Latest / All The Right Movies / Training Day (2001) | Ep. 66 - Part 1

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Training Day (2001) | Ep. 66 - Part 1 · All The Right Movies

• 0:04
  All the right movies. I got 38 cases pending trial, 63
• 0:08
  in active investigation, another 250 on the log I can't clear.
• 0:12
  I supervised five officers. That's five different
• 0:14
  personalities, 5 sets of problems.
• 0:16
  You could be #6 if you act right.
• 0:18
  But I ain't holding no hands, you understand?
• 0:20
  I ain't babysitting. You got today and today only to
• 0:22
  show me who and what you're made of.
• 0:24
  You don't like narcotics? Get the fuck out of my car.
• 0:26
  Go back to the office, get a nice pussy desk job, you know,
• 0:29
  chasing bad checks or something you hear?
• 0:31
  Me. I hear you.
• 0:32
  OK. Rookie Cup Jake Hoyt gets taken
• 0:37
  through the ringer by Maverick narc Alonzo Harris and what
• 0:40
  should have been a straightforward evaluation day.
• 0:42
  Jake soon learns the harsh reality of the streets as he
• 0:45
  becomes a pawn in a network of corruption.
• 0:47
  Antoine Fuqua's Training Deer overcame a difficult pre
• 0:50
  production period to become one of the most talked about films
• 0:53
  of the early 21st century, in no small part to an imperious lead
• 0:57
  performance by Denzel Washington in what would become one of his
• 1:00
  signature roles. My name is Luke and the two punk
• 1:03
  ass crooked ass wolves with me are Westie.
• 1:06
  Boom. Ha ha.
• 1:07
  You never know. That's the point.
• 1:08
  Go. And Matt, you know what the gas
• 1:11
  chamber smells like? Pine.
• 1:13
  Oil. All the Right Movies are in our
• 1:15
  office listening to the streets. We've been planning this all
• 1:18
  week, son. Hi everyone.
• 1:38
  Welcome to All the Right Movies. So podcast on classic and hit
• 1:41
  films that King Kong ain't got shit on.
• 1:43
  Obviously. Very nice.
• 1:44
  We're telling the story of Hollywood one film at a time,
• 1:47
  and this is a huge, huge, huge piece of the jigsaw for a lot of
• 1:50
  reasons, which I'm sure we'll delve deep into.
• 1:53
  Yeah, it it's a jigsaw in itself, let's be honest.
• 1:55
  But before we get into Alonzo's Monte Carlo, it's that time
• 1:59
  where we tell you about being an ATRM patron.
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  Oh, lovely. Now, if you're a new listener,
• 2:04
  thank you for tuning in firstly. Yes.
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  Thank you so much. Welcome.
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  This is our main all the right movies, podcasts and only the
• 2:10
  most 20 episodes are available for everyone to listen to.
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  That's for free. That's our gift to you.
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  Lovely. Days.
• 2:16
  The rest live in our podcast archive.
• 2:18
  Now. This is episode 121, so there
• 2:21
  are 101 podcasts just like this waiting for you if you become a
• 2:25
  patron of all the right movies. And you can do that on Apple
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  Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and Patreon.
• 2:30
  A lot of options. Yeah, everywhere.
• 2:32
  Also, if you support us on Patreon and YouTube, you get
• 2:34
  access to two additional exclusive movie podcasts that we
• 2:37
  create every month. First one is the Watch List
• 2:40
  where we review recent releases, give them the old ATRM Once Over
• 2:45
  and Double Feature where we pick two films against each other,
• 2:47
  with Training Day being a former winner on Double.
• 2:50
  Feature. Yes, that's right with
• 2:52
  Philadelphia. That one wasn't it?
• 2:53
  Philadelphia, Yeah. Yes, very nice.
• 2:56
  So that's well over two additional hours of podcasts
• 2:59
  each month on double feature in the watch list.
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  There are loads of other benefits of becoming an ATR and
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  patron, so sign up a Patreon, YouTube, or alternatively check
• 3:07
  out Apple Podcasts and Spotify for the main podcast archive.
• 3:09
  Nothing's free in this world, not arrest warrants or
• 3:12
  additional ATRM content, but we do give you bang for your buck.
• 3:16
  Yeah, certainly do. So if you can support us that
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  would be brilliant. Whichever option you choose you
• 3:20
  we are in for a real treat. So thank you everyone.
• 3:22
  Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.
• 3:24
  Now back to the streets of LA and Jacoit's training day.
• 3:27
  This was my choice. So what I want to talk about
• 3:30
  this film? I mean, I indeed why wouldn't
• 3:32
  anybody want to talk about this? There we are.
• 3:34
  Good point. There you go, that's 8 Westy
• 3:37
  moving on. Hour and a half episode.
• 3:40
  I never really paid the film any mind really, until a few years
• 3:44
  back when we had Cheer Serrano on the podcast talking about his
• 3:47
  favorite films when he was on life and movies, and this was
• 3:50
  one of them. And since then, it's just dug
• 3:53
  deeper and deeper into my psyche.
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  It was compounded when we talked about it on Double Feature about
• 3:58
  a year, 18 months ago. I think there's just so much to
• 4:02
  love here. I think Antoine Fuqua's never
• 4:04
  made a better film. This was he was born to make
• 4:07
  this. Yeah.
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  It's not high art, but it's packed with super cool costume
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  design, raise, a sharp quotable dialogue, amazing locations in
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  LA, and a performance from Denzel which would be in the
• 4:19
  contention for my top ten of all time.
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  Big, big. Words, right of all time.
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  Big words. Not just Denzel's performances.
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  But no, No. OK.
• 4:28
  That is big words. I think the word powerhouse was
• 4:30
  created specifically for Denzel. Here he is untouchable.
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  Yeah, he personifies the powerhouse.
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  Absolutely. He really does.
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  He really does, you know, It's got its fair share of plot holes
• 4:40
  and contrivances. A little bit, yeah.
• 4:43
  Two or three, that's all. That's.
• 4:46
  Not. Too many.
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  That doesn't matter though. That's OK.
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  When you got Denzel roaring like a lion in every scene, it
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  doesn't matter if those contractors and plot holes were
• 4:57
  in lesser films that would have made those completely
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  disposable, but this has got just billions going forward that
• 5:02
  it easily papers over the cracks.
• 5:04
  Yeah, definitely. But I'm sure we'll get into
• 5:07
  those cracks for certain. Yeah.
• 5:10
  Matt, what about you? Training Day.
• 5:12
  This was brought up on our last episode, and it made me realize,
• 5:14
  yeah, we've never talked about Denzel Washington on a classical
• 5:17
  for ages, which is ludicrous, really.
• 5:20
  But if you're going to talk about Denzel in depth, why
• 5:22
  wouldn't you salt with this? I mean, it's such, like you
• 5:24
  said, our house, it's a short boarding performance, but it
• 5:28
  does go hand in hand with the rest of the film.
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  And my overall feeling on training day is this really
• 5:33
  didn't have to be or shouldn't have been this good as it is.
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  I mean, yes, it does have flaws, but as you said, should be
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  completely disposable and forgettable.
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  But it isn't. And a lot of that is down to
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  Denzel, but a lot of it is also down the fact that it just has
• 5:45
  at the heart of it a very small but very sharp and well horned
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  central conundrum. It's a great what if film.
• 5:51
  What if you were in this scenario?
• 5:53
  How would you handle it? And I'm just saying that's a
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  great taking off point for the rest of the film.
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  Yeah. Yes, it is.
• 5:58
  Yeah, We'll be exploring those in detail.
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  And what about you, Westie? Yeah, I mean, like I said, I'm
• 6:03
  double feature. I don't really think there's
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  anything quite like it. I think it's the writing that
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  really shines in here, to write as film.
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  But at the same time, it's a performance film as well.
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  And it is Denzel Washington film.
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  And we're going to talk about Denzel on the classic.
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  It's just because we've been waiting to talk about training
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  there because what else are you going to put up really?
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  Because he has, you know, he shares the screen with a lot of
• 6:20
  different actors with has incredible performances in other
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  films. But this is front and center.
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  He absolutely owns it. Some of the improv from is just
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  unbelievably good. He's just consistently in
• 6:30
  character. But at the same time, I mean,
• 6:32
  I've seen this so many Times Now we're watching for double
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  feature. I've watched it again a couple
• 6:36
  of times for this and it's a different film every time I
• 6:38
  watch it. That takes something away from
• 6:40
  it differently every single time.
• 6:42
  Constantly entertaining. Everything I love about cinema
• 6:45
  really. It just you don't feel like it's
• 6:47
  two hours at all. I always feel like this is on
• 6:48
  for about 45 minutes. I always feel like it's an
• 6:50
  episode, like you feel like it's a short episode or something.
• 6:54
  Just action-packed all the way through.
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  Obviously we'll talk about Ethan Hawke as well.
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  I think he's really underrated in this, and that is because of
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  the shadow of Denzel Washington, one of his finest performances,
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  and he really holds his own against Denzel.
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  One of Denzel Washington's top five performances for me.
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  Easy. So that's not an easy feat and
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  he does really well with that. So yeah, there's a lot of talk
• 7:13
  about with this one. It's very exciting.
• 7:15
  There's a lot of different ways we can spin it.
• 7:17
  A few little plot holes, we'll try and paper over them, we'll
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  try and dig into them. But yeah, ultimately we're going
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  to be talking about 3 different films at three different times
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  because. That's what it is.
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  Training Day was written by David Ayer, directed by Antoine
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  Fuqua, and produced by Bobby Knew Meyer and Jeffrey Silva for
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  Village Roadshow Pictures distributed by Warner Brothers
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  on October 5th, 2001. Shot largely on the streets of
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  LA, it stars Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris, Ethan Hawke as
• 7:43
  Jake Hoyt, with support coming in the shape of Scott Glenn,
• 7:47
  Macy Gray, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tom Barringer and Cliff
• 7:50
  Curtis. Lovely, Very nice.
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  We're headed to downtown LA for the open and scenes of training
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  day. The beginning.
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  The peaceful surroundings of the Height household is where we're
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  starting as Jake prepares for his big, big day.
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  Yes, but let's just enjoy that quiet for a moment, because
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  things are not going to stay that way for.
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  About four minutes. Yeah, it.
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  Is. I mean, it might be relative
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  calm, but that sunrise coming up in the credits show you that
• 8:23
  Ellie is on fire and nobody can put it out.
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  But then in the high household it couldn't be more idyllic.
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  Jake's up to find his evangelic looking wife whispering sweet
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  nothings while she nurses their infant child.
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  Yeah, it's beautiful. Just missing that soundtrack to
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  live and die in LA. This is where it needs it.
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  Then she's making him coffee and bringing him his uniform.
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  I mean, laying it on real thick that this whole thing is about
• 8:49
  to be blown completely apart. But there is a lot of subtlety
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  here as well, which I love. Jake's wife answers the phone.
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  We don't know who it is, but we know that whoever is on the
• 9:00
  other end of the phone is full of charm, considering his wife's
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  giggling like a schoolgirl after 5 seconds of picking the phone
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  up. Alonzo dishing out the
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  compliments, no doubt. Smooth smoothie.
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  Definitely. But there's also a wealth of
• 9:13
  plot development. In that 60 seconds that Jake's
• 9:15
  on the phone, the voice on the other end asked him if he's
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  going to roll call, which is basically a police officer
• 9:20
  clocking in, among other things, of course.
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  And Jake's advised against it, meaning that Alonzo's day
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  doesn't turn out as planned. He can just bump Jake off and
• 9:29
  claim that he never showed up to work.
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  Secondly, he asked him if he's got a second gun, which will
• 9:33
  come into play right at the end when Smiling and his crew are
• 9:36
  messing out with Jake's actual gun.
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  He doesn't have a backup. And then mid sentence Alonzo
• 9:41
  hangs up on Jake. What Brick?
• 9:44
  We've got no idea who we're messing with here, but we've got
• 9:47
  a good impression of the character straight away.
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  Yes. And we don't even see his face.
• 9:52
  No, no. So I go into the Dino where we
• 9:54
  do see his face. What a wonderful face.
• 9:57
  What a wonderful guy. It gives me a sweetheart.
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  I mean, introductions to characters as the goal.
• 10:04
  I mean, we did mention this before in the previous podcast,
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  but I mean, this is definitely up there.
• 10:08
  It's absolutely. Fantastic.
• 10:10
  You know same Dino where the shot 7 where the conversation
• 10:13
  with between Tracy and Somerset was.
• 10:15
  It's absolutely fantastic, the lovely setting, but it's just
• 10:18
  Jake is on the back foot. He's really trying calls him Sir
• 10:21
  when he sits down. The waitress comes to get some
• 10:23
  chowing you before go to the office.
• 10:25
  My dollar. And it's just that's the nicest.
• 10:27
  I think that's the nicest years throughout the whole film.
• 10:29
  Yeah, yeah. The angles here, the way it
• 10:31
  builds the characters, the way it builds the the worry from
• 10:35
  Jake and the confidence from Alonzo is just so well done by
• 10:38
  football because it's just built on shot choice and it's
• 10:40
  absolutely fantastic. We never, ever cut to a close up
• 10:43
  of Jake until the very end when he says I have a wife starts not
• 10:47
  about something. And then that's cut off.
• 10:48
  Everything is over the shoulder. Alonzo is in every single frame.
• 10:52
  Even when it's on Jake, he's in the frame somehow.
• 10:54
  He's so imposing. He's just puts that right.
• 10:57
  Tell us a story. Tell me a story, Not your story.
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  This is it. I'll tell you a story.
• 11:00
  This is a newspaper. It's 90% bullshit, but it's
• 11:03
  entertaining. And again, that's the character
• 11:05
  who's 90% bullshit, but he's entertaining.
• 11:08
  He is the newspaper of what we're doing with the whole film,
• 11:10
  what we're taking, and he's making stuff up as he goes, but
• 11:13
  it's not cool when he tells the story.
• 11:14
  Jake goes into the story and then we'll go to that high
• 11:16
  angle, that observational angle where it's just the two of them
• 11:19
  in that two shot, like a security camera.
• 11:21
  Love that shot. I think it's brilliant.
• 11:24
  I would never have thought to put something like that that
• 11:26
  right in the middle of a dialogue sequence, but we are
• 11:28
  then just observing them as we do throughout the whole film.
• 11:30
  We're looking at these two. They're in the booth together.
• 11:32
  This is them now locked in there, then have to kind of deal
• 11:36
  with each other. And then it goes to Alonzo where
• 11:38
  he settles into this story. He's arm goes on the back of the
• 11:41
  seat, he sits down, he puts his paper down and then we're cut to
• 11:44
  that low angle on the table, a wide angle, and he's just fill
• 11:49
  in the frame, owns the screen. This is me now.
• 11:52
  This is my film and it's absolutely fantastic because
• 11:55
  that story that Jay pulls out is just like a kid telling me about
• 11:57
  going to school. It's just like, and then I did
• 12:00
  this and then it was good and then I got a lollipop.
• 12:02
  He's like, oh right, fucking DURDUR shit.
• 12:07
  And he's like getting these guns get so patronized in the end of
• 12:11
  the story. So you just, this is just
• 12:12
  ridiculous that you think I'm going to be entertained by this
• 12:15
  kind of story. You're a fucking boy.
• 12:17
  You're in a man's world and you've got a Dick, right?
• 12:19
  Your Dick's there either side of that two pockets richer or one
• 12:22
  of them. Play the bill boom out.
• 12:24
  I love that incredible the cameras from an observational
• 12:27
  point of view. So we're from the top and then
• 12:30
  we'll go to the bottom just to show how he much he owns that
• 12:32
  street on that track shot. It just comes across and he
• 12:35
  fills that frame. From here, it just snowballs and
• 12:38
  just rolls. We start really static.
• 12:40
  We start really still. We're going to an observational
• 12:43
  high shot. We see the world that they're
• 12:44
  in. We understand the pressure.
• 12:46
  We understand Jake's on the back for Alonzo's a bit of a fucking
• 12:49
  maniac. Yep.
• 12:50
  Bang. We're in.
• 12:52
  Yeah. It's so cool.
• 12:54
  I could pay the bill. Bang.
• 12:56
  It's the table, yeah. Amazing.
• 12:58
  Great introduction to the character.
• 13:00
  Yeah, it is. As you said, Westie, that diner
• 13:02
  is very familiar because it's in seven, it's in over 20 movies,
• 13:08
  including Gone in 60 Seconds and Catch Me If You Can as well.
• 13:11
  Right. Oh, OK, right.
• 13:12
  Yeah, Yes, it is. I remember now from country.
• 13:14
  Yeah, yeah. And all the scene you mean?
• 13:16
  Yeah, as costume designer Michelle Michelle balance police
• 13:18
  authenticity with St. credibility, she was aware that
• 13:21
  while filming an act of gang neighborhoods, costumes couldn't
• 13:24
  appear to Hollywood as they would disrespect the gang
• 13:27
  culture. Yes, well, all of Washington's
• 13:29
  wardrobe pieces were custom tailored.
• 13:31
  His all black palette immediately conveys his corrupt,
• 13:34
  intimidating presence, rejecting traditional police formality
• 13:37
  while maintaining the sleek, street smart aesthetic.
• 13:41
  He does that, all right. Yeah, right.
• 13:43
  And that jewelry creates kind of like a juxtaposition with his
• 13:46
  actions because he is far from holy, that religious jewelry.
• 13:49
  Yes. And this is a direct contrast to
• 13:52
  heights, earthy brown tones which give him just a more
• 13:54
  grounded feel, traditional feel. And he's completely at odds with
• 13:59
  the way that Alonso looks. Yeah, it gives him a natural
• 14:02
  element to his persona as well as he's just an honest person.
• 14:06
  Yes, that's right. Yeah.
• 14:07
  And. Then they're in the car and
• 14:08
  Alonso is in full floor. Today is a trainer day off site,
• 14:12
  just in case he hadn't worked out what the title of the film
• 14:14
  means by now. I appreciate that a little bit.
• 14:15
  OK, that's what's going on. But then it's this constant
• 14:19
  barrage of information, all the numbers of the cases he's
• 14:21
  working on, the ones he's put away, the number of people he's
• 14:24
  got working from Jacobi #6 and he knows what's what.
• 14:27
  Like he sees through that textbook response.
• 14:30
  When he asks Jake why he wants to be an arc, he gives the odds.
• 14:32
  Want to serve the community? No, why do you want to be an
• 14:34
  arc? Because I want to make
• 14:36
  detective. There you go, that's what it's
• 14:38
  about. Because Jake is just, like,
• 14:40
  enraptured by way. He says I will do anything you
• 14:42
  want me to do. And it hangs in the air, and
• 14:45
  there's the slightest of smirks on Alonzo's face as he pauses
• 14:49
  and takes at the end of he says a word that we're not going to
• 14:51
  repeat. The light bulb goes off at that
• 14:54
  point. He's got him, got him, got him
• 14:57
  on that hook. And he's got him on hook though,
• 14:58
  because everything he says makes sense.
• 15:00
  You know, wind your window down, you've got to smell the sweets,
• 15:02
  you've got to heave the street. How's the Espanol?
• 15:05
  All these rapid fire questions, which makes so much sense.
• 15:07
  And you totally get why Jake is so engaged with this guy,
• 15:10
  because you are as well. Until then, he does bring up
• 15:12
  Jake's marriage and he finds out he's got a baby girl.
• 15:14
  I've got four boys. You want a son, let me know.
• 15:17
  I can't miss. Yeah, that's outrageous.
• 15:19
  Like your old lady up? Yeah, exactly.
• 15:22
  Like, hold on, why are you seeing this?
• 15:24
  It's so out of the blue. It's so inappropriate and it's
• 15:27
  the first time I think you see this is Alonso push and shakes
• 15:31
  buttons and seeing where James boundaries are, what's going to
• 15:33
  trigger him off? Where can he push this guy?
• 15:35
  But it's so cleverly written because just when he sort of
• 15:38
  think that he pulls it back to being another lesson.
• 15:41
  You know, that's my point. This is the type of so if you've
• 15:43
  got to hide like that create line, the day you bring your old
• 15:46
  lady to the office is the day you don't make it home getting
• 15:49
  advice, you know, don't wear your wedding ring out to you.
