Training Day

''Training Day'' is a 2001 American crime thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer. It stars Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, two LAPD narcotics officers followed over a 24-hour period in the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Westlake, Echo Park, and South Central Los Angeles. It also features Scott Glenn, Eva Mendes, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Macy Gray in supporting roles.

''Training Day'' was released on October 5, 2001, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Washington and Hawke's performances but were divided on the screenplay. The film received numerous accolades and nominations with Washington's performance earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor and Hawke being nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 74th Academy Awards.

A television series based on the film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was announced in August 2015 and premiered on February 2, 2017, on CBS. Only Noel Gugliemi, Tom Berenger and Raymond J. Barry reprised their roles. The show was cancelled after one season.

Plot

Jake Hoyt, an ambitious LAPD officer, is assigned to work with Detective Alonzo Harris, a highly decorated narcotics officer for a one-day evaluation to determine if Jake will be invited to join the narcotics squad. Driving around in Alonzo's Monte Carlo, they begin the day by catching some college kids buying marijuana. Alonzo confiscates the drugs, puts them into a pipe and tells Jake to smoke it. When Jake refuses, Alonzo threatens him at gunpoint, stating that such a refusal while on the streets would get him killed. Jake smokes the pipe and gets very high. Alonzo laughs, disclosing that it was laced with PCP.

They pay a visit to Roger, an ex-cop turned drug dealer. After they leave, Jake notices a pair of addicts attempting to rape Letty, a teenage girl in an alley. Jake intervenes while Alonzo watches him subdue the attackers. After Letty leaves, Alonzo menaces the rapists, but declines to arrest them and Jake collects Letty's wallet from the ground.

Later, Alonzo and Jake apprehend a dealer named Blue, who has crack rocks and a loaded handgun in his possession. Rather than go to jail, Blue informs on his employer Kevin "Sandman" Miller, who is in prison. Using a fake search warrant, Alonzo steals $40,000 from Sandman's home. At lunch, the two visit Alonzo's mistress Sara and their young son. Alonzo then meets with a trio of corrupt high-ranking police officials he dubs the "Three Wise Men". Aware that the Russian mafia is hunting Alonzo, they suggest he skip town. Alonzo insists he has control of the situation and trades the $40,000 for an arrest warrant.

Alonzo assembles his squad of narcotics officers, and with Jake in tow they return to Roger's house and use the warrant to seize $4 million, a quarter of which Alonzo keeps and shares with his squad. Jake refuses to take a share of the money, worrying Alonzo and the other officers. Alonzo executes Roger after Jake refuses his order to do so, staging the scene with his men to make the shooting look justified. Infuriated, Jake gets into a standoff with the corrupt officers. Alonzo reveals he orchestrated the day's events to have leverage over Jake and threatens him with the police department's post-incident blood test, which will catch the PCP Jake smoked and end his career. Alonzo promises to protect Jake from the drug test in exchange for his cooperation and Jake begrudgingly complies.

Later that evening, Alonzo drives Jake to the home of a Sureño gangster named Smiley for an errand. As he waits for Alonzo, Jake reluctantly plays poker with Smiley and his fellow gang members, Sniper and Moreno. Smiley then explains Alonzo's situation: Alonzo got into a fight with a connected Russian mobster in Las Vegas and killed him. Alonzo must pay a million dollars as compensation, or be killed himself. Additionally, Smiley reveals Alonzo has abandoned Jake and paid Smiley to kill him. Jake attempts to flee but is beaten and dragged to the bathroom to be executed. Moreno searches Jake for money and finds the wallet of Letty, who happens to be Smiley's cousin. After calling Letty and confirming that Jake saved her, Smiley releases Jake out of gratitude.

