20 Most Iconic Training Day Quotes

Summary

• Denzel Washington delivers memorable quotes in Training Day that enhance the movie’s gritty legacy.
• The film subverts the buddy cop genre, featuring a complex depiction of corruption and morality.
• Ethan Hawke shines alongside Washington, embodying the film’s moral backbone in a thrilling and intense finale.

More than 20 years after its release, quotes from Training Day stick with audiences and add to the movie’s legacy. Starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke, Training Day exposes the dark side of the Los Angeles police force. The audience follows rookie cop Jake Hoyt (Hawke) on his first day as a narcotics officer with an experienced but dirty officer, Alonzo Harris (Washington). In the span of one day, the two experience the highs and lows of manipulating the law for Alonzo’s benefit, only to reap the consequences in the end.

It is a gritty and brutal crime story, but the Training Day quotes stick out as much as the action. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer, Training Day remains a modern crime classic with some unforgettable dialogue. Much of it comes from Washington’s magnetic performance as well as the mind games played between Alonzo and Jake. The movie is bursting with quotable lines that have stuck with fans over the years and helped to further cement its status as a thrilling and brilliant modern cop drama that hits hard.

20 “Boom!”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Part of what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout Training Day is that they’re never quite sure what the unpredictable Alonzo is going to do next. It is part of the reason this is one of Denzel Washington’s best movies, as the movie star doesn’t typically villains, let alone terrifying ones. Alonzo will say or do anything he needs to get what he wants, which is something that he always keeps to himself.

Frequently throughout the movie, he will suddenly surprise Jake by loudly saying “Boom!“. This is first seen when Alonzo and Jake meet and the veteran cop interrupts his rookie partner with this outburst to keep him on guard. It’s a habit that’s shared by Roger and it sums up his frighteningly explosive nature quite succinctly. While Alonzo passes it off as a lesson about always being ready, there is a sense that it is something within him that he just has to let out.

Training Day
was the first of five movies Denzel Washington has made with director Antoine Fuqua, his others being
The Equalizer
franchise and
The Magnificent Seven
.

19 “Didn’t Know You Get Wet, Dog.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

It can be quite effective when “good guy” actors play villains in movies, throwing the audience off. A lot of people likely went into Training Day expecting Denzel Washington to be the heroic veteran cop, but it quickly becomes clear that Alonzo is going to be more dangerous to Jake than helpful. After pressuring Jake to smoke some weed, Alonzo reveals that what he actually smoked was PCP. Alonzo says it in a casual yet somewhat taunting way that begins to expose his true villainy.

It is a very early scene that showcases the gaslighting and manipulative nature of Alonzo as it relates to his new partner. His delivery suggests that he had no part in the decision and that Jake knew it was PCP the entire time. In reality, it was Alonzo pulling the strings and already setting Jake up to take the fall.

18 “Nobody Told You To Smoke That Thing. You Made The Decision. Live With Your Decision. Ain’t Like I Put A Gun To Your Head.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Jake is often forced to make tough decisions in Training Day as he goes back and forth deciding to act on his police academy training (which would get him killed) and acting on what Alonzo taught him. What’s ironic, however, is Alonzo’s assurance that he isn’t putting a gun to his head. In reality, Alonzo bringing Jake along for all of this is putting a target and metaphorical gun to his head. Henceforth, every decision Jake makes is dictated by Alonzo’s rhetoric and he has to live with it.

Alonzo is not just a corrupt cop who is willing to take down an innocent lawman in order to get what he wants; he also psychologically toys with Jake along the way. He acts as if it is Jake who made the mistake of smoking the PCP when Alonzo is fully aware that he forced him to do it as part of his plan. However, even knowing what Alonzo has planned for Jake, he refuses to take any blame.

17 “You’ve Gotta Hide That Love Deep Inside, You Understand?”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

One of the first pieces of advice Alonzo gives Jake on their long drive through LA seems like one of the most sincere. Noticing Jake’s wedding ring, he advises him to take it off when at work, insisting that having such connections on a job like this is only a liability and could cause him to make the wrong choices. Alonzo’s lack of empathy overall isn’t a good aspect of his character, but lines like this remind the audience that, while Alonzo is a bad egg, he was born out of a situation that’s already bad, independently of him.