• 15:51
  They'll use it. The markets the latter.
• 15:53
  That makes sense. Exactly.
• 15:55
  Everything he's coming out with is so tent lies and you
• 15:57
  definitely want to see where this data is going to go from
• 16:00
  here. Yeah, incredible stuff when he
• 16:03
  gets in that car, That car. Outrageous.
• 16:08
  This is the office baby. Sexy in it.
• 16:12
  Yes. So Speaking of his cars, cars
• 16:14
  heavily customized Monte Carlo featuring hydraulic suspension
• 16:17
  for low rider style hops. Obviously I know loads about
• 16:20
  that. There's a flow master exhaust in
• 16:22
  there, dating wire wheels with white walls and Chrome
• 16:25
  detailing. I mean, it looks unbelievable.
• 16:28
  Yeah. You know what wouldn't look
• 16:30
  unbelievable? Me driving it and then hitting
• 16:31
  the wrong button and popping me way down downtown and I'll be
• 16:36
  just crying. I imagine you'd be like data
• 16:41
  from the Goonies, slick shoes and stuff punching people.
• 16:49
  Yeah, that car was stolen during production but recovered within
• 16:52
  24 hours with the help of local gang members.
• 16:55
  Wow, right? Not on their watch, no.
• 16:58
  DMA and editor Conrad Buff was faced with a tough job when it
• 17:01
  came to the cutting room because these car scenes the featured
• 17:04
  serious tonal differences between the material within a
• 17:07
  given scene. Because Washington would
• 17:09
  fluctuate his energy from exhaustion to enthusiasm, from
• 17:12
  take to take to take, he was just given options because he
• 17:15
  was exploring the character along the way.
• 17:17
  Yeah, Buff said that even in between takes, he was laughing
• 17:20
  and joking with Hulk as well. So it was just totally all over
• 17:24
  the place, right? He said he had to bend,
• 17:27
  manipulate and unify. The performance in the sculpt
• 17:30
  and process helped create the character's consistency across
• 17:32
  varying shooting conditions and smooth and energy transitions
• 17:35
  between shots. I mean, an editor's job is
• 17:39
  incredibly tricky. It's not just chopping things
• 17:41
  and just putting things together.
• 17:43
  It's it's creating consistency. Yeah.
• 17:45
  Between the takes as well and sometimes that overlaps, and the
• 17:48
  amount of times that these these shots overlap purely with the
• 17:51
  sound design making them connect is more often than you would
• 17:55
  think. Yeah, it's really tough job.
• 17:57
  Incredible stuff. So Jake is now in the office,
• 18:00
  but there's no water cooler or recliner chairs in this
• 18:02
  environment. Nope, just the hops.
• 18:07
  It's been a bumpy ride so far, and it's about to get a whole
• 18:09
  load worse for Jake, starting with a routine pullover.
• 18:13
  Matt, over to you. No, it's a cardigan, but thanks
• 18:16
  for asking. Nothing routine about it.
• 18:23
  I mean, this scene, it's like taking a peek under the hood and
• 18:26
  seeing how everything works at this point.
• 18:28
  And everything is deconstructed for Jake because the 17 year old
• 18:31
  kid that Alonso points out he's killed with the best of them,
• 18:34
  but he works for Alonzo and he allows to sell drugs to support
• 18:37
  his family. So everything Jake's taken for
• 18:38
  granted in his career so far. As Alonso says, you're going to
• 18:41
  have to forget all that because it just doesn't apply.
• 18:44
  You know, those rules do not work out here.
• 18:46
  And then you've got that create line when Alonso says he's going
• 18:49
  to do a family stop on the buyers and Jake says all the
• 18:51
  look like college kids, they're going to get an education today.
• 18:54
  Love it. Yeah.
• 18:55
  Brilliant. And then they do because again,
• 18:57
  it's that continuation of Jake just having to think, oh, God,
• 19:00
  all that stuff I just need to not do because he tries to call
• 19:02
  it in. And Alonso, just stay off of the
• 19:06
  Rover, just like spelling out of you are a kid, you know, do what
• 19:11
  I say. It's brilliant.
• 19:12
  Yeah. And you can see when he's pulled
• 19:13
  them over and Alonso says, yanking that guy's ear, just the
• 19:16
  look on Shake's face like he's not allowed to do that, is he?
• 19:19
  You can't, like, just assault someone.
• 19:21
  He's not even being arrested. Yeah.
• 19:23
  And obviously we'll be saying this stuff.
• 19:24
  But Alonso in full floor, it's just impossible to take your
• 19:28
  eyes off him. Just to go from that wonderful,
• 19:30
  intense, terrifying guy where he says I'm going to let the horn,
• 19:33
  he's running a train on your girlfriend.
• 19:34
  You know what that means, right? What a threat that is.
• 19:37
  So then at the end, when he's got what he's wanted out them,
• 19:39
  OK, gentlemen, thank you for your cooperation.
• 19:41
  And then just lets them go. Like you can't get a handle on
• 19:44
  this guy at all. And Jake is barely keeping up
• 19:46
  with them at this point. Yeah, when he screams at Jake as
• 19:49
  well. To secure yourself.
• 19:50
  Yeah, but then he does it anyway for him, like against the
• 19:53
  windscreen. He knows he's doing it.
• 19:54
  He knows exactly he's got control over the whole
• 19:56
  situation. Move those hands and they'll
• 19:58
  slap the taste out of your mouth.
• 20:01
  Don't want that happening, no. So from there, they secured some
• 20:06
  what he calls terrible drugs. Just probably a year old.
• 20:09
  Look at that crap. But yeah, everyone's got
• 20:13
  secrets. And now Jake has to smoke it.
• 20:15
  And you just think, hold on a second, what?
• 20:18
  And this is so uncomfortable to watch because you just think
• 20:21
  not, right? He's the bad guy.
• 20:22
  I've made my mind up now. He's awful.
• 20:25
  But then all of these actions are made absolutely clear.
• 20:28
  And you kind of think, oh, this is tough love.
• 20:31
  This is how you've got to do it on the streets.
• 20:32
  Every no cut narcotics officer needs narcotics in the system.
• 20:35
  And just like, does that make sense?
• 20:37
  I think you might actually, I don't know.
• 20:40
  You've got to understand the product to be able to then chase
• 20:42
  it and chase the people who are addicted to it.
• 20:44
  Maybe you've got to know how it feels and, and you just, if you
• 20:47
  understand something, you can catch it.
• 20:49
  I think that's the whole point. I think fear is, is
• 20:51
  misunderstanding, isn't it? Fear is is not known.
• 20:53
  And the more you understand something, the less you fear it
• 20:56
  and the more the more efficient you are.
• 20:58
  And I totally get that from this scene.
• 21:00
  It makes perfect sense. It's just that these methods
• 21:03
  seem really caring and really unethical at the same time.
• 21:06
  As an audience as well, we're on JX side and we're kind of like,
• 21:09
  oh shit, you shouldn't have done that.
• 21:10
  But then he brings it up again and kind of punches him a little
• 21:13
  bit with it, just like he brought up, you know, he can't
• 21:15
  miss with these misses. It's just like he brings up this
• 21:17
  horrible thing and slaps him a bit and then pulls back and
• 21:20
  apologizes for the slap and kind of rubs his face and then slaps
• 21:23
  him a little bit. You know, the PCP.
• 21:25
  And that's what you've just had. I didn't have any.
• 21:26
  But you do. No, nobody said anything.
• 21:28
  It's like I put a gun to your head.
• 21:29
  He knows he's not going to remember it.
• 21:31
  You know, he's got about 12th grade.
• 21:32
  And what were you doing smoking weed?
• 21:34
  Smoking weed. And he's just written the piss
• 21:37
  out of them. And again, this is just so
• 21:39
  beautifully shot because the amount of close-ups on Denzel is
• 21:43
  so powerful because he's just there and he's fill in the
• 21:46
  frame. He's looking across.
• 21:47
  It comes back to Jake's carrot and it's across the car, he's in
• 21:50
  the background. Especially when he lights the
• 21:51
  pipe for the first time and Alonso just leans in and watches
• 21:54
  him do. It over his shoulder.
• 21:57
  He's constantly there and there's not cut, the virgin
• 21:59
  lungs cut, but it cuts to like a close up to like outside the
• 22:02
  car. So that was seen that the street
• 22:05
  that he's in, the whole place he's controlling just grinds to
• 22:09
  a stop as well. In the middle of an
• 22:10
  intersection? Outrageous.
• 22:12
  Points the gun at somebody. Shut the fuck up.
• 22:14
  Yeah, that's got complete control of the whole city.
• 22:18
  Like, who is this guy? He's nobody can possibly stop
• 22:21
  him. He's just a powerhouse of a
• 22:22
  character. And at this point, I don't think
• 22:24
  any of us in that moment, in that car, at that time with that
• 22:28
  mentality wanting to do a good job would not take that.
• 22:31
  We all would 100% take a hit of that.
• 22:33
  And then as you're going through it, you just think I shouldn't
• 22:35
  have done. That.
• 22:38
  Why did I do that? Massive remorse immediately.
• 22:41
  And it's the way that's directed as well, because that green
• 22:43
  filter just could have been cheese on toast.
• 22:45
  It could. It could have been.
• 22:46
  Oh, God, that's just so cliche at all.
• 22:49
  Right. He's stored PCP.
• 22:50
  We've seen it all before, but it's just so beautifully done.
• 22:53
  And just that greenness to it, that sickness to it, you feel
• 22:56
  completely unnerved and sick. The waste Jake does.
• 22:59
  Yeah. Great scene, really unsettling,
• 23:01
  but again, really confusing for the audience.
• 23:03
  Yeah, really, really confusing. I.
• 23:05
  Think it's supposed to be there wasn't.
• 23:06
  Oh yeah, without doubt that green filter and everything's
• 23:09
  going slow more I love it when Alonzo's reeling off all the
• 23:13
  slang words I didn't know you you like to get wet and just
• 23:16
  like well, what does wet means like you know butt naked I'll
• 23:19
  dust PCP Primo P dog What the fuck does that mean I.
• 23:27
  Don't know that you did. Oh, what?
• 23:29
  I didn't know you like that shit.
• 23:30
  It's like you've just made a smoke.
• 23:31
  You. Made me smoke it, yeah.
• 23:33
  Amazing. You love it, don't you?
• 23:35
  The ultimate bully. He is the ultimate bully.
• 23:38
  Yeah, we're laughing at him. Because he's not here, that's
• 23:42
  why. It's nowhere near us.
• 23:45
  So if you weren't in the room, I'd be like, yes, Sir, no
• 23:48
  problem. I'll turn this mic off right
• 23:49
  now. Give us a Give us a crack pipe.
• 23:54
  So, with Jake at the zenith of his trip, they stopped by an old
• 23:57
  body of Alonzo's for a drink. You know why not?
• 23:59
  It must be at least 10 AM. Not a problem.
• 24:02
  Massive shot of whiskey. PCP and a shot of whiskey.
• 24:07
  Honestly, God and. No breakfast.
• 24:10
  No, you fucked that up. You did tell him to have some
• 24:13
  food by yeah, you got that. PCP is really going to kick
• 24:17
  anything else. Now this scene does feel like a
• 24:23
  bit of a come down, if you'll excuse the metaphor.
• 24:27
  The tone slows right down in no small part.
• 24:30
  Roger's parable about his little snail.
• 24:33
  But I suppose this has got to be in there to show that Alonzo,
• 24:36
  who clearly has a lot of love for Roger in this scene, is
• 24:39
  willing to wipe him out without hesitation later.
• 24:42
  Or maybe he's telling the truth later when he says that he had
• 24:45
  to get close to him to take him down.
• 24:47
  Or is that what he wants Jake to believe to get him back on side?
• 24:51
  Who knows? That thing isn't it.
• 24:53
  Who? Knows it goes, it snakes, it
• 24:54
  goes in and out. But that's what makes the
• 24:56
  character so fascinating, what makes the writing so good and
• 25:00
  makes this scene essential because it does obviously set up
• 25:03
  the killing scene later. Yeah.
• 25:05
  And there are a couple of moments in this scene that are
• 25:07
  important small details that could go unnoticed, best of
• 25:10
  which is the phone call that Roger gets.
• 25:12
  He says it's your mess, you clean it up.
• 25:14
  Presumably he's still messed up in a load of dodgy dealings and
• 25:18
  backs up Alonso's claim later that he was up to no good, even
• 25:22
  he needed to be taken out. And somehow Roger knows that how
• 25:26
  he played college football, he never forgets a good player
• 25:30
  somehow. But this just adds to Jake's
• 25:33
  athletic ability, making his physicality as a cop believable.
• 25:36
  I think for me, yeah. Particularly that scene when he
• 25:38
  chases down those two hobo's. Yeah.
• 25:40
  Yes. And during the scene, Roger
• 25:42
  tells a joke about a snail who gets injured, breaks a shell and
• 25:46
  is left for dead. But he recovers and after a year
• 25:48
  makes it back to the same place as the previous year.
• 25:51
  And some say this is foreshadowing going on.
• 25:52
  Here is by the end, Jake is the snail, injured close to death
• 25:56
  but with the resilience to return to the source was being
• 25:59
  unconfronted. Roger finishes that story by
• 26:01
  saying when you understand that joke, you'll have figured out
• 26:04
  the streets. And I suppose that's what Jake
• 26:06
  does by the end of it. Yeah, yeah.
• 26:09
  Even though Jake thinks he's already figured it out with his
• 26:11
  smiles and cries theory, which doesn't carry too much weight
• 26:15
  for me to be honest, doesn't even make sense.
• 26:17
  No it doesn't. So Jake's been through some low
• 26:19
  points. So far, nothing.
• 26:20
  A few hits of PCP and a large measure of whiskey once
• 26:23
  although. Obviously, that's all about.
• 26:29
  The director. The third cinematic out in for
• 26:33
  Anton Fuqua, following the Replacement Killers and Bait
• 26:37
  Training Day, is where he joined the big leagues though.
• 26:40
  It is, and I just feel that he is overflowing with confidence
• 26:44
  and swagger, or certainly that's what comes across on screen.
• 26:47
  I said the top that this feels like the film he was born to
• 26:49
  make and it just feels like the perfect marriage of director and
• 26:52
  material. His first two films showed
• 26:54
  promise, but they won't necessarily stand the test of
• 26:57
  time. No, no.
• 26:59
  But this is another beast entirely.
• 27:01
  It is, I think he makes the written word pulse with
• 27:03
  electricity and excitement. I really believe that he was
• 27:06
  instrumental in getting that performance out of Denzel
• 27:09
  because he'd found somebody who's talking his language.
• 27:11
  Metaphorically of course. Look at that combination of the
• 27:15
  edit and shot as he transitions from the down of the street like
• 27:18
  you talked about. Westie pay the bill, bang
• 27:20
  hardcore low angle track and shot across the street as Alonzo
• 27:23
  saunters to his pimp mobile. I mean that is just full of
• 27:28
  style. Now that could have been shot
• 27:30
  and edited a load of different ways, but Fuqua does so in a way
• 27:34
  that matches the energy of Alonzo, the urgency of
• 27:37
  narrative. Flashy for certain, but I don't
• 27:40
  think it's just there to make it look sexy.
• 27:42
  It works in perfect harmony with what the film is about, with the
• 27:45
  character of the film, and that is confidence, its style, its
• 27:49
  authenticity. It brings those gang streets to
• 27:52
  life with such a threatening menace.
• 27:54
  This doesn't feel like actors on a stage.
• 27:56
  It feels like what it is, real people, real locations,
• 27:59
  reinforcing what the film's about.
• 28:01
  And that's why it's got such a legacy, I think, because Fuqua
• 28:04
  brings that authenticity. Not the only one, but he
• 28:07
  certainly adds to it. That scene where Alonso's crew
• 28:10
  meet Jake for the first time? That doesn't need to be on the
• 28:13
  top of a skyscraper. What a meeting place it's.
• 28:19
  Outrageous. It's.
• 28:20
  Very heat though. Isn't it?
• 28:21
  It's very heat? Yes, it is.
• 28:23
  And it frames these cops as untouchable, a standing toll
• 28:27
  above Elliot, the city that they own.
• 28:29
  That line delivery of the guys may be questionable,
• 28:32
  particularly Dre and the costume design and those tough guys,
• 28:36
  they don't fantastic, but you don't remember that.
• 28:38
  You remember the visual, the style and the authenticity for
• 28:41
  me. And I think that's what Fuqua
• 28:42
  brings here. I think he brings a very
• 28:44
  grounded approach to this because he's not the type of
• 28:47
  high fluting director who's going to look to bring something
• 28:50
  that isn't there. You know, I think he's a smart
• 28:52
  guy who realizes there's not a lot of thematic depth to this.
• 28:56
  So why gender otherwise? You know, he knows what the
• 28:59
  audience wants from this, which is that clash of moralities that
• 29:02
  will spiral into out and out conflict between the two.
• 29:05
  And he knows how to deliver it. And I think if you look this
• 29:07
  filmography, it seems to me like this is a guy who he watches a
• 29:10
  lot of TV and he watches a lot of B movies on TV.
• 29:13
  But he's got the sensibility and the smarts to take those
• 29:16
  influences and make them cinematic.
• 29:18
  And he is a very cinematic director, the editor.
• 29:21
  And as you've said, it's really sharp.
• 29:22
  There's not a trace of fat on this film.
• 29:24
  No, two hours as well. Exactly, and it flies by.
• 29:28
  And he's done a lot of TV after this as well as yes he has.
• 29:30
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I say, I think that's just
• 29:32
  a sensibility and he knows he can let Denzel go big because
• 29:35
  that will contrast with Hawke's approach.
• 29:38
  His framing is excellent. As we've been saying, he knows
• 29:40
  the value of a close up, but more than that, the value of
• 29:43
  holding on a close up. There's so many scenes in this
• 29:46
  where the power of the scene comes from holding on Alonzo's
• 29:49
  face after he said something really outrageous and really not
• 29:52
  sure how to take it. And he doesn't cut from it or he
• 29:54
  will hold on Jake's face because he doesn't know how to take it
• 29:57
  either. And that disturbs of the
• 29:58
  confusion. So, you know, he might be in the
• 30:01
  conversation for like the least pretentious director we've ever
• 30:04
  talked about and his influences or Clay was there.
• 30:06
  And I wouldn't say he elevates those influences in the way
• 30:09
  let's see John Carpenter does with B movies.
• 30:12
  You know, he's not on that level.
• 30:13
  But all the same, to go back what I said, they're very soft
• 30:17
  for something that could be very disposable, very forgettable,
• 30:19
  very generic. Yes, Washington deserves a lot
• 30:22
  of credit for, But so does. Yeah, I'm very much the same.
• 30:25
  I can kind of see him on sets, in the camera.
• 30:28
  Placement is going to be here, not it has to be here.
• 30:32
  Do you know what I mean? He's got that sensibility where
• 30:34
  he says this is going to be like this, it doesn't have to be like
• 30:37
  this because I want it like this.
• 30:38
  It's this is the way it's going to exist.
• 30:40
  He seems to be a very organic director, especially when it
• 30:43
  comes to actors and especially when it comes to Denzel.
• 30:46
  I think working with him, he opens a lot of doors and gives
• 30:48
  him a lot of space and he really appreciates Denzel Washington is
• 30:51
  not. But in Denzel, Washington just
• 30:54
  owns the film, lets him do it. He allows for a lot of movement
• 30:58
  and a lot of improvisation, I think, and there's a lot of
• 31:00
  Denzel in this where the camera is very lenient.
• 31:03
  It doesn't seem like it's locked off.
• 31:06
  It feels like it can move somewhere if it needs to.
• 31:09
  It feels quite fluid when you're watching this film.
• 31:11
  I think that's why it's so easy to watch and how it just rolls
• 31:14
  from 1 scene to the next. I think what he does with the
• 31:17
  sound design as well, kind of really what we've talked about
• 31:19
  before it appeared was over a lot of the cracks of the cuts
• 31:22
  and these cuts seem to flow very organically.