An infuriated Jake returns to Sara's apartment to arrest Alonzo before he leaves to pay the Russians with Roger's money. A gunfight and chase ensue, and Alonzo is eventually subdued on the street while the entire neighborhood gathers to watch. Alonzo offers money to whoever kills Jake, but the neighborhood residents, tired of Alonzo's abuse, refuse. Jake takes the stolen cash to submit as evidence against Alonzo and the neighborhood gang allows him to leave safely with earned respect. An enraged Alonzo, realizing his plan has been foiled, unravels into a final desperate tantrum and threatens retaliation against the neighborhood, but, knowing he no longer holds any sway over them, the residents ignore Alonzo and walk away during his rant. Alonzo attempts to flee for the Los Angeles International Airport, but is ambushed and gunned down by the Russians. Jake returns home as the press reports on Alonzo's death.

Cast

Production

Development

Although corruption in the LAPD's C.R.A.S.H. unit was yet to be exposed when ''Training Day'' was written, Antoine Fuqua has stated that the emergence of the Rampart Scandal in the late 1990s catalyzed the completion of the film. Denzel Washington also grew a beard in order to emulate the appearance of Rafael Pérez, an LAPD narcotics officer involved in multiple scandals. Fuqua wanted Washington's character to be seductive and part of a machine, and not just a random rogue cop. In Washington's own words: "I think in some ways he's done his job too well. He's learned how to manipulate, how to push the line further and further, and, in the process, he's become more hard-core than some of the guys he's chasing.""Man on a mission"
. ''Rediff.com''. October 2006. Retrieved October 20, 2011.

Fuqua also saw Ethan Hawke's character as generally honorable but so driven by ambition that he was willing to compromise his principles, particularly when following the charming and persuasive example of Washington's character. He has said that he fought with studio executives who wanted to cut the Three Wise Men scene, thinking it slowed the film. He insisted that the scene was pivotal in establishing that at least some of Alonzo's illegal actions were sanctioned by his superiors who regarded unethical behavior as a necessary evil.

Fuqua wanted ''Training Day'' to look as authentic as possible, and he shot on location in some of the most infamous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He even obtained permission to shoot in the Imperial Courts housing project, the first time L.A. street gangs had allowed a film crew to be brought into that neighborhood. The crew also filmed in Hoover Block and Baldwin Village. Parts of the film were shot on the dead end street Palmwood Drive, where Black P. Stones gang members were seen on the rooftops. Cle Shaheed Sloan, the gang technical advisor of ''Training Day'', managed to get on screen real-life gang members from Rollin' 60 Crips, PJ Watts Crips, and Black P. Stones. According to Fuqua, the actors and crew ended up receiving a warm welcome from local residents. When he was unable to shoot a scene directly on location, he recreated the locations on sets.

There were also two police officers on hand as technical advisors, Michael Patterson and Paul Lozada (the latter from the San Francisco Police Department). Washington, Hawke and other cast members also met with undercover police officers, local drug dealers, and gang members to help understand their roles better.

Casting

Davis Guggenheim was originally attached to direct the film, with Matt Damon as Jake Hoyt and Samuel L. Jackson as Alonzo Harris. Once Washington became attached to the project, however, he requested to have Guggenheim replaced with Fuqua. Eminem was offered the role of Hoyt, but turned it down in order to focus on preparing for '' 8 Mile'' (2002). If he had appeared, he would've shared scenes with his mentor Dr. Dre as well as Snoop Dogg, both of whom do appear in the film. Tobey Maguire, Paul Walker, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe, and Scott Speedman all auditioned for the role of Hoyt.

Music

A soundtrack to the film was released on September 11, 2001, by Priority Records. It peaked at 35 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and 19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and spawned two hit singles, Nelly's " #1" and Dr. Dre and DJ Quik's "Put It on Me".

Release

''Training Day'' was originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2001, and had a strong advertising push. However, following the September 11 attacks, the film was pushed back to October 5, 2001, replacing ''Collateral Damage''s original release date.

Home media

''Training Day'' was initially released on DVD and VHS on March 19, 2002. A Blu-ray version was initially released on August 1, 2006. A 4K Blu-ray version was released on February 28, 2023.