Alonzo has been working the streets for years and understands the risks better than most. However, what might have started out as a hardened edge to protect himself has turned into a dangerous mindset that he can hand out justice as he sees fit.

16 “You Got To Control Your Smiles And Cries Because That’s All You Have, And Nobody Can Take That Away From You.”

Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke)

Training Day is something of an obscure buddy cop movie as it follows the familiar formula of a young cop and an older cop working together, but it subverts the genre by making them increasing enemies as the story goes along. While Alonzo is the wise veteran sharing his problematic words of wisdom throughout the movie, Jake has his own beliefs he shares as well.

Quite the opposite of Alonzo, Jake sees the humanity, the “smiles and cries”, he has in himself as important as it is something that can’t be taken away. In the end, he proves himself right as Alonzo is unable to extinguish that brightness in him. He is exposed to the darkest aspects of humanity through Alonzo, but it doesn’t turn him into the same cynical monster. After everything he goes through, Jake still holds onto his sense of right and wrong.

15 “This S***’s Chess, It Ain’t Checkers.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Though there are endless lies in what Alonzo tells Jake throughout the movie, sometimes even those aspects can have some truth in them. While justifying his terrible behavior by saying that he does it in order to actually help the local community, he elaborates on how he thinks strategically. After murdering a drug dealer and taking his money, Alonzo insists he is opening Jake’s eyes to the reality of the world and that seeing justice done is not as straightforward as he might have thought.

This is revealing as, of course, the hotheaded Alonzo is proven to be actually very cunning and indirect in his plotting. He doesn’t go straight for what he wants and is always thinking several moves ahead. It might make him seem like a brilliant cop and mentor initially, but it’s terrifying when it becomes clear these moves have trapped Jake in a seemingly inescapable situation.

14 “Life’s A Trip, Qué No?”

Smiley (Cliff Curtis)

In a movie filled with tension, the sequence in which Jake is left alone with Smiley and his gang is a true nail-biting moment. Jake is left alone with some gang members who have been hired by Alonzo to kill the young rookie, but he is saved from his grisly fate when Smiley, the leader of the gang members, discovers that Jake helped his young cousin earlier in the day. After Jake narrowly escapes execution, Smiley attempts to brush off the terrifying ordeal with talk of it being “just business” and even seems amused by the strange coincidence.

Jake learns a lot about violent and ruthless personalities throughout his day and Smiley’s ability to simply shrug off cold-blooded murder says a lot about the harsh reality of the criminal underworld. However, while Smiley sees it as a seemingly impossible twist of fate, it speaks to who Jake is as a cop. His dedication to doing the right thing saved his life, even from the corrupt evil of Alonzo.

13 “To Protect The Sheep You Gotta Catch The Wolf, And It Takes A Wolf To Catch A Wolf.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Alonzo is one of the great movie villain protagonists, and while the extent of his villainy is shocking later on, he is very up-front about who he is. Alonzo is both a hero and a villain but has lost his sense of right and wrong after years on the police force. Jake learned how to be a police officer by the book, while Alonzo learned by the street and did anything to survive. Years of doing so blurred the line between cop and criminal.

Despite his wrongdoings, Alonzo throws Jake a valuable piece of advice when it comes to his job as a narcotics officer. Even though his entire day with Jake is a twisted plan for his own purposes, which includes killing Jake, he wants to show the young officer the reality of the world they are in. It is possible to see this line as Alonzo trying to justify himself and what he plans to do to Jake, convincing himself that getting his hands dirty is all part of the job.

12 “You’re In The Office, Baby.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

One of the most iconic scenes from Training Day is in the beginning, which sets an ominous tone for the dangers Jake is going to experience and the unorthodox way Alonzo operates. When the duo steps into Alonzo’s car (not from the LAPD motor lot), Jake is entering a world unknown to him. He asks whether they will be heading back to the office, but Alonzo insists with a foreboding smile that the car is the office.

Alonzo is not the kind of cop who sits behind a desk as he prefers to stalk the streets of the city, essentially the all-seeing eye whose presence demands fear and respect from the people of LA. Alonzo’s “office” is riddled with crime as he hides behind the badge, making him seemingly invincible. Even before the extent of Alonzo’s corruption is revealed, this line makes it clear that Jake is in store for a brutal lesson on modern policing.