• 31:24
  There's a real silkiness to the direction, just a slow flowing
• 31:27
  river and Denzel's just the rocks that it hits every now and
• 31:31
  again and it's just nice to going the floor down.
• 31:33
  But then he's got that opportunity to move the tide
• 31:36
  where he wants to. But football knows exactly where
• 31:38
  this where the streams going and he keeps the same pace in that
• 31:41
  tide all the way through. To me, just seems like an
• 31:44
  absolute team player and a sweet, sweet guy.
• 31:47
  It's just a real canvas for performance and technical
• 31:50
  direction and editing. I think it's fantastic stuff.
• 31:53
  It certainly is. Yeah.
• 31:54
  Big praise for Fuqua. Yeah, he's done a great job
• 31:57
  here. Yeah, he has.
• 31:58
  When Warner Brothers originally bought David is Training Day
• 32:00
  script, more on that later. Of course, they had Davis
• 32:04
  Guggenheim, known for his TV work, installed as director.
• 32:07
  Right. With Samuel L Jackson and Matt
• 32:09
  Damon attached to * as Alonzo and Jake.
• 32:12
  Right, OK, which? Wouldn't have been too bad, I
• 32:14
  don't think you know I. Could say that working yet?
• 32:16
  It worked out that Sam Jackson eventually left and was replaced
• 32:20
  by Denzel, who then requested that Guggenheim be replaced as
• 32:23
  well. Outrageous.
• 32:26
  Guggenheim never really got a gig again.
• 32:28
  He largely went into documentary filmmaking and.
• 32:31
  One has put a lot of faith in Denzel and he ended up having a
• 32:34
  big say in the creative choices. His first was to recommend
• 32:37
  Antoine Fuqua as director and this came after Denzel's wife
• 32:40
  Paulette a piece and it recommended him after seeing his
• 32:43
  previous film The Replacement Killers.
• 32:45
  Yes, that's with cherry and fat. It is, yes.
• 32:48
  Denzel watched it and liked the way he constructed action
• 32:51
  sequences. He thought that Fuqua could
• 32:52
  capture the complexity of the character of Alonzo and Ellie's
• 32:56
  street level authenticity as well, which I mean, we've talked
• 32:58
  about, confirmed. Yeah, football was used to the
• 33:02
  training day world. Growing up in a Pittsburgh
• 33:04
  ghetto, this helped bring authenticity to the film.
• 33:07
  He saw it as being all about the abuse of power based on his own
• 33:10
  childhood experiences. Yeah, I think you can tell that
• 33:12
  he he's seen it. He's been there.
• 33:14
  There's an authenticity there is without it being cheesy.
• 33:18
  And two police technical advisors, Michael Patterson from
• 33:21
  LAPD and Paulo Zorda from SFPD, They're in true procedures
• 33:25
  accuracy throughout the production.
• 33:27
  And Patterson had spent 10 years of his career patrolling Ellias
• 33:30
  notoriously dangerous Firestone Park, and he provided reality
• 33:33
  checks for the actors in Fuqua. Yeah.
• 33:35
  So we had like advisors on set, as you would expect, yeah.
• 33:39
  Definitely for out of the authenticity.
• 33:40
  Fuqua wanted to film in off limits areas of LA such as South
• 33:44
  Central, Inglewood, Rampart, Echo Park, Lincoln Heights and
• 33:47
  Imperial Courts. It was football's background in
• 33:50
  the hoods of Pittsburgh that earned him respect and trust
• 33:52
  from real gang members. Yes boy sounds like the boy
• 33:55
  he's. Like, yeah, of course he is.
• 33:57
  He can take care of it. He knows what time it is of.
• 33:58
  Course he does. Fuqua's friend Cle, born Shaheed
• 34:02
  Sloan, was invaluable in secure in these locations that you're
• 34:06
  talking about. Westie he was a former Athens
• 34:08
  Park Blood gang member turned community activist and Ellie a
• 34:12
  gang banging historian. Wow, I need to get some friends
• 34:15
  like that. I've got nothing.
• 34:17
  Are we not cool enough? I've got nothing in that cannon.
• 34:22
  We're not. We're not walking into
• 34:23
  Inglewood. Are you fucking kidding?
• 34:25
  I'm not walking out. We're walking.
• 34:28
  We're not coming out. You heard of all the right?
• 34:37
  Also plays the gang member who points his gun at Alonzo during
• 34:39
  the King Kong scene and let's Jake off the hook.
• 34:41
  Oh. Yeah, great.
• 34:42
  Right? He's great.
• 34:44
  He's amazing. And Fuqua filled out the
• 34:45
  background of these locations with residents of the actual
• 34:48
  neighborhoods. He also recruited real gang
• 34:50
  members from the notorious LA gangs, the Bloods and Crips to
• 34:53
  maintain the highest level of authenticity throughout
• 34:56
  production. Comes across it jumps off screen
• 34:59
  talking about these iconic locations.
• 35:01
  That leads us to our first question from an ATR M Patron.
• 35:05
  This is from Ben Carr. Hello, Ben.
• 35:08
  Hello, Ben. Hi, Ben.
• 35:10
  Now, Ben's a patron of all the right movies.
• 35:11
  If you want to ask us a question for the films that we're talking
• 35:14
  about, you can become a patron as well.
• 35:16
  Lovely. The door is open.
• 35:17
  It is. Ben says hi guys.
• 35:20
  Hi, Ben. One of the main parts of
• 35:22
  Training Day That's Day With Me, apart from Denzel's performance,
• 35:25
  was the bringing to life of LA. So gritty and dangerous.
• 35:28
  LA and New York have been brought to life brilliantly so
• 35:31
  many times over the years. Which of the two cities would
• 35:33
  you choose and what's your fear? Flick set in one of them.
• 35:36
  OK, Westie. It's really difficult, isn't it?
• 35:39
  I think, but I mean, New York, you kind of know what you're
• 35:42
  going to get. It sets the tone I think a
• 35:44
  little bit too much. Where LA couldn't be a little
• 35:47
  bit different. It's it's more varied, I think
• 35:50
  so, yeah. If you imagine like Once Upon a
• 35:51
  Time in Hollywood and then you imagine like the player on
• 35:54
  Nightcrawler or this is like downtown LA as you imagine Heat.
• 35:57
  But I think me absolute favorite, I'm going to pick LA.
• 36:01
  OK, yeah, great place, great city.
• 36:03
  Merely because I've been and it just screamed of like cinema to
• 36:07
  me. Everywhere I look just felt
• 36:09
  like, oh, you can put a camera there.
• 36:11
  The light was what I'd always seen on screen.
• 36:14
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've yet to go to New York as
• 36:16
  probably the same thing will happen then.
• 36:17
  I'll answer it in a completely different way when I go to New
• 36:18
  York at some point. But yeah, it's Ellie and it has
• 36:20
  to be Chinatown. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 36:23
  At everything I saw, even now going through Ellie, I just saw
• 36:25
  elements of that film and it really stuck with me as like a
• 36:28
  real cinematic masterpiece. When I first saw that, I was
• 36:30
  quite young watching it, and it really did kind of set the scene
• 36:34
  of this is a cinematic city. So for me, it's Ellie and it's
• 36:37
  definitely Chinatown. Love it.
• 36:39
  What about you, Matt? Yeah, I'm also going to LA.
• 36:41
  Just the fact that's where Hollywood itself is.
• 36:45
  I just think Lai think of the sunset, Sunset Strip itself, you
• 36:48
  know, the place where people dream of making a big.
• 36:51
  And I think there's something romantic and tragic about LA at
• 36:54
  the same time. People's dreams can either come
• 36:56
  true or you can end up like the Black Dahlia.
• 36:59
  You know, that true story, what happened there.
• 37:01
  And I think those two things are completely intertwined in LA.
• 37:04
  So and always he's gone Chinatown.
• 37:06
  So I'll go something different. A real favorite of mine.
• 37:08
  I would go fairly confidential, no, because I think it does have
• 37:11
  that combination in that film of that Hollywood glamour, but the
• 37:14
  CD Underbelly at the same time. Really nice.
• 37:17
  Yeah, Yeah. That's a good LA double feature
• 37:19
  right there. Lovely it'd.
• 37:22
  Be really nice. That's a long day, but you know,
• 37:24
  yeah, to live and. Die.
• 37:32
  This is a reference to To Live and Die and Ellie, the Billy
• 37:35
  freaking film. We covered it on double feature
• 37:37
  maybe six months ago and that Wang Chung score soundtrack
• 37:41
  still baffles. Me Outrageous.
• 37:43
  Still baffled by. Outrageous.
• 37:46
  If you've never seen who Wang Chung are, look them up because
• 37:48
  they look nothing like you'd expect about no Wang Chung to
• 37:51
  look like to look. Out sound like yeah, I'd
• 37:55
  obviously choose New York, of course, but as we're in LA, I'm
• 37:58
  going from a film from each city.
• 38:00
  I'm doing a bit of a westie here.
• 38:02
  Oh, very nice. Yeah.
• 38:03
  I mean, I expected this kind of answer from me of course.
• 38:06
  So my first quintessential Elliot film, because we've
• 38:09
  talked about a lot of these things and a lot of locations
• 38:12
  I've gone for films that I wouldn't necessarily have talked
• 38:14
  about. OK, OK.
• 38:15
  So I'm going for Nightcrawler as my LA movie.
• 38:19
  You really get a sense of the sprawling city streets, how
• 38:22
  appealing and alluring they are. But once you're there, it's as
• 38:25
  dangerous as hell. And if you get taken down,
• 38:27
  you're going to be headline news bought by the highest bidder.
• 38:30
  Love the ruthlessness of that. Yes.
• 38:33
  And my New York film. Well, it's obviously all of
• 38:35
  them. But like I said, mentioned loads
• 38:37
  on previous episodes. So April Ferraro is out of the
• 38:39
  question. So I'm going to go a little left
• 38:41
  field because one of my favourites is Working Girl.
• 38:45
  Oh. Nice, yeah.
• 38:47
  Great. Melanie Griffith, Sigourney
• 38:48
  Weaver? Harrison Ford.
• 38:49
  Would you ever expect him to play second fiddle to anyone in
• 38:52
  1988? No.
• 38:54
  You better believe it with this material.
• 38:55
  He's wonderful in that. Film, he's amazing.
• 38:57
  He's. So fun.
• 38:58
  He's fantastic. It's a great time portal to 80s
• 39:01
  New York or big hair and shoulder pads.
• 39:03
  The locations are incredible, Staten Island furry, and there's
• 39:06
  incredible aerial shots of Manhattan that just take your
• 39:09
  breath away. Amazing.
• 39:10
  Yeah. Well, thank you very much for
• 39:12
  the question, Ben. A great one to kick us off.
• 39:14
  Yes, Thank you, Ben. So third time's a charm for
• 39:17
  Antoine Fuqua. The film that allowed him to do
• 39:20
  anything he wanted in Hollywood, basically after this, The film
• 39:23
  that he will be remembered for above everything else in his
• 39:25
  career, no doubt, Yeah. I believe so, yes.
• 39:31
  The cast. We're talking about the two main
• 39:35
  players in training day, the only people that matter.
• 39:38
  Ethan Hawke as Jake Height, he's coming up.
• 39:41
  But first a man mountain of a performance from Denzel
• 39:44
  Washington as Alonzo Harris. Westie.
• 39:47
  Yeah. Do they come any bigger?
• 39:48
  I don't know if they come much bigger.
• 39:50
  He owns it. He owns the film, he owns the
• 39:52
  screen, he owns the dialogue, he owns other people's dialogue,
• 39:55
  can do what he wants in this film and it works.
• 39:57
  I don't think there's any part of this where you go maybe
• 40:01
  that's a bit over the top or maybe he's just overwhelmed it
• 40:03
  there which overplayed it there every single time.
• 40:07
  In any film where I see people just go a little bit too far or
• 40:10
  push it a little bit too much, and it's often with kind of the
• 40:13
  scene that they have in the car where they do the wolf whistle,
• 40:15
  the little bit, it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:17
  If that normally happens in film, I'm like, oh, please be
• 40:20
  over. Please be over.
• 40:21
  Yeah. But he does it.
• 40:22
  Yeah. And it's genuinely terrifying.
• 40:24
  Yeah. It's just unsettlingly
• 40:25
  terrified. It's just an result to Rooster.
• 40:27
  Give us, give us wolf. And it's like, no, I believe
• 40:30
  that that doesn't shrink his character or make him seem like
• 40:32
  he's overplaying it. He knows exactly where the
• 40:35
  brackets are on this character and they are quite far apart.
• 40:38
  And he's talking about sheep and wolves and that duality.
• 40:41
  But he is at once a sheep and then he is at once a wolf.
• 40:45
  He's caring for Jake. He's looking out for him.
• 40:47
  He's trying to make him prepared for the streets.
• 40:49
  And at the same time, he's biting into him.
• 40:50
  He's ripping his head off. He's making them small PCP.
• 40:52
  He's putting guns to his head. He's putting them into harm's
• 40:55
  ways. He could die at that point.
• 40:57
  And he knows that he can bounce between these two characters of
• 41:00
  these two personas are these two sides of this character with
• 41:04
  absolute ease. It's just a joy to watch him do
• 41:07
  it is because we're getting to watch him do it in the same
• 41:10
  take, not the same scene, but the same shot.
• 41:13
  He kind of bounces between the two if he wants to.
• 41:16
  Such an endearing presence in some ways, where you kind of
• 41:19
  want to be his friend, but you never want to see him again.
• 41:22
  It's kind of you want him around you because he has this
• 41:24
  confidence, but it's so misplaced.
• 41:26
  He shows some real regret and some real emotion towards the
• 41:30
  end of the film. There's some real kind of
• 41:32
  powerful messages there that aren't overplayed and aren't on
• 41:35
  the page and aren't just kind of spelled out.
• 41:37
  It's an incredible performance. I feel sorry for him by the end
• 41:40
  when he shouted for his money. I feel sorry for him kind of
• 41:43
  halfway through at some points as well, which I'll kind of get
• 41:46
  into because I'll watch this again thinking that this guy is
• 41:50
  probably one of the best on the Force.
• 41:52
  He's gone undercover to find out and get the dirt on the three
• 41:56
  wise men, which is Tom Barringer and the other two in the talking
• 41:59
  about them guys. He's basically been put
• 42:01
  undercover to blow the lid on them and that's what he has to
• 42:04
  do and he has to sacrifice Jake in order to do it and then get
• 42:06
  away with the money and get away with Sarah at the end.
• 42:09
  Don't think he's married with four kids.
• 42:10
  I think that's just his persona, that made-up by the Force, which
• 42:13
  you get that at the end. So if you watch this film again,
• 42:15
  thinking he was amazing and he is basically uncovering all of
• 42:18
  the corruption, he's framing them of the four cops.
• 42:21
  He's taking Roger out because he's framing him as well.
• 42:23
  He knows where the money is. He's basically framing the three
• 42:26
  wise men. He's putting everybody through
• 42:28
  it. Unfortunately, Jake's just the
• 42:29
  rookie that he has to do. Didn't you?
• 42:32
  Yeah, because you did what you had to do.
• 42:34
  Didn't you put the chokehold on him?
• 42:35
  That was illegal. But I was going to be asked.
• 42:37
  Yeah, you did what you had to do.
• 42:39
  There's all these moments where you can tap into it, where he's
• 42:41
  genuinely a nice guy and then a nightmare.
• 42:43
  So you don't know all of these? Things you never know.
• 42:46
  What are his motivations? What are his true motivations?
• 42:49
  We don't you'll. Never know.
• 42:50
  You never know. That's the point.
• 42:52
  Go. You don't know where he's from,
• 42:56
  you don't know his background, you don't know his motivations,
• 42:58
  and the beautiful thing about this character is you don't want
• 43:01
  to. You don't.
• 43:02
  It's so open-ended, it could be interpreted a million different
• 43:05
  ways. It's got it all larger than
• 43:07
  life. It just explodes from the
• 43:09
  screen. Those scenes in the car when
• 43:10
  he's howling out that they build jails because of me, that's just
• 43:14
  pure. Who is amazing.
• 43:15
  Yeah. I've never been so drawn to an
• 43:18
  absolute bastard of a performance.
• 43:21
  Dynasine that sets him up was absolutely loathsome individual.
• 43:24
  But I'm watching that with bated breath at the next barbed insult
• 43:28
  and veiled threat. Takes and takes and takes.
• 43:32
  And just when he's right at the edge, he pulls it back and
• 43:34
  starts saying things that absolutely makes sense.
• 43:36
  And then he back on his side, ready for the next heinous act
• 43:39
  or comment. And it's that physicality, that
• 43:41
  amazing outfit. He's almost dressed like a Jesus
• 43:44
  figure but in black, so it's quite confusing.
• 43:46
  And he rains down holy hell on all the encounters and he's got
• 43:51
  absolute control and he's just larger than life. 90% bullshit.
• 43:55
  But it entertains me a. 100% entertaining.
• 43:58
  Yeah, and Denzel was attracted to the role because it allowed
• 44:01
  him to subvert his usual good guy persona.
• 44:04
  He was able to explore and embrace all of the nuances of
• 44:07
  Alonso's pure malevolence. He said the bad guy has all of
• 44:11
  the fun. The bad guy is sexy.
• 44:13
  I agree there, Denzel. It's true enough.
• 44:15
  Beautiful. Hulk told this great story that
• 44:18
  happened on set one day. The N Double ACP, which is the
• 44:21
  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
• 44:24
  visited the second conference in Washington about playing a
• 44:27
  corrupt cop, thinking it was not a positive role model, right.
• 44:30
  Washington defended his artistic freedom, saying Al Pacino can
• 44:33
  play a bad guy. I can't play a bad guy.
• 44:35
  I'm an artist. He said that he wanted to be a
• 44:37
  role model by being great in my job rather than limiting himself
• 44:41
  to squeaky clean people. And the N double ACP promptly
• 44:45
  left the set tail between their legs.
• 44:46
  Lovely. Too true.
• 44:48
  Answered that as Alonzo didn't. He went full of Lonzo on them.
• 44:51
  I'm an. Artist, give me a fucking tuber,
• 44:55
  I'll get you something out of it.
• 45:01
  Fuquan Denzel worked together to reshape the script.
• 45:03
  Fuqua said that the character of Alonzo was originally written as
• 45:06
  a Puerto Rican detective, and Denzel said it wasn't written
• 45:09
  for a black guy. It was more like a play shirt
• 45:11
  wearing type of guy with beer bottles in the back.
• 45:13
  Yeah, Fuqua said that it would have been more at home in kind
• 45:16
  of like a Lethal Weapon film. Yeah, OK.
• 45:19
  And he rewrote him. And Denzel said that Fuqua
• 45:22
  brought the gangster to the character.
• 45:23
  Nice. Yeah, nice.
• 45:25
  Washington styled his appearance on Rafael Perez sporting a
• 45:28
  similar goal T to that of the disgraced LAPD officer from
• 45:32
  which the film's success was crucial.
• 45:33
  We'll be talking more about him later during the writing.
• 45:36
  Yeah, the license plate on the Monte Carlo that he drives reads
• 45:39
  ORP 967, which stands for Officer Rafael Perez, who was
• 45:44
  born in 1967. Oh, right, right.
• 45:47
  Nice little touch. Good touch, yeah.
• 45:49
  Improvisation was It was an important element in Denzel's
• 45:52
  approach. He did multiple takes of scenes
• 45:55
  playing Alonzo in various ways, up, down and everywhere in
• 45:58
  between, improvised, scraping his guns together as if sharpen
• 46:02
  and knives calling a pure rhythm.
• 46:04
  Acting is like music. You improvise and it's like
• 46:07
  jazz. There's no rhyme or reason to
• 46:09
  it. It's not a plan.
• 46:10
  I just. Did it?
• 46:11
  Yeah. It feels as though it's just
• 46:13
  natural to him. Yeah, absolutely.
• 46:15
  So theatrical performance. He's wonderful to end on
• 46:18
  Washington as Alonso. He's a quote from the big man
• 46:20
  himself, he said the bad guy can see anything.
• 46:23
  He's bad, he's mad. He's Alonso in training day.
