Great Character: Alonzo Harris (“Training Day”)
This month’s Great Character theme: Cops. Today: Jason Cuthbert’s guest post features Alonzo Harris from the 2001 movie Training Day [written by David Ayer].
After Denzel Washington clinched his first Academy Award in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category at the 1990 ceremony for Glory, Washington then claimed his second Oscar validation for corrupt law enforcer Detective Alonzo Harris in the 2001 crime thriller Training Day. After huge performances in Malcolm X, The Hurricane, Philadelphia, Cry Freedom and Crimson Tide, Washington’s intense and compelling presence in Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua (Brooklyn’s Finest, Shooter), emerged as a strong polar opposite to Denzel’s traditionally heroic and dignified characters — proving he was also really good at playing the really bad guy.
Training Day plot summary from IMDB:
On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn’t what he appears.
Screenwriter David Ayer turned his teen experiences living with a cousin in South Central Los Angeles and research about the L.A. Police Department into a $1 million script for Training Day. It may be Ethan Hawke’s straight-laced, naive officer Jake Hoyt whose eyeballs we view this tough day of training through. But it’s Washington’s mentor-turned-antagonist character that has the unpredictable scene-stealing bad-ass-ness and gives Hoyt his obstacles and conflict — tests that grow into increasingly unethical and life-threatening situations.
Even Alonzo Harris’ on-screen introduction, meeting up with Hoyt in a diner, is a tremendous test to overcome. Harris controls their conversation, their menu options and even the answers that he wants from Hoyt. Before they can hit the troubled streets of Los Angeles together, Hoyt must first graduate into being a guy that Harris can actually see himself sitting in a car with all day long.
Harris is not just concerned with Hoyt’s ability to entertain him and withstand a lack of social graces. Harris needs to know whether Hoyt can blend into a hostile environment or if he will look like he is lost on his way to Disneyland. The manner in which Harris pushes his street-smart quiz on Hoyt bypasses morals, disregards the laws that they are suppose to be upholding and spins the concept of “peer pressure” way out of control.
If there is one thing that Alonzo Harris is chasing throughout the length of his time served in the story of Training Day, it is — control. He must control the rules, control his partner, control his friends, control his enemies and even control the odds that he will be caught breaking the law. Anyone, including Officer Hoyt, who refuses complete submission to Harris’ personal plight of anarchy, will be sliding down a slippery slope of self-serving “justice.”
ALONZO: You hear that, homey? You wanna go to jail or you wanna go home? Huh?
CRACKHEAD #1: What you think?
ALONZO: They got room for you at the booty house, you ever been to the booty house. Big boys have you grab you ankles…
Moral fiber is definitely not in Harris’ daily diet of greed and deception. He clearly understands the mentality of the law-breakers that he is battling, and uses this insight as justification for his behavior.
ALONZO: To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.
One of the greatest elements of Denzel Washington’s brilliant, anti-type casting portrayal of Detective Alonzo Harris is how unapologetically he plays him. He is like a time bomb that you cannot only hear ticking, but also one that has the audacity to tell you exactly where it is located — with full confidence that you can’t do anything about it. Harris’s arrogant swagger may appear free of guilt, but this brazen bravado serves another master — to enforce intimidatation as a distraction when his wrongs look dead wrong.
ALONZO: I’m the police, I run shit around here. You just live here. Yeah, that’s right, you better walk away. Go on and walk away… ’cause I’m gonna’ burn this motherfucker down. King Kong ain’t got shit on me. That’s right, that’s right. Shit, I don’t, fuck. I’m winning anyway, I’m winning… I’m winning any motherfucking way. I can’t lose. Yeah, you can shoot me, but you can’t kill me.
For his raw survival instincts, fast-paced charismatic wit and formidable impulsive actions — Alonzo Harris is an unforgettably GREAT CHARACTER.
Cops are about law and authority, and when the latter overtakes the former, you get great characters like this one.
What do you think of Alonzo Harris as a character? See you in comments to discuss.
Thanks to Jason (@A2Jason) for another great analysis.