11 “What A Day.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Training Day is a hugely effective thrill ride because of the way it doesn’t let the audience relax. The movie seems to jump from one harrowing situation to another with no time to breathe, and that is partially achieved thanks to itbeing set over the course of a single day. There are no flashbacks, preludes, or extended endings. Training Day is a rollercoaster from start to finish. After he is beaten in the end, Alonzo takes a moment to curse the events of the day.

Not only is this clever, but it masterfully shows how much can go wrong for someone like Alonzo. On the surface, he’s a narcotics officer, but riding along with him for a day shows the dark and dirty underbelly of how things really get done. It is also a satisfying moment to see Alonzo watch it all slip away.

10 “It’s No Fun When The Rabbit Has The Gun, Is It?”

Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke)

Jake rarely overpowers Alonzo, but when he does, it’s a very satisfying moment. Jake is the rabbit in the world of wolves and used as a pawn in Alonzo’s brutal game, with the plan of being disposed of when he no longer serves a purpose. After being spared by Smiley, Jake hunts Alonzo down, and the two get into a bloody brawl. Jake comes out on top, holding Alonzo at gunpoint and delivering this crowd-pleasing question to the arrogant corrupt cop.

Alonzo is someone who is used to having all of the power and being in control. Throughout the movie, he attempts to show Jake the reality of the world they live in, but in the end, it is Jake who gives Alonzo the reality check: Alonzo was only in control so long as there was no one standing up to him.

9 “You Don’t Deserve This.”

Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke)

As towering of a performance as Denzel Washington’s is, Training Day is Ethan Hawke’s movie too, and he is able to hold his own against the Oscar winner, especially in the movie’s explosive finale. After their brawl, Jake holds the upper hand, and although he knows Alonzo would kill him if he had the chance, he is not willing to do the same. Instead, Jake simply takes Alonzo’s badge, insisting he does not deserve to wear it.

From the beginning of the movie, Jake is a cop who wants to take down the bad guys and serve the people. He looked at the veteran detective of Alonzo Harris as the man who could teach him how. By the end of the day, Jake realizes Alonzo is just the kind of bad guy he is fighting against. While Training Day is a movie about police corruption, Jake represents the best aspects of that line of work, someone who is absolutely dedicated to serving justice, including within the police force itself.

Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for his performance as Jake Hoyt.

8 “I Should Have Been A Fireman.”

Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke)

The traumatic ordeal that Jake goes through over the course of the day changes him in profound ways. He begins the story as an optimistic and dedicated young cop only for him to gradually lose faith in the system through his work with Alonzo. During the tense hangout with Smiley and his crew, one of the men begins taunting him with questions about being a cop. Though he is fearing for his life in this situation, Jake is still able to darkly joke that he should have chosen another line of work.

Though it is a funny line that shows how disillusioned Jake is by the end of the day, it makes it even more endearing that he is still willing to be a cop in the end. He could have escaped the ordeal at Smiley’s and simply left that world behind, allowing Alonzo to win. Instead, he was driven to see justice done.

7 “Nothing’s Free In This World, Jake. Not Even Arrest Warrants.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Alonzo is as corrupt as a cop can get, but he is not an outlier in this world. There are a number of cops he aligns himself with who prove to be just as loose with the rules of law as he is. The corruption goes even higher as well which Jake discovers when he and Alonzo meet the so-called Three Wise Men, police officials who are the ones calling the shots. After Alonzo hands over some money to them, Jake questions what it is for, only for Alonzo to suggest they just bought an arrest warrant.

It is a compelling moment that proves, that while Alonzo is a monster, he is part of a broken system that has allowed him and many others to exist. It is also interesting that, though he can avoid the typical police work like arrest warrants and seems to do what he wants, he still has people to who he answers.

6 “They Build Jails ‘Cause Of Me.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

It becomes very clear to Jake early on in his day with Alonzo that they have very different approaches to being police officers. After Jake stops two men from attacking a young woman, Alonzo refuses to go through the trouble of actually arresting them and simply gives them a beating. When Jake questions how that is actually police work and whether Alonzo actually locks criminals up, he angrily snaps that his arrest record speaks for itself.