• 46:27
  Nice. Yes, he is, yeah.
• 46:31
  Ethan Hawke plays Jay Coight, the Rugby Cup, who gets dragged
• 46:34
  through earlier by a monster of a man.
• 46:36
  Yeah, Matt, he's your guy. Yes, because I almost feel sorry
• 46:40
  for him. Because imagine if you're Ethan
• 46:42
  Hawke and you're reading this role on the page.
• 46:44
  You think, well, I'm the rookie cop.
• 46:45
  I'm the one who gets his eyes open now, the one who has the
• 46:48
  art. This is going to be amazing.
• 46:49
  And then Denzel Washington turns up and just gives that
• 46:52
  performance. Give us a chance.
• 46:55
  It's a break. Please, so bearing all that
• 46:59
  mine. I just think it's to Hawks
• 47:01
  immense credit that he does still stand out.
• 47:03
  When you come back this film, you realize obviously he's
• 47:06
  overshadowed by Alonso to a huge degree, but he has to be.
• 47:09
  It's not a case that Hawk is overshadowed as an actor.
• 47:13
  Jake is overshadowed as a character, and that's a
• 47:15
  different thing entirely. And I think Hawk has two things
• 47:17
  going for me. I think first of all, he's an
• 47:19
  actor that I always associate with roles in independent
• 47:22
  cinema. I mean, he has some some
• 47:24
  mainstream before this, but this is the guy from the Before
• 47:27
  trilogy and Reality Bites, yes. And every Richard Linklater film
• 47:31
  basically. So you don't automatically see
• 47:34
  him as a cop. So already he just brings that
• 47:36
  interest in contrast to the role because he's got a different
• 47:39
  field room as an actor. And I think the writing for the
• 47:42
  character really works because crucially, he's not written as a
• 47:45
  stupid or inept cop. I mean, yes, he's over his head,
• 47:48
  but who wouldn't be in this situation?
• 47:50
  And whenever he makes a choice that's the wrong choice, it
• 47:53
  doesn't feel dumb in that moment.
• 47:55
  It just feels like he's backed into a corner and he's got an
• 47:58
  impossible choice to make. And that's what he does.
• 48:01
  Like, I don't blame him for smoking the the PCP 1 little bit
• 48:04
  because also was so persuasive. And yes, so many scenes in this
• 48:08
  film work because Hawk is so good at showing the moral
• 48:10
  confusion that Jake has gone through.
• 48:13
  And there's no doubt in my mind that he is a great cop, he says
• 48:15
  in this untenable situation. And I think if a lesser actor
• 48:19
  didn't sell that particular point, the impact of Jake's
• 48:22
  character would be lost. And I think if you go back to
• 48:24
  that time, the early 2000s, I think this role could have gone
• 48:27
  to so many lesser actors who were bit vanilla, who were just
• 48:30
  swimming around at the time, you know, the likes of James Mars
• 48:33
  and Paul Walker, etcetera. But they didn't.
• 48:35
  Yeah, they've picked Hawk, and I think he does a much more
• 48:38
  impressive job than anyone else could have done with this.
• 48:41
  I think it's just such an underrated part of the success
• 48:44
  of the film. Oh, it is.
• 48:46
  I think it's a role that required absolute selflessness,
• 48:49
  just leaving his ego at the door because Denzel's the big dog.
• 48:52
  Yeah, He gets the big guns, the great outfits, the car, Eva
• 48:55
  Mendez, the cool dialogue, Everything.
• 48:59
  Everything. Yeah, he gets to dress in brown
• 49:02
  and beige and gets embarrassed for 105 minutes before he gets
• 49:05
  some redemption, and even then he gets beat to shit.
• 49:07
  Yeah, so I think credit to Hulk who brings the much needed wide
• 49:11
  eyed optimism to the role. He's totally wet behind the
• 49:13
  ears, clearly desperate to impress.
• 49:15
  He wants to make a good home for his young family, but to what
• 49:17
  cost? Is he willing to sell his salt
• 49:19
  to the devil to get what he wants?
• 49:20
  That moment in the car when he says I'll do anything you want
• 49:22
  me to, That line might as well have been followed by a massive
• 49:25
  siren. A huge red flag even after just
• 49:29
  a few minutes with this guy. But I buy that line because of
• 49:32
  Hawk. He's desperate for it, and once
• 49:34
  he said that Alonzo has him, he also has to allow Denzel the
• 49:38
  space he needs to fulfill the role of Alonzo, which is the
• 49:41
  space of an entire city. He's rolling all over town, and
• 49:45
  yet height is still a presence in this world.
• 49:48
  Very unselfish stuff from Hawk, who, not just in this film, is
• 49:51
  criminally underrated. Very.
• 49:53
  Not because of Denzel, Yeah. Yeah, and before Ethan Hawke was
• 49:56
  cast as Jake Height, there were a number of actors who tested
• 49:59
  for the part, including Tobey Maguire, Ryan Philippe, Freddie
• 50:04
  Prince Junior and Paul Walker. As Mike said there.
• 50:07
  Yeah, obviously. And rap sensation Eminem was
• 50:10
  also offered the part, but declined so we could focus on
• 50:13
  Eight Mile, which came out in 2002, instead.
• 50:16
  Yeah, yeah, fair enough. I mean, the film is disposable
• 50:20
  if Freddie Prince junior, Yeah. Yeah, actually it would have
• 50:26
  been good. She's good.
• 50:27
  And we're they're good. Yeah, like all of those names.
• 50:29
  Felipe would have been the best one, I think.
• 50:31
  Yeah, Prince. Junior is the worst.
• 50:33
  It's definitely worse. Yeah.
• 50:34
  Scooby-doo in the back. Yeah, Scooby, don't.
• 50:38
  Scooby-doo. And Fuqua selected Hawk after
• 50:43
  seeing him in Reality Bite, which I mentioned, and that's
• 50:45
  because he was drawn a hawk's natural innocence.
• 50:47
  But he also saw something deeper below the surface.
• 50:50
  And despite being a movie since he was 14, in 1985, Explorers
• 50:54
  Hawk still had to audition because the serial weren't
• 50:57
  convinced he was the right guy, despite Fuquon Washington
• 51:00
  backing them. Amazing.
• 51:01
  Oh, really? Right.
• 51:02
  OK, but during the audition, Washington went off script.
• 51:05
  Classy. Washington improvising and
• 51:08
  abandoned everything that was on the page.
• 51:10
  Hawk walked out in a rage, furious because he felt
• 51:13
  sabotaged by Washington's unscripted performance, and he
• 51:16
  contemplated walking away for good before getting a call
• 51:19
  saying that the part was his. Right.
• 51:21
  Nice. Wow.
• 51:22
  Perfect. That's a perfect audition.
• 51:23
  Yeah. It is boom.
• 51:25
  Sick of this guys fucking. Shit.
• 51:28
  Hawks research involved riding around with real undercover
• 51:31
  cops. One cop Hawk Rd. with was tipped
• 51:33
  off that a suspect had two kilos of cocaine under his sofa and
• 51:37
  once he got to the house he found the drugs but suspected
• 51:40
  that the guy who tipped him off had planted the coke based on
• 51:43
  the guy's shocked reaction. Obviously just trying to impress
• 51:45
  Hulk amazingly. Yeah.
• 51:48
  Cocaine in here, these sofas like off kilter like that.
• 51:53
  So the officer took the cocaine without reporting it, and he
• 51:56
  later sold half of it for information about another crime,
• 52:00
  and the investigation of that led to the discovery of a dead
• 52:02
  body and a conviction was obtained.
• 52:04
  In this short hawk, how grey the line was and how cops did break
• 52:08
  the law in the name of good. Right, OK.
• 52:10
  How? It's unthinkable, really, isn't
• 52:12
  it? It's ridiculous that actually
• 52:13
  happens. I know.
• 52:14
  All good long and my in Washington since seeing him in
• 52:16
  Cry Freedom in 1987 on set, he found his spontaneity in depth,
• 52:21
  mesmerizing in his words. But he also said he was a
• 52:24
  perfectionist. He said don't fuck with him,
• 52:26
  man. Don't come to the set with
• 52:27
  sloppy work in which he loved. He loved an actor or actress
• 52:31
  that sets the bar that high. But Can you imagine if you did
• 52:33
  come to set with sloppy work and Denzel just rain down on you?
• 52:38
  Wouldn't do twice, put it that. Way.
• 52:39
  No, no, I don't think you get the opportunity.
• 52:41
  I was probably not. Yeah, Remember them days in
• 52:44
  primary school where if your teacher was off and then the
• 52:46
  headmistress would take over, that's how it would.
• 52:49
  That's how it goes when you get a question wrong and you just
• 52:51
  like, Oh my God, yeah, that's how it would feel every day.
• 52:56
  So 2 great performances for very different reasons.
• 52:58
  The film of course has other memorable 1 and 2 scene
• 53:00
  performers, a lot of which we'll talk about as we go.
• 53:03
  But Training Day is nothing without Hawks understatement and
• 53:06
  Washington's roaring ego of a performance.
• 53:09
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 53:13
  The middle. Struggling to pull himself
• 53:18
  together after getting 8 miles high on Angel Dust, Jake drinks
• 53:22
  a beer to level himself out before seeing an attack
• 53:24
  happening in a backstreet. His instincts kick in and he's
• 53:27
  got mad squabbles, Right, Matt? He has indeed, and this is what
• 53:31
  I mean by how important it is to write Jake as a very good cop
• 53:35
  anywhere. Because despite what he's been
• 53:37
  through so far, he's still got that moral sensibility know that
• 53:39
  helping this girl is the right thing to do.
• 53:41
  And it's instantaneous. Despite the fact he's
• 53:44
  outnumbered and God knows what these two guys could potentially
• 53:47
  be carrying, he just gets stuck into that fight with no
• 53:49
  hesitation. So we know he's brave, he's
• 53:51
  capable, and he can handle himself.
• 53:54
  And I think at this point you need that reassurance about this
• 53:56
  character that you can put him in a situation and he will rise
• 53:59
  to it. But then of course, Alonzo, I
• 54:01
  mean, that could to him just calmly lighten a cigarette and
• 54:04
  watch unfold instead of helping. You can tell he's watching this
• 54:08
  because he's getting the measure of Jake.
• 54:10
  He's learning how Jake can handle himself just like we are.
• 54:14
  This might be the only time we really see a scene from Alonzo's
• 54:17
  perspective instead of Jake's kind of thing that's switched
• 54:20
  between them and very subtly because he's not stood there
• 54:23
  watching a friend or a colleague in a fight.
• 54:25
  It's like he's watching a dog fight or boxing match because
• 54:28
  he's watching something where he's got a really selfish
• 54:31
  investment in who wins here and what information he can glean
• 54:34
  from it. Because it's going to tell him
• 54:36
  what he can get out of Jake or how much of a problem Jake might
• 54:38
  be later down the line. Which is why you get that
• 54:41
  reaction of him chuckling and then he's going and he's pulling
• 54:44
  his jacket up when he's about to end of the affair.
• 54:46
  And also he calls Jake that word, which we're definitely not
• 54:49
  going to say because so far this is the most useful.
• 54:51
  Jacob's been to him all day. It's like end the stage left,
• 54:54
  isn't he? You hit your queue, right?
• 54:56
  OK, go Alonzo's in. Yeah, and it's also a hindrance
• 54:59
  to him, this whole thing. Yeah, yeah, this, this piddly,
• 55:04
  piddly shit. Yeah, it's rubbish.
• 55:07
  Why am I getting involved? He goes really dark in this
• 55:09
  scene as well when he's threatened the guy with a knife,
• 55:11
  guns, punching him in the throat.
• 55:14
  I mean, the guy gets what he deserves, but a lot of goes way
• 55:17
  over the line. And then after this, more beers.
• 55:21
  More beers? Why not?
• 55:22
  Why not? Sure, I'll be a still no
• 55:24
  breakfast. No breakfast, no food, no food
• 55:27
  at all. So after that we'll get quite a
• 55:29
  nice back and forth. I think there's a lot of people
• 55:32
  justifying their actions in this and a lot of alarms will say and
• 55:35
  it's the right thing or the wrong thing.
• 55:37
  But this is where we're introduced to the sheep and the
• 55:39
  wolf. The duality of the two things.
• 55:41
  To protect the sheep, you need to kill the wolf.
• 55:43
  To kill the wolf, you must become the wolf.
• 55:45
  What are you prepared to do? That's his kind of outlook on
• 55:48
  everything. Jake wants justice, but Alonzo
• 55:51
  said that's not justice. There's St. justice and there's
• 55:54
  a difference between the two. It isn't just walking up with
• 55:56
  someone, sticking handcuffs on them.
• 55:58
  You've got to get dirty and you've got to get gritty with
• 55:59
  all of it. And then he starts questioning
• 56:02
  his motives and Jake's techniques and saying, like we
• 56:04
  said earlier, you know, you applied that chokehold that was
• 56:06
  illegal, but you did what you had to do.
• 56:08
  I was going to be asking, but you did what you had.
• 56:11
  Which taps into the theory. Is Alonso just doing what he has
• 56:13
  to do? Does he have to do this?
• 56:15
  Is he in a situation where you can't walk away from this?
• 56:18
  I think it's just genuinely affecting from him here because
• 56:21
  I think he actually opens up and he's honest.
• 56:23
  There's not a lot of snap back to this.
• 56:25
  There's that, well, you know, you did that wrong, but then
• 56:27
  explains why there's not a lot of bullying in this sequence.
• 56:31
  I think he starts to kind of warm to Jake a little bit and
• 56:34
  that's when he spins and goes hold on a second, I'm forgetting
• 56:36
  who I am. I'm a wolf again and then tries
• 56:38
  to turn Jake into the wolf by doing that wolf how, which I've
• 56:41
  said before is normally really cringey, but this is quite
• 56:45
  unsettling when this comes across and he just then starts
• 56:48
  to build Jake's confidence, get him on side, then says, you
• 56:51
  know, that was really good what you did there.
• 56:53
  That was really impressive. You can feel his confidence
• 56:55
  building like your dad giving you like a big up.
• 56:58
  It's like, you know, you did really well.
• 56:59
  Then you just think I'm absolutely invincible now
• 57:01
  because he knows he needs some money side.
• 57:03
  He knows what's coming up. He knows he's going to
• 57:05
  terrorism, knows he's going back to Rodgers.
• 57:07
  He knows he's going to meet with these three guys soon.
• 57:09
  He's knows he needs them on his side, so he's building them up.
• 57:11
  So is this actually genuine or is this part of the plan?
• 57:15
  Again, we don't know. It's so beautifully played out,
• 57:18
  so well done. And when he just says, you know,
• 57:21
  crime fighter, calls him a crime fighter if he's a superhero and
• 57:24
  just reinforces his confidence, again, it's just these really on
• 57:29
  the nose and really obvious performance marks from from
• 57:32
  Washington. But at the same time, they're
• 57:34
  just shrouded in mystery. You can't pin them down, and
• 57:37
  this scene is just a real example of that.
• 57:39
  Absolutely, yeah. And he's got him on side and
• 57:41
  then they go to that scene where they try and get some crack,
• 57:44
  $20. Yeah.
• 57:46
  From the boy Blue, played by Snoop Doggy Doug, of course, of
• 57:50
  course. Not surprised that Snoop has
• 57:52
  had, you know, a relatively successful movie career because
• 57:55
  he is great here. Yes, he's great.
• 57:57
  Yeah, he is. He's got the vulnerability of
• 58:00
  being in the wheelchair, which really works with the character.
• 58:02
  Great contrast to his natural charisma and persona, which
• 58:06
  Alonzo then takes full advantage of.
• 58:09
  Yes, he sets Jacob because he knows what he's going to get out
• 58:12
  of him. Alonzo has a basic 100% success
• 58:16
  rate of going from this place and getting exactly what he
• 58:18
  wants. To go to this place and getting
• 58:19
  exactly what he wants. It's very convenient and follows
• 58:22
  a thing that I mean I'm sure we all will be talking about later.
• 58:27
  Yes. But it's so damn entertaining
• 58:29
  that it's easy to let it slide in this scene.
• 58:32
  He knows that Blue is dirty. He's likely got a dozen eyes on
• 58:35
  every street corner feeding him this information.
• 58:37
  Yeah. All he needs to do is to get
• 58:39
  Blue to sing, and he goes about it in the traditional Alonzo
• 58:43
  outrageous manner, sticking a pen down his throat, making him
• 58:46
  throw his crack rocks. Jake is stunned by that.
• 58:51
  Yeah, as you would be, I think. Yeah.
• 58:53
  Horrible. And there's a great language
• 58:55
  references what's happening in culture at the time where they
• 58:57
  know the cracking down on this. He talks about the Rodney King
• 59:00
  stuff. So there's a lot of real world
• 59:04
  parallels. But this begs a question that I
• 59:06
  think is present in a lot of scenes in the film, something
• 59:08
  that you just touched on as well There, Westie, are the criminal
• 59:11
  circles that Alonzo operates in. Do they justify the the ends?
• 59:15
  If you weren't a dirty cop, would any work get done on the
• 59:18
  streets? As he said, it takes a wolf to
• 59:20
  catch a wolf. You've got to be a criminal to
• 59:21
  catch a criminal. Yeah, he says later.
• 59:23
  And you need dirt on yourself. Seriously.
• 59:27
  Exactly. And that's the conundrum and the
• 59:29
  moral conundrum that the film pauses in every scene, I think.
• 59:32
  And then we've talked about that we would do that.
• 59:35
  And then justifying his actions, Alonzo actually makes sense when
• 59:39
  he says these things. Yeah, it does.
• 59:40
  And that's reinforced all the way through.
• 59:42
  It's fantastic, it is reality of its unreal.
• 59:45
  So as Snoop was on set because of his fame, there were hundreds
• 59:48
  of fans screaming his name on the shot.
• 59:50
  This scene which almost completely disrupted production.
• 59:53
  In real life, Snoop was a member of the real LA gang, the Roland
• 59:56
  20s. Crips 'cause he is keeping a
• 59:58
  gangster forever. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:00:00
  A. Little bit.
• 1:00:01
  Smoke like 40 joints a day or something.
• 1:00:03
  He hires someone to roll for him, doesn't he?
• 1:00:05
  Does he really well? Yeah, he's how he hired surprise
• 1:00:07
  all these joints from Yeah. I'll do that, Snoop.
• 1:00:10
  I have no formal qualifications. I'll roll your joints.
• 1:00:18
  Snoop Dogg's joints. No, you couldn't do that.
• 1:00:20
  Making my Camberwell carrot course.
• 1:00:23
  I couldn't of. Course you couldn't.
• 1:00:25
  I'd be laughed out of town here. Imagine Snoop.
• 1:00:29
  I think there's an opening. Yeah, not for you.
• 1:00:38
  Somebody else, but this is a shout out.
• 1:00:41
  Snoop, if you're listening. Yeah, it.
• 1:00:43
  Must be involved. Don't try to get in there.
• 1:00:46
  Use a shout out for a job I definitely can't do Snoop.
• 1:00:53
  So Alonzo is under hand tactics of armed and with the
• 1:00:55
  information he needs to go after the big fish, and Jake is his
• 1:00:59
  unwitting accomplice. Things are about to take a big
• 1:01:05
  swing for Jake as Alonzo drags into the Sandman's house,
• 1:01:08
  outrageously flouting the law and abusing his authority yet
• 1:01:12
  again. And this is when shit starts to
• 1:01:15
  get real for Jake and for Alonzo.
• 1:01:17
  For the whole operation. Alonzo uses the menu that was
• 1:01:21
  left on his windshield when they left the diner, The Start as a
• 1:01:23
  warrant. That was great.
• 1:01:28
  Let's have a look. He says I'm the police, I can do
• 1:01:30
  what the fuck I want. Outrageous dialogue that lets
• 1:01:33
  you know everything about the character.
• 1:01:36
  You know where he's at. He's untouchable.
• 1:01:38
  He thinks he. Does think?
• 1:01:39
  And once that dog busts open, he burst into action.
• 1:01:42
  The Sandman's wife is on the floor.
• 1:01:43
  And then we see how good he is at his job.
