB.....it seems like more people are dumping on it than praising it.......

If it is released......I predict it'll get panned just like JT's Edison Force (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389957/) (which I personally liked)

Why would they make a movie about this punk?There are thounsands of more intresting stories to choose from.I would never go see this film.

I'm actually looking forward to this film. I enjoyed Nick Cassavetes work on "The Notebook" and am looking forward to seeing how he's interpreted this story.

From what I've heard and seen, its going to be a very truthful film. I feel bad that Nick Cassavetes' vision was compromised so greatly by the Markowitz and Hollywood families as all he was trying to do was make a film that would show as Robert Stack once said "how Jesse James Hollywood's life veered off track ultimately resulting in the catastrophe with Nick Markowitz".

I don't think the movie is going to be any more sympathetic to JJH then the UM segment was. If you listen to the commentary on the dvd you'll hear the creators of the show say something like "These were not hardened criminals but just a bunch of kids" - I would like to add that they were stupid kids who were wholly unaware of the possible consequences of their actions and displayed an incredible lack of foresight thinking they could cover up such a crime.

So I think all of that will come out in the movie. As far as why is this movie being made? - Simple, its an interesting story. We had a discussion on this board a few months back about which UM segments would make good films and this is one of them. Hopefully the film will be a very real and truthful look at the drug subculture that is found in even the best of neighborhoods where kids who at first glance would not even appear to fit the stereotype of "druggies" are riding around in tricked out cars, living in mansions and dealing and doing drugs on a daily basis.

I should note once again that in the creation of this film, Nick Cassavetes had to get some type of clearance from both families involved and very little could be done without their mutual consent. Thats why the films' title changed from "Jesse James Hollywood: America's Most Wanted" to "Alpha Dog" and why the characters in the film are named Jake Mazursky, Frankie Ballenbacher and Johnny Truelove instead of Ryan Hoyt and Ben Markowitz and Jesse James Hollywood.

If you scroll back several pages or so, you'll note that while JJH was on the run, I was one of the most vocal members of this forum wishing that stupid bastard would get nabbed. I have very little if any sympathy for him and although I don't believe in the death penalty, I wouldn't cry myself to sleep if he got the gas chamber. That being said I am going to go see this film next week, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

PS: About imdb: I've been following this film closely since it was announced several years back. On imdb there has been an ongoing feud between people who actually knew Hollywood and his cohorts (and people who sympathize with some of their causes) and the filmmakers. So that forum has been one big flame war for several years now, I wouldn't put too much stock in the fan reviews that can be found there.

DarkDante just stated everything I was going to say. This case is very interesting and makes for a great movie. And given that movies these days RARELY if ever have happy endings, it works out well.

The movie actually wrapped up filming before Hollywood was caught. But once he was in custody, they went back to re-shoot a different ending.

As a bonus, the movie also has some very familiar faces in it - Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, Courtney Cox-Arquette and Alan Thicke to name a few.

I would like to add that they were stupid kids who were wholly unaware of the possible consequences of their actions and displayed an incredible lack of foresight thinking they could cover up such a crime.



well had they disposed of the body properly they would've gotten away with the crime without a doubt, it would've been just another missing person and Nick Markowitz would probably be a UM case or on the doenetwork or the charleyproject. They were too high though and too stupid. Then again if they weren't so stupid they would've let the kid go. There's no way any one of them would've been convicted if Nick Markowitz went and said he was kidnapped. There were times during the kidnapping when none of the kidnappers were even with him! He chose to stay and of course it's tragic that he didn't leave when he could've. He chose to stay out of loyalty to his brother. Anyways had they let him go, he could've gone to the cops but any defense lawyer would've had a field day with the case. Very sad and yes very stupid guys.

Alpha Dog is gonna be good. Personally though, the most interesting thing to me is how JJH's father got his son outta the country. I happen to know what he did and how. His life on the run is pretty interesting especially because his dad had to step in and save his son from a life behind bars. Ohh and the way he got caught....man unbelievable.

I can't wait for Alpha Dog, it does stay true to the real life story. Thanks to that prosecutor they had all the information.