As much as Alonzo is arrogant about his own style of police work, it is telling that he is so defensive when his work as a cop is called into question. He sees himself as the ultimate police officer and it is an aspect of his life he seems to take a lot of pride in. This suggests that, despite everything he does, Alonzo has convinced himself he is a good cop.

5 “You’ve Been Planning This All Day?”

Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke)

Though Alonzo’s corruption is revealed early on, Jake is faced with just how deep he’s in when Alonzo murders Roger in cold blood. Not only that, but Alonzo and his fellow corrupt cops reveal that they will name Jake as the shooter. When Jake insists he will expose the truth, Alonzo cautions that it will be the word of four veteran cops against one rookie who has PCP in his system. It is a sickening realization for Jake that he has been set up with the events of the day leading him to this moment.

One of the reasons Training Day remains one of Denzel Washington’s most rewatchable movies is watching him play this intricate game. He sets all the pieces of his plan in place and puts them in motion without Jake or the audience understanding what he is up to until it is too late. Alonzo continues to show how devious he is as he responds to Jake’s question by saying “I’ve been planning this all week, son.”

4 “It’s Not What You Know, It’s What You Can Prove.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Some of Alonzo’s lines sound like the wise advice of a veteran cop imparting wisdom to a young rookie. However, when more layers of Alonzo’s crooked ways are revealed, those pieces of advice take on a threatening new meaning. Jake begins the day with the idea that doing the right thing will always be the right choice, but he is proven to be naive as Alonzo points out that he can’t prove Alonzo’s own corruption. On the other hand, Alonzo can prove Jake is at fault even though it is not true.

Jake finds himself stuck in a mind game with Alonzo and no matter what truth Jake might know, Alonzo has stacked the deck against him with all the evidence pointing at Jake. It is a defeating moment where no matter what Jake does as an honest cop — he will be a victim of a corrupt system.

3 “You Wanna Go To Jail Or You Wanna Go Home?”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

One of the most iconic quotes from Training Day, Alonzo offers his version of help. At various times throughout the movie, Alonzo confronts criminals and gives them this option. It is another sign of his unorthodox way of doing police work, as he doesn’t see the need to lock up every criminal whom he comes across. He sees the value in populating the streets with people who owe him. However, while he acts as if he is doing these people a favor, he asks the question after brutally abusing them and abusing his power.

Alonzo sees himself as a man of the people who commands respect in the streets because he knows how to play them. However, the ending of the movie shows that he is arrogant in this assumption, as he has only bred a community that hates him yet knows they cannot do anything against him because of his badge. Once that is taken away, Alonzo sees how few allies he has.

2 “You Shot Me In The A**.”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

Though Denzel Washington’s character does indeed die in Training Day, he must first suffer some humbling at the hands of the rookie cop whom he has tormented throughout the day. While it is an explosive and intense scene, there is one moment that is hard not to laugh. As Alonzo bends down to pick up his gun, Jake shoots him. His surprised way of saying “You shot me in the a**” is funny, it is also still in character for Alonzo.

He is a man who thinks he is untouchable, but his disbelief at being shot is also him realizing that it is over for him. He has never had someone stand up to him like this and it is a frightening wake-up call. Washington’s delivery of the line finds the comedy in the moment, but there is desperation in his voice that shows Alonzo’s world is shattering.

1 “King Kong Ain’t Got S*** On Me!”

Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington)

One of the most well-known lines from the movie comes right at the end as Alonzo realizes that his time is well and truly up. Facing a rebellious neighborhood that’s no longer afraid of him, he begins to lose his cool composure in front of a large crowd. Funnily enough, while it is often remembered as a humorous line, there is an element of truth to what Alonzo says. Not only is Alonzo one of movie history’s biggest monsters, but he’s also arguably much more frightening than any fictional beast because he feels genuinely real.

However, there is also a weakness to the moment. It is an impotent rage that Alonzo is spewing to the crowd. He is holding onto the idea that he is untouchable as the unimpressed onlookers simply walk away, knowing that he is finished and not caring what he has to say anymore. It is a perfect ignominious end for the character in the world he once ruled. To make it all the more legendary, Denzel Washington’s famous King Kong line was adlibbed by the actor.