• 1:01:45
  When he retrieves Dmitri from the bedroom, he's firm but
• 1:01:49
  sensitive and reassuring that he's the good guys.
• 1:01:52
  This is Alonzo using everything in his playbook to his advantage
• 1:01:55
  and you can see why Jake has been taken in by him and
• 1:01:57
  everyone else for that matter. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:02:00
  But not necessarily the same man's wife, No.
• 1:02:03
  Played by Macy Gray. She's fantastic.
• 1:02:05
  This is an outrageous performance.
• 1:02:07
  She's amazing. Yeah, she's a yeah, she is
• 1:02:09
  amazing, Yeah. She spots a weakness in Jake's
• 1:02:12
  armor and just Burrows in. She knows that something isn't
• 1:02:15
  quite right. Where the fuck's your backup?
• 1:02:22
  I want to say that Worried You got the gun don't you boy?
• 1:02:25
  Punk ass crooked ass cap. He's so good.
• 1:02:29
  This is great dialogue, great delivery.
• 1:02:31
  Yeah, and Jake's training kicks in as he tries to connect with
• 1:02:35
  Dmitry. He offers him up a fist pump and
• 1:02:37
  he got completely blanked. He does, yeah.
• 1:02:41
  Tries to walk away and he stumbles.
• 1:02:47
  Wow, very nice. Gray is amazing when she incites
• 1:02:51
  that gun battle screaming and Hollister and blast that fool.
• 1:02:54
  And Alonzo as handy with his guns as he promises with
• 1:02:58
  gangsters running for cover with his double gun play.
• 1:03:00
  I mean, it doesn't make too much sense because he's just causing
• 1:03:03
  all manner of unholy hell on the streets, but it's cinematic as
• 1:03:09
  hell as well. Yeah, 90%.
• 1:03:12
  Bullshit. There it is again.
• 1:03:14
  You can do this for every scene. It's amazing.
• 1:03:16
  As we've said, Macy Grier plays the Sun Man's wife, and this was
• 1:03:19
  her movie debut. Her international hit I Try It
• 1:03:22
  made her a big star and Fruit choir a portrait for the role.
• 1:03:25
  She said she thought he was crazy and she had no desire to
• 1:03:28
  become an actress, and she basically took the part just so
• 1:03:31
  she could get a picture of Denzel for her mother.
• 1:03:33
  Yeah, yeah, she said. That was her main motivation.
• 1:03:36
  Surely, being like a musician, she could have got in touch with
• 1:03:40
  Denzel and got a picture without the need to take a role that she
• 1:03:44
  didn't want. Yeah, he's probably heard I try
• 1:03:47
  by that point. I would imagine so.
• 1:03:49
  Yeah, so Gray researched the part by visiting similar
• 1:03:52
  neighborhoods depicted as in the film.
• 1:03:54
  She wore a wig and a gold tooth so people wouldn't recognise her
• 1:03:57
  a similar costume to the one she was hearing in the film.
• 1:04:00
  And Fuqua called the costume ghetto.
• 1:04:02
  Fabulous. Certainly is that it was long
• 1:04:06
  meals. It's so good.
• 1:04:07
  So after this the back of the car and it's another great back
• 1:04:10
  and forth between Alonzo and Jake and you know that mean from
• 1:04:14
  Godfather Part 3, Pacino and the red jumper.
• 1:04:16
  Just when I thought it was out, they pulled me back in.
• 1:04:19
  This is that saying I think for Jake and the audience because
• 1:04:22
  he's out of smoke drugs. He's seen the people Alonso
• 1:04:25
  associates with, he's seen Alonso let the two guys who
• 1:04:28
  assaulted the girl just go free and now he's just been through a
• 1:04:31
  gunfight on the open St. and the also thinks it's all hilarious.
• 1:04:35
  You think this has to be the point?
• 1:04:36
  Jake has to step back. Sorry, no, this is too much and
• 1:04:39
  he's really wavering. Mean talking about being seen in
• 1:04:42
  orange jumpsuit on the news. That's great.
• 1:04:45
  But like I say, it's that mean just when he thinks he's out,
• 1:04:47
  Alonso pulls them back in because I think by this point
• 1:04:50
  it's just out and out gaslight and by Alonso when they pull the
• 1:04:54
  car over and they have this conversation about the wolf of
• 1:04:57
  the sheep. You have to decide, I think.
• 1:04:59
  I mean, the dialogue is brilliant.
• 1:05:01
  That line about, you know, light and flares instead of doing this
• 1:05:04
  is so good because it's all belittle and about what that
• 1:05:07
  entails. But there's also telling Jake, I
• 1:05:09
  think you're better than that if you want it, if you don't give
• 1:05:13
  that guy a hand. And then you say the traffic,
• 1:05:15
  the traffic changing the tire. Like masterful manipulation by
• 1:05:20
  Alonso here, the way he takes all the bad shit that he's put
• 1:05:23
  Jake through already. And he kind of puts it on Jake
• 1:05:25
  instead, like, this is what you wanted to see, and if you can't
• 1:05:29
  take it, that's not my fault. Yeah, this is all on you.
• 1:05:32
  It's brilliant. It's that low angle he shot with
• 1:05:34
  as well. When he's underneath the bridge,
• 1:05:35
  it's like holding the bridge up himself.
• 1:05:37
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So good.
• 1:05:39
  Yeah, it's perfectly placed the same because you're right, Matt.
• 1:05:42
  It's come at a point where naturally we're thinking, OK,
• 1:05:45
  this is too much now. Yeah, obviously he's taken 25,
• 1:05:49
  snapped. He right, I've had enough.
• 1:05:51
  But then it's very convincing what Alonzo says, Yeah.
• 1:05:55
  So following that, they both arrive in the neighborhood and
• 1:05:58
  along. Alonso's not particularly liked
• 1:06:00
  here. No, no fact he's hated.
• 1:06:04
  It's very, very on edge. This this whole scene.
• 1:06:06
  I think we've gone too far in the last scene that we've just
• 1:06:09
  spoke about there, Jake's gone a little bit too far.
• 1:06:12
  But these guys have definitely had enough of him.
• 1:06:16
  They've definitely gone too far. Whatever he's done in this
• 1:06:18
  neighborhood, he is completely pushed and pushed to the point
• 1:06:21
  where this is a break and point for him now and he's not being
• 1:06:24
  taken seriously whatsoever. And he's walking through and
• 1:06:27
  he's making snide comments, you know, all that Jelly and auto
• 1:06:29
  store, that kind of thing. You know, it's he's got these
• 1:06:32
  kind of ways about him and Jake's just following behind him
• 1:06:35
  knowing that nobody could touch him.
• 1:06:36
  But everyone's thinking, what the fuck's this guy doing here
• 1:06:38
  with this guy? What's going on now?
• 1:06:41
  It's just ridiculous. But it's the tracking shots here
• 1:06:44
  that really, really hit home for me.
• 1:06:45
  It's just excellent. There's that one that's just
• 1:06:47
  like a bird's eye view shot of them coming up the stairs.
• 1:06:49
  It doesn't need to be that good. It's almost, it's almost
• 1:06:52
  ignorable. And they're just coming up the
• 1:06:54
  stairwell and it just kind of tracks along with them to them
• 1:06:57
  coming up to the doorway. And then I got to Sarah's
• 1:06:59
  apartment and it's just wonderful.
• 1:07:02
  Just opens the door. Just, it's just, it's even
• 1:07:04
  Mendez. Even Mendez.
• 1:07:06
  It just makes that scene and the other guys even funnier.
• 1:07:08
  You know where Wahlberg? Then they come home and Will
• 1:07:10
  Ferrell and his wife and he's like, who is she?
• 1:07:12
  It takes my wife. No, no, who the fuck is she?
• 1:07:16
  Brilliant. So good.
• 1:07:18
  No, no, no, seriously. Seriously.
• 1:07:21
  Just almost crying. That's how I feel.
• 1:07:24
  What's going on here? Because she brings the food
• 1:07:26
  over, it's all authentic food, just like really homemade and
• 1:07:30
  lovingly made. He said it looks amazing, the
• 1:07:32
  kids there and the kids really well behaved.
• 1:07:34
  But again, it's like what's happening beneath the surface of
• 1:07:37
  this? Is he just there to have sex?
• 1:07:40
  Is he just there to drop something off, to pick something
• 1:07:42
  up? Is he planning something?
• 1:07:43
  Is there anything underlying that?
• 1:07:45
  All these plans take this long. Jake's falling asleep with the
• 1:07:48
  kid. Then I bother about the kid,
• 1:07:50
  then I bother about Jake. They know that.
• 1:07:51
  Well, the kid will get looked after.
• 1:07:52
  And prior to this, we'll get a scene where there's a shotgun
• 1:07:55
  being bolted to the bottom of the bed that he can spin around.
• 1:07:58
  Is he doing doing that now? He's.
• 1:08:00
  Setting up for something now in that apartment.
• 1:08:03
  Is he telling her, look, I'm going to get this money, then
• 1:08:05
  I'm going to get away? Yeah, this is what's going to
• 1:08:06
  happen step by step. Is this the promise that he's
• 1:08:08
  making another we're not invited to?
• 1:08:10
  Yeah, I think Fuqua does an amazing job of setting this
• 1:08:13
  neighborhood up looking like hell on earth.
• 1:08:16
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:08:16
  And the main reason, well, one of the main reasons is there's
• 1:08:19
  no exit. You have to go out the way you
• 1:08:21
  came in. And that.
• 1:08:22
  Yeah. So all along it's cul-de-sac.
• 1:08:24
  Yeah. That end St.
• 1:08:26
  Yeah. But at the same time though, if
• 1:08:27
  you lived there, what a place. Oh yeah, of course.
• 1:08:30
  Such a community spirit. It's just amazing that if you're
• 1:08:32
  there, that's so comfortable, but if you're not from there,
• 1:08:35
  you're just not welcome. Yeah, it's it's really well
• 1:08:37
  played out. Exactly, if you're an outsider
• 1:08:40
  to get about it. But because of that, I'm not
• 1:08:43
  necessarily by an Eva Mendes like Eva Mendez looking like
• 1:08:48
  the. Lawn in an apartment.
• 1:08:49
  Yeah, in the saucy negligee. Yeah, looking incredible after
• 1:08:53
  she's prepared so much food. What's there not to buy about
• 1:08:56
  that? Perfect.
• 1:08:59
  Yeah, yeah. Who do I make the check out do?
• 1:09:05
  So as we're talking about her Eva Mendez, she is Sarah
• 1:09:08
  Alonso's mistress and she was actually ready to quit acting
• 1:09:11
  before getting this part because in her word, she was feeling
• 1:09:14
  bored of doing terrible, cheesy, horrible films.
• 1:09:17
  So Charles should appeared in Children of the Corn, 5 Fields
• 1:09:21
  of Terror and Urban Legends Final Cut.
• 1:09:24
  But she said the working with Washington reignited her fire
• 1:09:26
  for acting not. What you would of course it.
• 1:09:29
  Was both them films any good? Lucas?
• 1:09:30
  Yeah. Well, Urban Legends final cuts.
• 1:09:32
  Amazing. Is it?
• 1:09:33
  Yeah, it's really good. All right.
• 1:09:35
  I didn't expect that. Production designer Naomi Show
• 1:09:37
  Hand said that certain interior scenes were required to be
• 1:09:40
  filmed on stage, like the scene in Sarah's house, for safety and
• 1:09:45
  sometimes for lighting purposes as well.
• 1:09:46
  But they were meticulously recreated.
• 1:09:48
  Her and her team, she said, became urban anthropologists,
• 1:09:52
  working with the residents to capture authentic environmental
• 1:09:54
  details. The continuity is great.
• 1:09:56
  You can't tell it to say you. Can't no so well done so with
• 1:10:00
  Alonzo and a family setting. It shows another side to the
• 1:10:02
  wolf who smells blood, but let's be honest, it's hardly the most
• 1:10:06
  stable examples of domestic places.
• 1:10:09
  No, it's very unstable if you ask me, The crew.
• 1:10:18
  We're talking names that we haven't discussed too much on
• 1:10:20
  the podcast for the crew on training day.
• 1:10:23
  The cinematography and music are coming up.
• 1:10:25
  But first is the writing by David A Matt.
• 1:10:28
  Your thoughts on the screenplay? I think the script really comes
• 1:10:32
  from and finds its centre from that one great idea of that
• 1:10:36
  contrast between Alonso and Jake.
• 1:10:39
  How far will Alonso go? How many of his arguments do
• 1:10:42
  make a bit of sense the way he puts them across?
• 1:10:45
  And will Jake be persuaded by them?
• 1:10:47
  And if he is, where's Jake gonna end up at the end of all this?
• 1:10:50
  And when all of that moral ambiguity is being played out,
• 1:10:52
  that's when the right and really sings for me.
• 1:10:54
  Because so many of those moments, you don't quite know
• 1:10:56
  what side to take. And that's all the point he was
• 1:10:59
  making. You know, Jake sees things as
• 1:11:01
  black and white, good and bad, and that's really laudable.
• 1:11:04
  But to survive from work in these suites, you've got to make
• 1:11:06
  a lot of tough decisions, which Alonso has done.
• 1:11:08
  And he's got the experience to say it isn't black and white.
• 1:11:12
  You've got to turn a blind eye to a lot of bad shit and you've
• 1:11:14
  got to do some things where you have to examine your own
• 1:11:17
  conscience out on the streets to survive.
• 1:11:20
  And that's really, really fascinating stuff and it works
• 1:11:23
  really well. But I think the problem here
• 1:11:24
  makes for himself is he's then got to intertwine all out with a
• 1:11:27
  narrative under plot. And that's when it's all to get
• 1:11:30
  a bit wobbly for me and a bit unstuck.
• 1:11:32
  We all know what we'll talk about it later, but Jake's
• 1:11:35
  survival and eventual victory over Alonzo hinges on a huge
• 1:11:38
  coincidence. And it's it's just not wonder
• 1:11:41
  overlook because it's so big. And then I'll talk about the
• 1:11:44
  resolution between the two characters a bit more when we
• 1:11:46
  get there as well. And overall, I feel like Alonso
• 1:11:49
  solution to his problem with the Russians, it feels very
• 1:11:52
  convoluted for what he essentially wants.
• 1:11:55
  Couldn't you have just come up with another solution with the
• 1:11:58
  crew that he trusts without taking Jake long for the ride?
• 1:12:01
  Welcome back to that. So I think the right ends up
• 1:12:03
  feeling a little caught between two things, what A really wants
• 1:12:06
  to talk about and write about with the aspects that he has to
• 1:12:10
  write about and resolve. And I think there's just a
• 1:12:12
  tension between those two things which I don't think gets
• 1:12:15
  resolved particularly well by the end.
• 1:12:17
  Yeah. Like the mechanics of writing,
• 1:12:18
  the mechanics of writing a film. Yeah.
• 1:12:21
  They're a bit rusty. The gays don't quite get going
• 1:12:24
  at the end, but when he's fully invested in those characters,
• 1:12:27
  the writing is absolutely things.
• 1:12:29
  Yeah, yeah, I agree. Yeah, I'm the same.
• 1:12:31
  I think it's the duality as well that we've been talking about
• 1:12:33
  that he brings to the characters.
• 1:12:34
  I think there's this light and dark with everybody.
• 1:12:37
  You can kind of find it there. There's the sheep and wolf
• 1:12:40
  argument. You know, that every character
• 1:12:42
  has that arc. Does Jake turn into the wolf at
• 1:12:44
  the end and start with the is the sheep?
• 1:12:45
  And then does Alonso start as a wolf and end up as the sheep,
• 1:12:48
  you know, in the middle of the pack again?
• 1:12:50
  Yeah, there are holes with this on the page.
• 1:12:53
  This might have come across as quite thin, especially for the
• 1:12:56
  characters. I think there's a lot of room
• 1:12:58
  here to say that this is what the character is, and then
• 1:13:01
  that's being embellished, especially by Denzel.
• 1:13:04
  I think he's brought a lot to this script that I think if this
• 1:13:08
  was just shot as a David Ayer film with, you know, Ryan Felipe
• 1:13:12
  in it and, you know, somebody else who isn't Denzel
• 1:13:14
  Washington, I think even, you know, there's Samuel L Jackson,
• 1:13:17
  Matt Damon connection. I think I don't think it would
• 1:13:19
  have been as powerful. Yeah, I think Matt's completely
• 1:13:21
  right when it comes to the plot and plot points.
• 1:13:24
  They just seem very, you know, not contrived, but just very
• 1:13:28
  convenient. I think in in places where it's
• 1:13:31
  kind of like a little bit of a ghetto clause.
• 1:13:33
  And if you haven't got these powerhouse performances, putting
• 1:13:35
  the mystery into them, I think the writing might have come
• 1:13:38
  across as quite thin on the page.
• 1:13:39
  But I mean, it is beautifully written and it is great.
• 1:13:42
  And it is it's refreshing because it's not cliched,
• 1:13:45
  really. In the writing.
• 1:13:46
  There is things that happen. You think, oh, this is quite
• 1:13:47
  new. It's a fresh take on it, but it
• 1:13:50
  does slip into them. Cliches.
• 1:13:51
  But it's just them. Cliches are masked over by the
• 1:13:53
  great performances. They are, yeah.
• 1:13:55
  And I'm not going to say anything too dissimilar.
• 1:13:58
  I love the world that we've got in Training Day.
• 1:13:59
  Just like the direction. It's authentic as hell.
• 1:14:02
  It feels lived in. It feels real.
• 1:14:04
  I'll always love a same day narrative.
• 1:14:07
  Yeah, so the. Foundations are there
• 1:14:09
  immediately for me, but what I want to talk about are the
• 1:14:11
  setups and the payouts in the film.
• 1:14:13
  It's almost like an old school video game, which has levels.
• 1:14:17
  Alonso's got to go from this person to get this thing, to
• 1:14:20
  steal this money which will be used for this warrant, to steal
• 1:14:23
  a bigger whore, to get him out of the Vegas situation with the
• 1:14:26
  Russians. And then he's completed the
• 1:14:27
  game. Yeah.
• 1:14:28
  Yeah. All the way along.
• 1:14:30
  Alonso's avoiding police protocol and preventing Jake
• 1:14:32
  from doing his job because he cannot deviate from that plan.
• 1:14:36
  Jake takes those two hobos in. That derails the plan.
• 1:14:40
  Those college kids get the cuffs backed on them.
• 1:14:42
  That derails the plan. Alonzo was likely tipped off by
• 1:14:45
  his informant that he would give those kids PCP and not the sweet
• 1:14:48
  Mary Jane that they likely paid for.
• 1:14:51
  He already knows that Jake would do anything he asks, so once he
• 1:14:53
  gets that Angel dust inside him, he's got him and he can't move.
• 1:14:57
  Now. If he squeals, Alonzo can just
• 1:14:59
  sit, get a drug test on him. He doesn't know what he's
• 1:15:01
  talking about. Yeah, who they're going to
• 1:15:02
  believe. His grip gets tighter with each
• 1:15:05
  outrageous situation that he puts them in.
• 1:15:07
  There's even those little details at the start where
• 1:15:09
  Alonzo tells him not to go to roll call.
• 1:15:11
  He knows he's only got 1 weapon. There's that scene after Roger
• 1:15:14
  gets blown away while Alonzo's on the phone.
• 1:15:17
  Says make sure the bathtub's clean.
• 1:15:19
  He's on the phone to Smiley. They're setting up Jake at the
• 1:15:22
  end. Great writing.
• 1:15:23
  So I love all of those beats, but, and this is something that
• 1:15:27
  we've talked about and we'll return back to, it's all very
• 1:15:30
  convenient. It is very convenient.
• 1:15:32
  Very nice that the Sandman was stashing 40,000, exactly the
• 1:15:36
  correct amount that he needed to get a warrant from the three
• 1:15:38
  dies. Man, perfect.
• 1:15:41
  There are other questions like how did Jake know that Alonzo
• 1:15:44
  would be at Sarah's before making the drop with the
• 1:15:46
  Russians at the end? That's a stretch.