Reception

Box office

''Training Day'' opened at number one, grossing $22.5million, ahead of fellow new release '' Serendipity'' in second place. Upon opening, it achieved the second-highest October opening weekend, behind '' Meet the Parents''. It repeated in the top spot in its second weekend, above that week's new release of '' Bandits'' in second place, and spent its first six weeks in the Top 10 at the box office. It went on to gross $76.6million in the United States and Canada, and $28.2million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $104.9million, against a budget of $45million.

Critical response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

''Chicago Sun-Times'' film critic Roger Ebert said: "Washington seems to enjoy a performance that's over the top and down the other side". Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, praising both the lead and supporting actors and the film's gritty, kinetic energy. He criticized the plot's implausibility, but praised its execution, stating: "Ayer's screenplay is ingenious in the way it plants clues and pays them off in unexpected ways, so that ''Training Day'' makes as much sense as movies like this usually can."

Writing in ''The Hollywood Reporter'', Michael Rechtshaffen gave the film a positive review, stating: "Denzel Washington ventures into the dark side as a seriously corrupt narcotics cop... and the results are electrifying. So is the picture, thanks to taut, sinewy direction by Antoine Fuqua and a compelling script by David Ayer."

Denzel Washington's performance as Detective Alonzo Harris was highly praised by critics. In ''The Village Voice'', Amy Taubin wrote that his "old-fashioned combination of decency and sexiness suggests the African American counterpart to Gregory Peck (in his ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' period), as an LAPD cop so evil he makes Harvey Keitel's '' Bad Lieutenant'' look like even smaller potatoes than he was meant to be".

Accolades

In June 2003, the American Film Institute named Alonzo Harris the 50th greatest screen villain of all time in its list '' AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains''.

Related projects

TV series adaptation

On August 7, 2015, it was announced that Antoine Fuqua had decided to develop a television series based on the movie, and had teamed with Jerry Bruckheimer to develop the concept. Warner Bros. Television was shopping the show to the American broadcast networks. Will Beall would write the series, while Fuqua would serve as executive producer, and would direct the potential pilot. CBS ordered a pilot on August 14, 2015. In addition to Fuqua, Bruckheimer, Beall, and Jonathan Littman will serve as executive producers for the series, which is set 15 years after the original film. In May 2016, CBS picked up the series.

In the CBS television series Alonzo is mentioned by Deputy Chief Joy Lockhart when briefing Officer Kyle Craig on sending him undercover at LAPD's Special Investigation Section to investigate Detective Frank Roarke. Frank briefly mentions Alonzo at the end of the first season. The series, starring Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell, premiered on February 2, 2017, with a 13-episode run as a mid-season replacement.

Filming for the first season had been completed in December 2016, so the run was not affected by Paxton's death on February 25, 2017, two days after the fourth episode aired. The lowest rated drama series on CBS that season, it was canceled on May 17, 2017, the same week the season finale aired.

Prequel

In October 2019, it was reported that Warner Bros. was developing a prequel to ''Training Day''. The prequel follows a young Alonzo Harris in late April 1992, two days before the verdict of the Rodney King trial and the associated L.A. riots. The prequel, named ''Training Day: Day of the Riot'', was set to start production in California in February 2022, but as of November 2024, the film appears to be still in development.

See also

* Denzel Washington on screen and stage
* List of hood films
* ''Crown Vic'' (2019 film)

Notes

References

External links

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{{Black Reel Award for Outstanding Film

2001 films
2001 crime drama films
2001 crime thriller films
2000s American films
2000s buddy cop films
2000s English-language films
American buddy cop films
American crime drama films
American crime thriller films
American films about cannabis
American gang films
American neo-noir films
American police detective films
English-language crime drama films
Films about drugs
Films about the Los Angeles Police Department
Films about police brutality
Films about police misconduct
Films about the Russian Mafia
Films adapted into television shows
Films directed by Antoine Fuqua
Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award–winning performance
Films postponed due to the September 11 attacks
Films scored by Mark Mancina
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films with screenplays by David Ayer
2000s hood films
Village Roadshow Pictures films
Warner Bros. films
English-language crime thriller films
English-language action films
English-language buddy comedy films