• 1:15:49
  You're going there on a whim and going into the jungle, going
• 1:15:52
  into that neighborhood on a whim, and we'll get to the
• 1:15:55
  biggest convenience of them all later on.
• 1:15:59
  But in worst films, this would bother me greatly.
• 1:16:02
  But this is so tightly constructed, so excitingly
• 1:16:04
  written and shot bursting with dynamism and pizzazz.
• 1:16:08
  I can let these little contrivances go because we're on
• 1:16:11
  that journey. We're with these characters.
• 1:16:14
  We want to see how this turns out.
• 1:16:16
  And Alonzo, for all the heinous activity, we love the guy.
• 1:16:20
  We. Do.
• 1:16:21
  So we'll let it slide. Exactly.
• 1:16:24
  David A spent his formative years in earlier South Central
• 1:16:27
  neighborhood, so he was well versed in the ways of the
• 1:16:29
  streets, but there were streets he was desperate to break free
• 1:16:32
  from. He joined the Navy, and when he
• 1:16:34
  came back, he was an electrician.
• 1:16:36
  He was doing work on the House of screenwriter Wesley Strick,
• 1:16:38
  who wrote things like Arachnophobia, Cape Fear, Wolf
• 1:16:42
  and Stricks or something in this handyman.
• 1:16:45
  And he told him he's got stories to tell and talk to him to write
• 1:16:47
  in a film about his experiences at sea.
• 1:16:50
  Right. Oh really?
• 1:16:51
  It's like Das Boot. So as a result of that Airwort
• 1:16:57
  U571, the submarine based war film.
• 1:17:00
  Not Das Boot, yeah. Not Das Boot, sadly.
• 1:17:03
  I got it wrong, sorry. And then, after a few other
• 1:17:06
  unsuccessful screenplays, he decided to write about what he
• 1:17:09
  knew. So he was back living in LA on
• 1:17:12
  the periphery of Rampart in a gang riddled neighborhood near
• 1:17:14
  downtown. Yeah, Rampart is the notorious
• 1:17:17
  Police Department in downtown LA where it was found that there
• 1:17:20
  was widespread criminal activity in the division, particularly
• 1:17:22
  within the Crash and Yang units. That's right.
• 1:17:26
  Crash community resources against St. hoodlums, right.
• 1:17:30
  I think they came up with the word and then added the the
• 1:17:33
  words in between them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:17:34
  No. One calls them hoodlums.
• 1:17:37
  No, it says hoodlums unless it's the 40s.
• 1:17:41
  Call it Crash, though, because that that's badass.
• 1:17:45
  And A was surviving on handouts given to him by an undisclosed
• 1:17:48
  movie producer after he'd wrote a script under the table for
• 1:17:51
  him. So the researchers knew work.
• 1:17:52
  He spent day after day cruising the hoods between downtown and
• 1:17:55
  Watts, searching for stories and, as he said, the soul of the
• 1:17:59
  hoods. Love it.
• 1:18:00
  He said that he would talk to the homies.
• 1:18:02
  This is a direct quote. This is my words OK.
• 1:18:07
  Clark Griswell. Said he would talk to the homies
• 1:18:11
  and hear stories about the ruthless extralegal tactics the
• 1:18:15
  LA he would use to take them off the streets.
• 1:18:17
  And he became fascinated by sophisticated cat and mouse
• 1:18:20
  games the cops and gangsters would play, and discovered that
• 1:18:23
  there was a corporate knowledge, spoken but never written, shared
• 1:18:27
  by the players on both sides of the law.
• 1:18:30
  And then based on this, he developed a story about a
• 1:18:32
  Rampart narcotics officer cruising the Pico Union
• 1:18:35
  neighborhood of LA in an old Monte Carlo car.
• 1:18:37
  Fantastic. Yeah, that's your premise.
• 1:18:39
  That's your start. Right.
• 1:18:40
  Yeah, there it is. Yeah, the central question at
• 1:18:42
  the heart of the story was, can a cop chase monsters without
• 1:18:45
  becoming a monster? So take an inspiration from
• 1:18:49
  Sidney Lumet's classic corrupt cop drama Serpico in Prince of
• 1:18:52
  the City. Ayer finished his script in
• 1:18:54
  1995. It did the rounds to the studios
• 1:18:56
  in Hollywood. Some loved it, some hated it.
• 1:18:58
  And he actually received a note from one studio which said, good
• 1:19:01
  script, Dave. Problem is, you obviously know
• 1:19:03
  nothing about law enforcement. Then after after a few years,
• 1:19:08
  LAPD crash officer Rafael Perez was arrested for stealing
• 1:19:11
  cocaine in a police evidence room.
• 1:19:13
  There's only the floodgates to the whole police brutality
• 1:19:16
  rampart scandal. Suddenly, Ayer's story was hot
• 1:19:18
  because of its topical nature, and studio interest surged.
• 1:19:22
  Nothing like a dose of reality to reinforce some fiction.
• 1:19:26
  But it wasn't, I mean, it was based on reality.
• 1:19:28
  It was based on the stories of the streets, which would then
• 1:19:31
  inform the Rampart scandal. I really like the way that
• 1:19:34
  worked. And that's when Warners came in
• 1:19:36
  and paid for the script, right? Once Fuqua was signed on, he
• 1:19:39
  visited his house on a hot Saturday afternoon, where he and
• 1:19:42
  his buddies were drinking a few cold ones on his balcony.
• 1:19:45
  Nice. He said that his fear was that a
• 1:19:47
  Hollywood director would dilute the film, but he was impressed
• 1:19:50
  by Fuqua's sense of profound mission to direct the film.
• 1:19:54
  He said the streets are a mental game, and Antoine understood the
• 1:19:56
  nuance as well. When Fuqua left Aaron, his
• 1:19:59
  buddies high fived knowing that his baby was in good hands.
• 1:20:04
  So a piece of writing dripping with authenticity in no small
• 1:20:07
  part by David Aye's personal experiences.
• 1:20:09
  It may not be watertight, We've got a few issues, but it's damn
• 1:20:12
  exciting. It is very.
• 1:20:14
  Exciting. Next, we're talking about the
• 1:20:18
  music in the film, the all hip hop soundtrack sent as the film,
• 1:20:21
  and Mark Mancina provides the original score.
• 1:20:24
  I think this just reinforces everything that we've talked
• 1:20:26
  about already. Authenticity.
• 1:20:28
  That work keeps on coming up a lot.
• 1:20:30
  It does, yeah. But it's the centre to what
• 1:20:32
  makes the film work. Yeah, it's the grounded element.
• 1:20:34
  It is. Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:20:35
  The music anchors that film, it anchors it in downtown LA, it
• 1:20:39
  represents the threat of the streets, it gives such an
• 1:20:41
  atmosphere to the film. The hip hop songs pack so much
• 1:20:43
  menace and they really make sense in this environment as
• 1:20:46
  well. A well, a heightened feeling of
• 1:20:48
  sense. Yes, the soundtrack, the lives
• 1:20:51
  of the gang members and Alonzo, who's the biggest gangster of
• 1:20:53
  them all. And As for Man Seen the score,
• 1:20:55
  it doesn't really stick out as being larger than life.
• 1:20:58
  It can go quite easily under the radar, but it finds just a
• 1:21:03
  little space in the tapestry of the film, which is overshadowed
• 1:21:06
  by huge performances and bangers on the soundtrack.
• 1:21:08
  And it adds texture to those, it adds color and it adds vibrancy
• 1:21:11
  to all of the production elements.
• 1:21:13
  I think it enhances the street sounds, it elevates the tension
• 1:21:16
  and provides context whilst going almost completely unheard.
• 1:21:21
  Yeah. He's operating in very tight
• 1:21:23
  spaces and he creates something great without equal.
• 1:21:26
  He understands the brief. He knows that he can't compete
• 1:21:29
  with those hip hop. He can't compete with Doctor
• 1:21:31
  Dre. No.
• 1:21:33
  He can't compete with the production design, he can't
• 1:21:36
  compete with the setting, with Denzel's performance.
• 1:21:39
  He can do what he does to just enhance everything and I think
• 1:21:42
  he does that amazingly well. Yeah, I'm exactly the same.
• 1:21:45
  I feel like this the score of this film is just on in the
• 1:21:47
  backseat of that car. I didn't realize when I was
• 1:21:50
  doing the research. I think it really a score.
• 1:21:52
  I thought it was just all pop songs.
• 1:21:53
  Well, not pop songs. DNA.
• 1:21:55
  All right, Granddad. Bit of Backstreet Boys in there
• 1:21:59
  for you, Luke. Popular music is what I'm.
• 1:22:02
  Popular. Yeah, the rhythm and Blues
• 1:22:04
  tracks. Yeah, it just rumbles underneath
• 1:22:10
  somewhere. You know, when Denzel says
• 1:22:12
  Alonzo says at the start of the film, in a wind, the window
• 1:22:14
  down, you hear the streets and you would do hear the streets,
• 1:22:17
  but it's not like would thought it would be.
• 1:22:20
  I mean, no score would have worked in this film at all.
• 1:22:22
  No hand Zimmer, no account, you know, sweep and training day
• 1:22:26
  comes, that sun coming up and it's just wouldn't have
• 1:22:29
  happened. It just wouldn't have worked at
• 1:22:31
  all. You know, Alonzo didn't need a
• 1:22:32
  theme and I think the lack of the score in this film and just
• 1:22:36
  reinforcing it with, you know, the soundtrack, the needle
• 1:22:38
  drops, the hip hop songs that come across in it are fantastic
• 1:22:41
  because they're not cliched. No, they're not what you'd
• 1:22:43
  expect to hear in a soundtrack. But then when you're watching
• 1:22:46
  it, it's what you would expect to hear in that situation, in
• 1:22:49
  that environment. It really works for the
• 1:22:51
  environment to reinforce it. You said there, look, it is.
• 1:22:54
  It anchors that realism and anchors that setting that it's
• 1:22:57
  in. That really reinforces it.
• 1:22:58
  It is more or less like production design.
• 1:23:00
  It's just wallpaper. It's just there to wake you up
• 1:23:03
  to that and just say, yes, I am in this space.
• 1:23:05
  So I think what Mancina does is he understands that, but what it
• 1:23:08
  does really well is it just sets a tone.
• 1:23:11
  There's nothing trebly about this film.
• 1:23:13
  There's nothing upbeat melodically.
• 1:23:15
  There's no kind of like higher form of of strings or anything
• 1:23:19
  like that. It's just a rumble.
• 1:23:20
  It's just this constant for boarding, and I think he does
• 1:23:22
  that really, really well. Yeah, I mean, I have to be
• 1:23:25
  honest, when I was going through the script and saw the music
• 1:23:27
  section, my genuine first thing was his music and training day.
• 1:23:33
  I think you have to look really, really hard to find it.
• 1:23:35
  As for being saying they've made the choice to prioritize it,
• 1:23:39
  we're down the list and that's fine.
• 1:23:40
  But, you know, we've just come off the back of doing Last of
• 1:23:43
  the Mohicans on the last episode where you talk about that sound
• 1:23:46
  like for hours because it enriches the film.
• 1:23:49
  And this isn't this. It's snatches the songs in the
• 1:23:51
  background. It gives a flavor of the
• 1:23:53
  streets. But kind of that's about it.
• 1:23:55
  Really. The only one that really pops
• 1:23:56
  out of Still Drea when he first gets into there are because you
• 1:23:59
  need that because it's brilliant, because, yeah,
• 1:24:01
  because it's quite comical when you see that car go on and so
• 1:24:04
  put and still do it off the top. That really emphasizes that.
• 1:24:07
  But apart from that, yeah, you've got to really kind of dig
• 1:24:10
  in to pull out the music from this.
• 1:24:12
  Yeah, and even the start as well, when the kids have got the
• 1:24:14
  PCP and they pull them over, the first thing he does turn that
• 1:24:16
  off. Yeah, it turns the radio off and
• 1:24:18
  the soundtrack stops. Yeah, it's just about Denzel's
• 1:24:20
  dialogue. So I think it's just that's a
• 1:24:22
  little taster of like this is where we are.
• 1:24:24
  Yeah, that's how important it is.
• 1:24:25
  Yeah, and Mark Mancina took an unconventional approach to
• 1:24:28
  composing the music for the film, he said.
• 1:24:31
  I did something nobody was doing, an ambient score against
• 1:24:34
  a gritty picture. Instead of doing the predictable
• 1:24:36
  hip hop sound, I did something multicultural to reflect Los
• 1:24:39
  Angeles. I think that comes across, yeah.
• 1:24:42
  It does come across, you just really gotta listen.
• 1:24:44
  For you do. Yeah.
• 1:24:44
  You've really gotta listen for it.
• 1:24:46
  Yeah. Unlike another man seen the
• 1:24:47
  score that we talked about maybe a couple of years ago when we
• 1:24:50
  covered speed. Yeah, right.
• 1:24:52
  Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:24:59
  So Mancina's music also works in direct contrast to the all hip
• 1:25:02
  hop soundtrack selection curated by music supervisor John
• 1:25:05
  Houlihan to reflect the authentic environment and the
• 1:25:08
  sounds of the street. As we've discussed, artists
• 1:25:11
  include Cypress Hill, Gang Starr, Doctor Dre and Snoop
• 1:25:14
  Dogg, many of the songs being recorded specifically for the
• 1:25:17
  film. Yeah, I think it goes to what
• 1:25:19
  you were seeing, Wesley. It's not predictable, but it is
• 1:25:22
  predictable that these characters would listen to this
• 1:25:24
  music. And I think that comes from the
• 1:25:25
  fact that a lot of the songs were recorded at the time.
• 1:25:28
  It's not been not relying on a Public Enemy or AMC or something
• 1:25:33
  like that. Yes.
• 1:25:34
  Or N.W.A. Exactly, the songs don't really
• 1:25:37
  have a history at that time. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:25:39
  Yeah. And I think that's what makes it
• 1:25:40
  fresh and immediately. Of the time, yeah.
• 1:25:42
  And on that, we have our second Patreon question.
• 1:25:45
  This one comes from Uriah Young. Hi, Uriah.
• 1:25:48
  Hello, Uriah. Hello, Uriah.
• 1:25:49
  Uriah says hip hop artists have been switching over to acting
• 1:25:52
  roles for quite some time now. Snoop and Doctor Dre did OK with
• 1:25:56
  their parts in Training Day respectively.
• 1:25:58
  Who do you guys think is the Best Hip Hop artist?
• 1:26:00
  Third actor you guys said. I personally like most def who
• 1:26:03
  did a great job in movies. Something the Lord made the
• 1:26:06
  Italian Job in 16 blocks I like. 16 blocks. 16 blocks is good,
• 1:26:10
  yeah. He says.
• 1:26:11
  But what do you guys think, Matt?
• 1:26:13
  What do you think? Well.
• 1:26:14
  Firstly, I think Mosteff is a great child and I would say The
• 1:26:17
  Woodsman which is a Kevin Bacon film.
• 1:26:19
  Good film. It is good in this very serious
• 1:26:21
  film as well, and Mosteff absolutely rises to it.
• 1:26:23
  Yeah, it's really dark. Brace yourself.
• 1:26:27
  But it's well worth checking out.
• 1:26:28
  He's great. It's well worth checking out,
• 1:26:29
  yeah. If I had to pick someone else,
• 1:26:31
  that Ice cube, I think he's really good.
• 1:26:33
  In Three Kings he's great and he's so funny in the Jump Street
• 1:26:37
  movies, especially in the Second World when he finds out Jordy
• 1:26:40
  Hill slept with his daughter. That is hilarious, that bit.
• 1:26:44
  That's priceless. Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:26:45
  Great. So I'll I'll say Ice Cube.
• 1:26:47
  I think he has done some genuinely great work over the
• 1:26:49
  years. Boys in the Hood as well.
• 1:26:50
  Ice Cube, isn't he? So yeah.
• 1:26:51
  That's right. Yeah, that was his breakout.
• 1:26:52
  He's phenomenal. And that, yeah, absolutely makes
• 1:26:55
  it. You talk about authenticity.
• 1:26:56
  I think without Ice Cube and Boys in the Hood it wouldn't
• 1:26:58
  have that. Authenticity.
• 1:26:59
  I agree. Yeah, he makes it.
• 1:27:00
  He's amazing. I think I've always had a soft
• 1:27:02
  spot for Snoop. We talked about him.
• 1:27:04
  He's great in stars, which I think he's just overflowing with
• 1:27:08
  charisma and his natural rhythm translates to his physicality on
• 1:27:12
  screen. He's a bit stiff in this film,
• 1:27:15
  to be honest. His land delivery is wanting.
• 1:27:18
  Yes, yes, I think we've got some contenders here.
• 1:27:20
  I think Donald Glover needs a special mention for his TV show
• 1:27:23
  Atlanta. Oh, great show.
• 1:27:24
  Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, he's fantastic.
• 1:27:26
  Yeah. Ice Tea in New Jack City and
• 1:27:28
  Ricochet with Denzel as well, but I'm going to go with LL Cool
• 1:27:33
  J Ladies love Cool J. Nice.
• 1:27:35
  Yeah, and outrageous Monica, to give yourself.
• 1:27:38
  It is. Yeah, you.
• 1:27:39
  Go for deep blue sea. But when you look at his
• 1:27:42
  performance in the hard way. Oh, OK, yeah.
• 1:27:45
  That's another incredible New York film.
• 1:27:47
  Personal favorite of mine. Great film.
• 1:27:49
  And although LL is a supporting character, he's really
• 1:27:52
  memorable. He's got some very funny lines.
• 1:27:54
  But Wesley, I do like him in Deep Blue Sea.
• 1:27:56
  I had him in Any Given Sunday as well.
• 1:27:58
  Great. And any given Sunday.
• 1:28:00
  What about you, Wesley? We've mentioned him #4 as well.
• 1:28:02
  But I do think Eminem is fantastic in Eight Mile.
• 1:28:05
  It's. Incredible.
• 1:28:06
  Another one I really liked as well, which is it's kind of
• 1:28:08
  flown and I loved Common in John Wick chapter 2.
• 1:28:11
  OK. Of course, yeah.
• 1:28:13
  Really, really good at that. Great.
• 1:28:15
  Yeah, definitely them too for me.
• 1:28:16
  Yeah, yeah, brilliant. Thank you for the great
• 1:28:19
  question, Uriah. Thanks, man.
• 1:28:22
  And that brings our conversation on the music to close a unique
• 1:28:26
  blend of score and the sounds of the street, bringing the
• 1:28:28
  training the world to vibrant life.
• 1:28:33
  Finally, a cinematographer we haven't talked about before,
• 1:28:35
  Moral Fioria, who kicked off a career long collaboration with
• 1:28:39
  Anton Fuqua on training day. Westie, over to you.
• 1:28:42
  Cinematography. What I really love about the
• 1:28:44
  cinematography is that it's just so silky, it's so smooth.
• 1:28:48
  It's just really pulls you into the store.
• 1:28:50
  It's got a real flow to it, much like the directions got a flow
• 1:28:54
  to it. I think he knows the shots that
• 1:28:56
  he needs to set up, but the frames that he's holding and the
• 1:28:58
  use of depth of field especially doesn't overuse that.
• 1:29:02
  Doesn't really push that to focus just on the Lonzo a lot of
• 1:29:05
  the time, but the close-ups that he gets are absolutely
• 1:29:07
  fantastic. Now this film for me screams
• 1:29:10
  handheld camera. It just screams running down the
• 1:29:13
  especially when that the girl's getting attacked right.
• 1:29:15
  He's running down the alley handheld camera and it's going
• 1:29:17
  to have a real documentary field ad it doesn't it has a real
• 1:29:20
  cinematic feel to it. It has a very wide feel to it
• 1:29:23
  has a very considered and really polished feel to the
• 1:29:25
  cinematography, which again shouldn't work because that
• 1:29:29
  shouldn't necessarily reinforce authenticity because people go
• 1:29:33
  the opening of Omaha Beach on day.
• 1:29:35
  There needs to be handheld authenticity of what it was
• 1:29:37
  really like to be there and everybody puts that kind of
• 1:29:40
  dangerous, dark, fast-paced, really unprepared location and
• 1:29:45
  you don't know where you are. Well, that must be handheld.
• 1:29:47
  He just doesn't do that. You really just keeps everything
• 1:29:50
  smooth. Everything's considered,
• 1:29:52
  everything's focused, which again adds to this extra depth
• 1:29:54
  to the mystery of the film, which really, really works.
• 1:29:58
  The light is not over the top. You don't think it's lit, but he
• 1:30:00
  does it so well that you can move between streets and then at
• 1:30:03
  the sets and you don't question anything.
• 1:30:05
  Some of the best photographers you do not see do not have a
• 1:30:08
  style and you can't see it. You can't necessarily see when
• 1:30:11
  the camera moves here. It just moves and you move with
• 1:30:14
  it and just them stylistic choices.
• 1:30:17
  Imagine it's just a handshake between him and Fukua.
• 1:30:19
  To be honest. We're going to put one up here
• 1:30:20
  and it's going to be a real kind of surveillance style shot.
• 1:30:23
  But it's still beautifully shot, beautifully lit.
• 1:30:25
  Like we say that diners in so many films, but this is one of
• 1:30:29
  the most recognizable. It is, yeah.
• 1:30:30
  The cinematography of this film is just Alonzo's character.
• 1:30:34
  Yeah, it's quite dark. It's quite silky.
• 1:30:36
  It's very considered, and it's very mysterious.
• 1:30:39
  It's really, really beautiful work because you just don't see
• 1:30:41
  it. Yeah, I agree.
• 1:30:42
  Yeah, I mean, I think the film in general does feel like a team
• 1:30:45
  effort from everyone, even that huge Denzel performance.
• 1:30:49
  It's the size of the film needs. And I think everyone is
• 1:30:52
  contributing towards the film, but at the same time, they're
• 1:30:54
  not making themselves the stars of the show because it's not
• 1:30:57
  about them. And I think that's to the
• 1:30:58
  cinematography here, because is this going to be in anybody's
• 1:31:02
  list of the top 10 greatest looking films of all time?
• 1:31:04
  I'd be surprised if it was. It doesn't do for the crime
• 1:31:07
  genre what The Godfather did, for example.
• 1:31:10
  But that's fine because what it does, it just works and works
• 1:31:13
  really well. I think when the film needs to
• 1:31:15
  be big and cinematic, you get those panoramic shots of the
• 1:31:18
  city of the motorways, which looked fantastic.
• 1:31:21
  When it needs to be more intimate and you're up close and
• 1:31:24
  personal with that conflict between Jake and Lonzo, it does
• 1:31:27
  out really well as we've all been seeing the use of close-ups
• 1:31:29
  and this is excellent in the way it holds them as well.
• 1:31:32
  When it needs to be more jagged for an action scene, it does
• 1:31:35
  that really well. And then if you need something
• 1:31:37
  really striking, it just does it every swapped in, which makes it
• 1:31:40
  stand out by like that single band of light across Alonzo's
• 1:31:43
  eyes when the right fundament, he's closed the blinds.
• 1:31:47
  Very stylish but not overdone and you don't have one of those
• 1:31:50
  moments like every 5 minutes where it becomes distracted.
• 1:31:53
  It stands. Only isn't it?
• 1:31:54
  Yeah, exactly. It stands up because it's
• 1:31:56
  sparing. So I say it's one of those where
• 1:31:58
  I can't see you being called as one of the best of its kind, but
• 1:32:00
  it does the job it needs to do and it does a really, really
• 1:32:02
  well. Yeah, solid professional job.
• 1:32:04
  Yeah. Yeah, I think same as the music,
• 1:32:06
  it just goes hand in hand with everything that production is
• 1:32:08
  trying to achieve. Like you said, my team effort,
• 1:32:11
  everything pulling in the same direction to bring it to the
• 1:32:13
  screen. What's most impressive are the
• 1:32:15
  car scenes for me. For a fast-paced, tense
• 1:32:17
  thriller, you wouldn't expect about 1/4 of the runtime to be
• 1:32:20
  spent in a car. And once you've seen this, you
• 1:32:23
  wouldn't be able to guess it's that long either, would you?
• 1:32:25
  I. Wouldn't have said that now.
• 1:32:27
  And a lot of that, I think, is down to Fioria.
• 1:32:29
  He creates this claustrophobic space inside where Alonzo was
• 1:32:32
  able to just smother Jake and make him do what anything he
• 1:32:35
  wants. There's no hiding place, no room
• 1:32:37
  to maneuver. It's the same sense of isolation
• 1:32:40
  and claustrophobia that he brings to that card game at the
• 1:32:42
  end. You can see in the sense of
• 1:32:44
  panic and Jake because he's got no room to breathe.
• 1:32:47
  Yeah. But then the shots of the car on
• 1:32:49
  the roof, on the front bumper, they are just super cool,
• 1:32:53
  reflecting the character of Alonso, entrenching you in this
• 1:32:56
  world and in this city. The swagger of the streets and
• 1:32:59
  just how PIMP that Monte Carlo really is.
• 1:33:03
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:33:04
  It really brings that to life as a character.
• 1:33:08
  And this was the first of multiple collaborations between
• 1:33:10
  Fuqua and Mauro Fiore, who avoided shadowy cinematography,
• 1:33:15
  instead shot the majority of the film in broad, desaturated
• 1:33:18
  daylight. And this was to add
• 1:33:20
  authenticity. And this approach reinforced the
• 1:33:22
  harsh reality of police corruption rather than
• 1:33:25
  romanticizing it with stylized shadows.
• 1:33:27
  Great, everything out in the open for everyone to see.
• 1:33:30
  And he also used anyone gets the lenses.
• 1:33:32
  No, it's fine. I'll tell you.
• 1:33:33
  He used to hope C series anamorphics, which featured A2
• 1:33:38
  times, anamorphic squeeze and medium contrast.
• 1:33:41
  So they were chosen for their slightly forgiven optical
• 1:33:43
  design, which produced sharp but natural imagery.
• 1:33:46
  So the rendered beautiful skin tones were resistant flares with
• 1:33:49
  anamorphic elements positioned in the lens Center for smoother
• 1:33:53
  point flares. So what that means is it doesn't
• 1:33:55
  kind of accentuate the light, and as it comes in, it keeps
• 1:33:58
  everything very natural and very basic.
• 1:34:00
  Torn anamorphic lenses usually really really flare out OK, but
• 1:34:04
  these ones don't. Yeah, he put the camera on the
• 1:34:06
  hood of the car. Like I said, he captured the
• 1:34:08
  city reflections in water droplets on the windshield as
• 1:34:11
  well emphasized the car is basically like a mobile office
• 1:34:15
  where all of the drama unfolds. Nice.
• 1:34:18
  So some unfamiliar names in the crew maybe, but they all
• 1:34:20
  contributed to the film's atmosphere.
• 1:34:22
  Torn and enduring appeal. A special shout out to Naomi
• 1:34:25
  Shorhan and Michelle Michelle for the incredible production
• 1:34:28
  and costume design respectively as well.
• 1:34:31
  Very nice. Yeah, the end.
• 1:34:38
  Alonzo's master plan is beginning to come together, but
• 1:34:41
  first he has to get the OK from his superiors before he can go
• 1:34:44
  through with it. And this is the three wise men
• 1:34:47
  scene where Alonzo goes into a restaurant with no people in
• 1:34:51
  whatsoever apart from three high rank and law enforcement
• 1:34:54
  officials. The DA, the captain of the
• 1:34:57
  force, and the big dog detective.
• 1:34:59
  He's the one who's done the disgusting story about the guy
• 1:35:01
  using peanut butter in a very creative way.
• 1:35:03
  Yeah, and horrific story. I think we can believe this
• 1:35:08
  meeting is prearranged, so not too much of A narrative stretch.
• 1:35:11
  Yeah, I thought so, yeah. And this is an exposition scene,
• 1:35:14
  a connector to allow the plot to progress.
• 1:35:17
  Nothing really sexy about it on the page, but I think it's
• 1:35:20
  brought to life by a great location.
• 1:35:22
  All great decisions have been made around the dinner table in
• 1:35:24
  civilized circumstances. I really like the juxtaposition
• 1:35:27
  of that. And it's brought to life by
• 1:35:29
  great character actors. Yeah.
• 1:35:31
  And Tom Barringer being one of them.
• 1:35:32
  Yes. Alonso is basically going in
• 1:35:34
  here, cap in hand, so he's quite meek.
• 1:35:37
  If they don't give him the OK, then he is done for, but yet
• 1:35:41
  he's going in with all the ego and aggression.
• 1:35:44
  He's not letting any of that go. It's amazing.
• 1:35:47
  We're given a bit more information about what went down
• 1:35:49
  in Vegas and Alonzo needs to make amends.
• 1:35:51
  But what I really like that even though it's an exposition scene,
• 1:35:54
  you're not spoon fed all of the information.
• 1:35:57
  I think you need at least one rewatch to understand that this
• 1:36:00
  is a payoff for a warrant for Rogers Place.
• 1:36:04
  Alonso says. Who's driving.
• 1:36:06
  That's not clear what that means.
• 1:36:08
  It means who am I paying the 40 grand to for the warrant?
• 1:36:11
  But this links the scene with the Sandman's wife to going back
• 1:36:14
  to Rogers. Very good writing and memorable
• 1:36:17
  performances for a scene that could have been easily snipped
• 1:36:21
  out. Yeah.
• 1:36:21
  Well, Studio XX actually did want to cut the scene because
• 1:36:24
  the felt it slowed the film down, but Fuqua argued that it
• 1:36:27
  was pivotal because it established that at least some
• 1:36:30
  of Alonso's illegal crimes have been sanctioned by superiors.
• 1:36:33
  Yeah, makes sense. He also insisted that it
• 1:36:35
  provided a bit of breathing room in the film and highlighted that
• 1:36:38
  corruption was institutional within the LAPD and knocked down
• 1:36:42
  to 1 dirty cop. That came out with the Rampart
• 1:36:45
  scandal as well, that it was rife throughout the entire force
• 1:36:48
  as opposed to just one rolled cop.
• 1:36:50
  Yeah, exactly. And then from this, we get the
• 1:36:52
  culmination of the Rogers storyline in this scene of so
• 1:36:55
  much attention to it, because we've seen Alonso just pushing
• 1:36:58
  Jake Frog, do this, do this, do this.
• 1:37:00
  It's always been really compelling.
• 1:37:02
  Like, we buy the argument, but then you get them over.
• 1:37:04
  Really crosses line where he tells Jake to shoot Roger.
• 1:37:07
  And it's played so brilliantly between the three of them
• 1:37:10
  because Jake thinks he's clearly not serious, but Alonso just
• 1:37:14
  doesn't back down and he's grinning throughout and Roger
• 1:37:16
  thinks it's hilarious. So from Jake's perspective,
• 1:37:19
  well, this must be a joke. They obviously do this all the
• 1:37:21
  time to the new guy. And then as we said, that visual
• 1:37:23
  of the blind being closed and just a band of light across
• 1:37:27
  Alonso's eyes and you see, like not even metaphorically, he's
• 1:37:31
  physically refusing to blink here.
• 1:37:33
  Like he just won't do it. He's there's that absolute stare
• 1:37:37
  boring into Jake Saw. So Jake pretended like it's a
• 1:37:39
  kids game and he can laugh it off, but then Alonso doesn't
• 1:37:42
  laugh and repeat it. So you're with Jake at this
• 1:37:45
  point. You think you don't know what
• 1:37:46
  the hell is going on. And it's tension and it's
• 1:37:49
  tension. And then it breaks when Alonso
• 1:37:51
  does laugh and Roger joins in and he goes, ah, rookies, and
• 1:37:55
  then bomb that clause of Alonzo as he just turns.
• 1:37:58
  And then it's a belly full of lead for Roger.
• 1:38:00
  So it's an incredibly shocking moment.
• 1:38:02
  The tension is brilliantly played out.
• 1:38:04
  But it is one of those moments that it's only until a few
• 1:38:06
  viewings later that you sort of question the logic of this
• 1:38:09
  because this is where Alonso starts to spill about.
• 1:38:12
  This was the plan all along. You know, he's been planning
• 1:38:14
  this all week. But thing is, Roger's about
• 1:38:17
  hombre. He will have many, many enemies,
• 1:38:19
  surely. And there must be a need and
• 1:38:22
  quite a way to get him out of the picture here that doesn't
• 1:38:24
  involve dragging someone new into the team and hoping you'll
• 1:38:28
  get exactly what you want out of them.
• 1:38:29
  Yeah, like I said about the right, And it does get overly
• 1:38:32
  convoluted in justifying Jake being there for the whole time.
• 1:38:35
  And I think this is the one where you go hang on a minute,
• 1:38:38
  this ludus lead over the top by lons or to do this one simple
• 1:38:42
  thing. Yeah, but you know.
• 1:38:43
  The tension of the moment really sells it.
• 1:38:45
  Falls by the wayside a little bit because if one thing goes
• 1:38:48
  wrong then the whole plan is out of whack.
• 1:38:51
  Yeah, yes, yeah. But he makes a convincing case,
• 1:38:54
  doesn't he, Westie? He does make a convincing case
• 1:38:57
  because you think that this is him completely unhinged and him
• 1:39:01
  completely gone against what is morally correct, but it then
• 1:39:05
  reinfirms it and makes it morally correct.
• 1:39:07
  And I don't quite know how he wrestles with this and does it
• 1:39:10
  so well. It's a really genuine moment.
• 1:39:13
  I've mentioned this earlier on and he feels quite out of place
• 1:39:16
  for his character. It's kind of licking his wounds
• 1:39:18
  almost at this point, tails between his legs.
• 1:39:20
  Like I thought Jake would be at a different position than he is
• 1:39:23
  now. I thought he'd be up for this
• 1:39:25
  and taking the money. I thought I would have got more
• 1:39:27
  of his trust by now. Shit, I need to go back and I
• 1:39:30
  need to get them with this dad love almost, you know, there's a
• 1:39:33
  real soft talk here to get his trust back.
• 1:39:35
  And the way he spins it, he's like he calls him son, says this
• 1:39:39
  is the game. This shit's chested in check as
• 1:39:42
  you've got to go places. And it's great, great line.
• 1:39:45
  But it's just the way he spits it out as if, why don't you
• 1:39:47
  realize this yet? Just this justification of it.
• 1:39:50
  And then he talks about Roger and he's like he says he's your
• 1:39:53
  friend. He's not your friend.
• 1:39:53
  He's a High Roller. He's one of the worst people and
• 1:39:56
  it just needs to justify his actions constantly.
• 1:39:59
  Then he starts talking about himself and how Jake could
• 1:40:02
  actually be him, could look up to him, could aspire to be as
• 1:40:05
  good as he is. And he says, I walk on a higher
• 1:40:07
  path. I walk in a higher plane, son.
• 1:40:09
  And he says it again. You know, you want my job.
• 1:40:11
  You've got it. You can be where I am if you
• 1:40:14
  just believe what I want. And now he's offering him
• 1:40:16
  everything he wants. You know Jake right at the start
• 1:40:19
  of the film, right at the top, we never mentioned this, but he
• 1:40:21
  says you should see them guys houses.
• 1:40:23
  So it's all about financial security.
• 1:40:24
  Really. It is, but he's not taking the
• 1:40:26
  bait. And this is where Alonso is just
• 1:40:29
  pushing him slightly, slightly, slightly more and just changing
• 1:40:33
  it a little bit. But again, this is a massive
• 1:40:35
  giveaway here. And he says if you want to
• 1:40:36
  change it, you've got to change it from the inside.
• 1:40:38
  If you want to be taken seriously, you need to be dirty.
• 1:40:40
  Is that not what he's doing? They're meeting with these three
• 1:40:43
  wise men, is that not? Is he not trying to frame them
• 1:40:45
  doing this? Is that not what he's saying
• 1:40:48
  here? This is why he's so genuine.
• 1:40:50
  Is this actually the character of Alonzo that was seen
• 1:40:52
  throughout the whole film? I think this is genuinely him
• 1:40:55
  sitting in the car going, look, I've had to do all this because
• 1:40:58
  this is fucked and you're in the middle of this and you can
• 1:41:00
  really help us take care of this.
• 1:41:02
  But I'm done now and I've got to get out of here and I need this
• 1:41:04
  money to do it. You've seen everything, I've
• 1:41:06
  showed you everything. Take that and run with it
• 1:41:08
  because you're a good cop and I trust you.
• 1:41:10
  But you can get that from this scene, or you can get he's full
• 1:41:12
  of shit and he just wants money. So it's so well played.
• 1:41:15
  It is so. Well played out it.
• 1:41:17
  Is really well constructed. Yeah, if you look at it from
• 1:41:19
  that point of view and really watch the film, this is so out
• 1:41:22
  of place for Alonzo. But is it?
• 1:41:27
  It's so good. So Alonzo has made a convincing
• 1:41:30
  case for Jake and has once again got him back on side.
• 1:41:34
  But this time there are bound to be even more dramatic
• 1:41:36
  consequences. A crescendo of 1/3 act with
• 1:41:42
  three huge scenes, starting with a visit to a different kind of
• 1:41:47
  neighborhood. So here Alonzo drags Jake to
• 1:41:50
  this place where he's doing a favour for an old friend,
• 1:41:52
  dropping off a blender and the CD player.
• 1:41:54
  Nice combo. Yeah, some favour.
• 1:41:57
  And to establish how volatile the situation is, Food Quad
• 1:42:00
  double s down on what he's done in the past.
• 1:42:02
  He stuffs the situation with loads of surly guys bearing down
• 1:42:06
  on Jake. No dialogue, just staring at him
• 1:42:08
  with absolute menace. I mean, a little bit
• 1:42:11
  heavy-handed, but at least we get the picture.
• 1:42:13
  Yeah. And it's visually different to
• 1:42:15
  when he first goes into the jungle, the dead end street
• 1:42:17
  where Sarah lives. The threat ramps up inside and
• 1:42:20
  then goes up further still in the kitchen.
• 1:42:24
  A great control of tension from Fuqua.
• 1:42:26
  Who knows that this scene needs to land.
• 1:42:28
  Absolutely. Considering what's coming up.
• 1:42:30
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:42:31
  And Oh my, it lands. It does right in your face.
• 1:42:35
  Oh, right, the scene always gives me a sickness in the pit
• 1:42:41
  of my stomach. Smiley, Sniper, and Marine, all
• 1:42:44
  these three guys had not to be trifled with.
• 1:42:46
  No, Oh no, no, no, no, no. And they all have different
• 1:42:49
  character rates. I mean, they're in one scene and
• 1:42:51
  they're so memorable. Smiley is the Quiet 1, Marine is
• 1:42:54
  the joke. You want Sniper?
• 1:42:56
  Well he's just as crazy as a shit house rat.
• 1:43:02
  And Raymond Cruz, who later appeared on the TV show Breaking
• 1:43:04
  Bad. He was originally cast to play
• 1:43:06
  gangster Smiley, but ended up playing out of control sniper
• 1:43:09
  instead. And this scene was originally
• 1:43:11
  scripted at 15 pages, but it was trimmed away down.
• 1:43:15
  Right. I mean, it makes sense to
• 1:43:16
  tighten it up for the tension, yeah, because it just would have
• 1:43:19
  went out of control. 15 minutes in. 15 minutes, yeah.
• 1:43:23
  That's just on the page as well. Yeah, exactly 20 minutes.
• 1:43:26
  Yeah, Cruz claims that his scene is the best scene in the movie.
• 1:43:31
  Well, he would do. Yeah, yeah, no, I got 2 pairs.
• 1:43:35
  That's a fucking good argument if I'm honest.
• 1:43:38
  Cliff Curtis ended up playing Smiley and Noel Gugli.
• 1:43:40
  Amo plays Marino, the final of the three thugs in this scene.
• 1:43:45
  Googly Amo was a homeless as a team and in a gang before he
• 1:43:49
  found acting late in the 90s. Check out his filmography.
• 1:43:52
  He's working as if he'll never get another job in his life.
• 1:43:55
  He does about 8 films a year and he has done for about two
• 1:43:57
  decades. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:43:59
  Amazing. During this card game scene,
• 1:44:01
  Fuqua told the actors to ad Lib their lines and actions without
• 1:44:04
  Hawk's knowledge to create an unexpected atmosphere and real
• 1:44:07
  tension. It made Jake's uneasy attitude
• 1:44:09
  more genuine, as Hawk didn't know what we're going to see or
• 1:44:14
  do next. That must have been awful.
• 1:44:15
  It really works though. Oh.
• 1:44:17
  Really works. You can see Hawks squirming in
• 1:44:19
  his seat, trying to stay cool playing cards, but underneath
• 1:44:23
  he's thinking more fucking hell, how am I going to get out of
• 1:44:25
  this situation? Yeah, yeah.
• 1:44:27
  I've seen that gun, but I want to see yours and you know what's
• 1:44:31
  coming. But he can't put up a fight
• 1:44:33
  because something will come quicker.
• 1:44:35
  Yeah, if he does put up a fight then she's going to take it off
• 1:44:37
  and he's just going to overpower him anyway.
• 1:44:39
  And he thinks Alonso is still there as well.
• 1:44:40
  Exactly. Yeah, at that point.
• 1:44:42
  So he's like, well, that's fine, I've got backup.
• 1:44:44
  Exactly the backup of that, even though, I mean, he should know
• 1:44:47
  by now, but it's sickening, this interplay and messing around
• 1:44:51
  with the gun, the reveal that the car's gone.
• 1:44:54
  Alonso's pissed off. Jake is doomed.
• 1:44:56
  Yeah, Yeah. I often wonder why Smiley would
• 1:44:58
  provide all this exposition to Jake about the Russians again,
• 1:45:02
  heavy-handed. If he's going to kill him, why
• 1:45:03
  are we telling him? Yeah, it's really, it's really
• 1:45:06
  Bond film, isn't. It.
• 1:45:07
  Yeah, but that's nothing compared to what's coming in the
• 1:45:09
  bathroom. Jake tries to punch his way out
• 1:45:11
  of the situation, but he's done for.
• 1:45:15
  In the bathtub. Being dragged through the
• 1:45:18
  apartment. That camera shot?
• 1:45:20
  Brilliant. Being dragged to your doom.
• 1:45:23
  It's sickening. In the bathtub, Curtains closed.
• 1:45:26
  He's going to get blown away. Oh, hang on.
• 1:45:29
  Let's get his money first. There wasn't hundreds of
• 1:45:32
  thousands in the blender. That's not enough.
• 1:45:34
  We need $20 from his wallet as well.
• 1:45:36
  While he's still alive. While he's still alive, I hang
• 1:45:39
  on with this. A pink glitter purse.
• 1:45:41
  What the fuck? I mean, this is a tough pill to
• 1:45:46
  swallow. We've talked about it.
• 1:45:48
  It's there because the plot needs it to be.
• 1:45:50
  It's set up earlier in the film. Fair enough.
• 1:45:52
  But this just isn't happening. The thing that allowed for this
• 1:45:56
  to happen is the performance, the set up in the kitchen and
• 1:46:00
  Fuqua's handling, the tension and tone.
• 1:46:02
  It doesn't fall apart when it absolutely should.
• 1:46:04
  I mean, I'm not entertaining anything away for it.
• 1:46:07
  It's one of my favorites. They certainly the scene in the
• 1:46:09
  kitchens. Probably my favorite scene in
• 1:46:10
  the in the film. Right.
• 1:46:12
  I mean, it's such a coincidence, isn't it?
• 1:46:14
  It's very. Much of all the girls he saved
• 1:46:16
  on that day. It's Smiley's niece.
• 1:46:19
  Yes. Yeah.
• 1:46:20
  And he took a purse. Yeah, I do like that phone call
• 1:46:23
  between Smiley and the niece though.
• 1:46:24
  Like. This reactor and rescues it
• 1:46:26
  because they're both good. He does?
• 1:46:27
  Yeah. Curtis exactly does, Yeah.
• 1:46:29
  But I do think he does press her a little bit too much though.
• 1:46:32
  Yeah. Did you go to school?
• 1:46:33
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:46:33
  Yeah. Did you say anything?
• 1:46:34
  Yeah. No.
• 1:46:35
  Ask. Did every class you see the
• 1:46:36
  police? No.
• 1:46:37
  OK, OK. Bye.
• 1:46:39
  Yeah. Yeah, you know how you try and
• 1:46:42
  just make sense of something and make it make sense just to
• 1:46:44
  defend it? Because the rest of film is so
• 1:46:46
  good and this is such a plot hole.
• 1:46:48
  I've made it my own personal mission to make this fine for
• 1:46:53
  myself. Great.
• 1:46:54
  Have you got an answer I? Have, but I mean it's quite
• 1:46:57
  thin, OK, You know what he says on the phone that we've we've
• 1:47:00
  said and we've alluded to before Jake gets in the car and he says
• 1:47:03
  make sure the bathtub is clean. Yes, make sure that you take
• 1:47:06
  everything off and before he's dead make sure he's clean as a
• 1:47:09
  body, so you take all the identification off and then get
• 1:47:11
  rid of it. So that's why get his wallet
• 1:47:13
  first, make sure it's clean, make sure the.
• 1:47:15
  Scene's clean if. You get, yeah, you're going to
• 1:47:17
  kill him, kill him clean. Don't leave anything behind,
• 1:47:19
  don't leave his identification. Get all the shit off him.
• 1:47:22
  So I like that. That bit's fine.
• 1:47:24
  Yeah. Yeah, I can.
• 1:47:24
  I can go along with that. It's just the rest of it Where a
• 1:47:28
  city of 4 million people, yeah. I mean, yeah, there is that
• 1:47:33
  Alonso knows who she is. I don't know.
• 1:47:38
  I just like that idea of getting the wallet and that's fine.
• 1:47:41
  No, I can go along with that for certain.
• 1:47:42
  That's not the issue, yeah. It is a massive deal, but I
• 1:47:45
  don't mind that because there's. No, I don't think, I think we
• 1:47:48
  we're all OK with it. Yeah.
• 1:47:49
  Yeah. Well, this brings us to our
• 1:47:51
  third and final ATRM patron question.
• 1:47:53
  This one is from Roger Pedacta. Hello, Roger.
• 1:47:56
  Hello, Roger from Ace Ventura. Rodge says this movie has a
• 1:48:01
  pivotal DSX machina with the discovery of the wallet while
• 1:48:04
  Jake is being fed a shotgun in the bathtub.
• 1:48:07
  What are your favorite or top three favorite cinematic DSX
• 1:48:10
  Machina examples? Now, if you're not familiar with
• 1:48:13
  the concept, it's where a story or film or whatever offers a
• 1:48:16
  solution to a problem that seemed impossible to get out of
• 1:48:20
  to the complete surprise of the audience.
• 1:48:22
  Yeah, yes, it's usually a contrivance in the narrative,
• 1:48:24
  inserted just to serve the plot an unbelievable narrative beat.
• 1:48:28
  Yes, yeah, translates to God from the machine, doesn't it?
• 1:48:32
  Yes, yes it does. Yes.
• 1:48:33
  Something almost kind of ethereal happening for no.
• 1:48:36
  Reason. That's right.
• 1:48:37
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:48:37
  In this instance, Jake saved the girl from being attacked by the
• 1:48:40
  two hobos. And miraculously, in the city of
• 1:48:42
  4 million people, he happens to come across the girl's gangster
• 1:48:45
  cousin the same day in his bathtub.
• 1:48:47
  Yeah, yes. I don't know about favours
• 1:48:49
  because I'm not really a fan of the concept.
• 1:48:51
  No. Yeah, I don't collect them, no.
• 1:48:53
  No no no. But I got three that came to
• 1:48:55
  mind. OK, firstly Ghostbusters, one of
• 1:48:58
  my favourites, crossing the streams at the end to the V
• 1:49:01
  Goza. Now, early we're told that
• 1:49:03
  crossing the streams is bad, and now, without any explanation or
• 1:49:06
  work to prove to the contrary, they use it to their advantage.
• 1:49:09
  Very. Convenient.
• 1:49:10
  Yeah, good point. Yeah.
• 1:49:11
  Superman the movie. There's an earthquake and loss
• 1:49:13
  is in deep shit. Miraculously, Superman is able
• 1:49:17
  to fly around the Earth with such speed he creates inertia
• 1:49:21
  that rewinds time, allowing me to save the day.
• 1:49:24
  Just do that at any point then. Yeah, a superhero film, so I
• 1:49:28
  suppose anything goes, but this concept is really tricky for.
• 1:49:31
  Me to swallow I mean, he never does it again when he.
• 1:49:34
  He never does it again. We've never even hinted at it
• 1:49:36
  before. No, no.
• 1:49:37
  No. And finally, it's the Wizard of
• 1:49:40
  Oz. OK.
• 1:49:41
  Witch of the West. She got Dorothy and her cronies
• 1:49:44
  right where she wants them. There's a glass of water next to
• 1:49:47
  Dorothy. How convenient.
• 1:49:48
  How convenient. Even more that this seems to be
• 1:49:51
  the only thing that can kill the witch.
• 1:49:53
  This hasn't been set up at all. I mean.
• 1:49:56
  How does she have a bath or a shower?
• 1:49:59
  How does she stay hydrated? Potions.
• 1:50:02
  Potions. That cauldron.
• 1:50:05
  So those are my 3. Matt, what about you?
• 1:50:08
  First one I'll go for is Wolf. The world's the like traditional
• 1:50:12
  adaptation where the all conquering Martians are raising
• 1:50:16
  the entire planet. Nuclear bombs don't scratch
• 1:50:18
  them. But then one of them catches a
• 1:50:20
  cold in the old eye. Take some Lem sip, you'd be
• 1:50:24
  fine. Repeat it again on Independence
• 1:50:26
  Day, isn't it? But it's a computer that catch.
• 1:50:28
  Exactly can be. Very clever stuff.
• 1:50:30
  I don't. Know here she Wells wrote it in
• 1:50:31
  the novel, but Even so, it's extremely convenient.
• 1:50:34
  Yeah, it is. Second one is maybe the kind of
• 1:50:37
  deliberately playing it up a bit, but in Monty Python and the
• 1:50:40
  Holy Grail, when they're being chased by the Black beast in the
• 1:50:43
  narrator says there was no escape for Arthur and his men
• 1:50:45
  until the animator had a sudden heart attack and died.
• 1:50:48
  And then you get that group of Gilliam Keelanov in his chair.
• 1:50:50
  I mean, it's played Flash, but Even so.
• 1:50:52
  Of course they didn't think. Oh, that's brilliant, right?
• 1:50:56
  Yeah, exactly. And then last one, I mean it's
• 1:51:00
  probably far from the worst crime about it, but in Attack of
• 1:51:03
  the Clones, R2D do suddenly can fly when he needs to rescue
• 1:51:07
  Padme from certain death. About that the skill he has
• 1:51:11
  never demonstrated before or since in any other Star Wars
• 1:51:15
  film. But he can fly now.
• 1:51:16
  Yes, fine. Yeah, says my thing. 33 great
• 1:51:20
  ones. What about you Wes?
• 1:51:21
  Do you got any? I've got 3 as well.
• 1:51:23
  I've read the claw in the incinerator scene in Toy Story
• 1:51:26
  3, right? Yeah, that just kind of comes
• 1:51:28
  from nowhere. It's a nice little callback, but
• 1:51:30
  again, you know, that's incredibly convenient.
• 1:51:32
  Yeah, the Eagles in Return of the King.
• 1:51:36
  Yeah, Lord of the Rings. You'll not know about that, but
• 1:51:38
  that's incredibly convenient. Would have been useful at the
• 1:51:40
  beginning. Would have been useful earlier
• 1:51:42
  on, yeah, but my absolute favorite is the frogs at the end
• 1:51:45
  of Magnolia. Yeah, wow, Yeah.
• 1:51:47
  That's my absolute fear because what the fuck?
• 1:51:49
  What on earth? Who cares?
• 1:51:51
  It's amazing. Frogs at the end of Manoli is
• 1:51:53
  the ultimate sex manner. I think it's fucking wonderful
• 1:51:56
  because it makes zero sense, but it's so satisfying.
• 1:51:59
  Brilliant. A great question, Roger.
• 1:52:01
  Thank you. Let us know if we missed any of
• 1:52:03
  your favorites. Please do.
• 1:52:05
  So. Jake has miraculously made it
• 1:52:07
  out of that bathroom and he's making his way to great
• 1:52:10
  confrontation. Matt, he is.
• 1:52:13
  As we've said again, bit convenient that he chooses
• 1:52:16
  service place to go first of all and that's where he actually is.
• 1:52:18
  But that's fine. It's you know, it would be on
• 1:52:20
  the list. There's a reason to be, that's
• 1:52:22
  fine. I just love how absolutely
• 1:52:25
  shameless Alonso still is at this point.
• 1:52:28
  I mean, Jake's got the drop on him, he's going to call it, and
• 1:52:31
  he's still trying to talk his way out of it.
• 1:52:33
  Unbelievable. I mean, there's only little
• 1:52:35
  physical bits that Denzel does, which remains and giving him the
• 1:52:38
  round of applause. But with the big blocks of cash,
• 1:52:41
  that's such a great visual. Because.
• 1:52:44
  It's. It's funny, but it's also look
• 1:52:46
  what I've got. Jake, do you want some of this?
• 1:52:49
  It's really tempting, Tempting, but like, say, just so shame.
• 1:52:52
  Congratulations, son, You made it.
• 1:52:54
  You're in. Like, I know he's charismatic.
• 1:52:56
  I know he is, but who's buying this now?
• 1:52:58
  He's just got this absolute refusal to admit defeat, which
• 1:53:02
  is part of what makes him so compelling.
• 1:53:04
  But again, he's just always got an argument to make.
• 1:53:07
  You doubt yourself, You know, you don't have any witnesses as
• 1:53:09
  to what happened. It's not what you know.
• 1:53:11
  It's where you can prove, because obviously Jake does have
• 1:53:14
  the drugs in the system still and he doesn't have anyone that
• 1:53:17
  will back his story up. Then again, I think this shows
• 1:53:20
  the difference between the two because Jake could shoot Alonzo
• 1:53:22
  here and now and probably get away with it, but he never would
• 1:53:26
  because that's the divine line and that's the line he won't
• 1:53:28
  cross. So the confrontation, he was
• 1:53:30
  great. I love when he kind of dives.
• 1:53:32
  I recover in Alonso City. You know, I'm surgical with this
• 1:53:35
  Jake. No, this, when you find out it
• 1:53:37
  was similar, put blue in the wheelchair.
• 1:53:38
  That's great. But I do think it starts to
• 1:53:40
  wobble again a bit here because this is what I mean by air
• 1:53:43
  having to resolve the conflict. And it's not as good as the
• 1:53:45
  setup of the conflict because the fight's pretty well done.
• 1:53:48
  But I think things like Jake hanging off the edge of the
• 1:53:51
  balcony and there's a spiked fence floor and there's a bark
• 1:53:53
  and really vicious dog about it. Get him and it's just a bit.
• 1:53:56
  Who's he going to fall? It was doom.
• 1:53:58
  Of course not. It's not the type of film saw.
• 1:54:01
  I think Washington and Hawk are really elevating his final
• 1:54:03
  confrontation because otherwise it's just starting to feel a bit
• 1:54:06
  generic at this point, this actual kind of physical fight
• 1:54:08
  that they have. Yeah, I think this fight I'm
• 1:54:11
  least bothered about this fight and anything else in the film.
• 1:54:14
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 1:54:15
  Even though like kinetically it's well shot.
• 1:54:18
  Yeah. Yeah, the fight, it's brutal
• 1:54:19
  when when Jake goes through that window as well.
• 1:54:22
  Yeah. In David is original script, the
• 1:54:24
  film ends with Jake dumping the money on the bed and walking
• 1:54:26
  away. Without the fight, without the
• 1:54:28
  shootout, without King Kong, without the Russians.
• 1:54:31
  Wow. He always had in the back of his
• 1:54:33
  mind that the studio would probably demand changes.
• 1:54:35
  He said his was the art movie version, saying that it would
• 1:54:39
  have been a version that nobody saw.
• 1:54:41
  No. Sounds good to me.
• 1:54:45
  I don't think that anybody has ever referred to Trainer Dears
• 1:54:49
  Art movie. Definitely not.
• 1:54:52
  Definitely not. But Denzel was a big advocate
• 1:54:55
  for changing the end, and he felt the original vision was a
• 1:54:57
  bit of a cop out, no pun intended.
• 1:54:59
  It felt like they were keeping things open for sequel in his
• 1:55:02
  view, and he insisted that if Alonso lives in the worst way,
• 1:55:05
  he should die in the worst way. And for him, the best way for
• 1:55:08
  Alonso to go would be for the community to turn the back on
• 1:55:10
  him and for him to get slapped around and just end up crawling
• 1:55:13
  around on the ground like snake. Yeah, the what a way to go for
• 1:55:16
  the character, Yeah. And there were a few different
• 1:55:18
  endings considered including Lonzo getting away with it.
• 1:55:21
  Another had Alonzo killing himself.
• 1:55:23
  And in the deleted scene Jake pulls up but he's home at the
• 1:55:26
  end. And someone gets out of the car
• 1:55:27
  parked over the road. And it's Tom Barringer's
• 1:55:29
  character who says and asks where the money is.
• 1:55:32
  And Jake replies, it's in the lock up, get the foot on me
• 1:55:35
  driveway leave. And then he kind of must himself
• 1:55:38
  as evidence. Yeah.
• 1:55:39
  And so there's some unfinished business there with the three
• 1:55:41
  wise members that seems being deleted.
• 1:55:43
  But I think that would have worked quite like that at the
• 1:55:45
  end. I think I would have been all
• 1:55:46
  right because there is definitely some ambiguity right
• 1:55:49
  at the end when Jake gets home and the police reports doesn't
• 1:55:52
  see anything about corruption or anything like that.
• 1:55:54
  There's a cover up somewhere. So he hasn't told anyone about
• 1:55:57
  anything. Yeah, I like that.
• 1:55:59
  I mean, after the fight, after the car chase, after the running
• 1:56:01
  over, really, we end up in the same place where Jake isn't
• 1:56:04
  supposed to be without Alonzo, but he's with Alonzo and
• 1:56:08
  everybody's watching. And here is the moment that
• 1:56:09
  everyone remembers Training Day. I mean, this scene is just an
• 1:56:13
  absolute. It's just a wonder to behold.
• 1:56:17
  It's an absolute joy from start to finish, just the way he's
• 1:56:20
  carrying himself and holding himself.
• 1:56:22
  And to me, this absolutely screams that he's been found
• 1:56:26
  out. It screams that he's got no
• 1:56:28
  other way to go if you wanted to follow that particular line.
• 1:56:31
  It also screams that he's been undercover this whole time and
• 1:56:34
  he's got no way out. He's got to keep this persona
• 1:56:36
  up. He's got to keep this act up in
• 1:56:38
  front of everybody. He can't drop it now.
• 1:56:40
  He needs that money to get out. He's got to play the character
• 1:56:43
  all the way to the end. Doesn't expect Jake to shoot
• 1:56:45
  him, shoots him in the ass. He can't be in the ass.
• 1:56:48
  Me in the ass which? Again, is a little into the
• 1:56:51
  character, the next one will kill you.
• 1:56:54
  Just some of the dialogue in here, just give me the money and
• 1:56:57
  let me go home. You don't quite know where home
• 1:56:59
  is. Because he looks up at Sarah and
• 1:57:01
  look, she picks the kid up and they disappear.
• 1:57:03
  And he's genuinely upset. He's emotional at this point.
• 1:57:06
  His plan hasn't worked. So which plan you're following,
• 1:57:10
  it doesn't really matter because they all have the same
• 1:57:11
  conclusion, all ends the same way, which I think is absolutely
• 1:57:15
  fantastic. But he's like, I'm going to burn
• 1:57:17
  this motherfucker down. Everybody's on my side.
• 1:57:20
  And he's just really clutching its straws here.
• 1:57:23
  Jake's in. I am not like you.
• 1:57:24
  And he realizes that at that point, he can't really do
• 1:57:27
  anything else. He can't pick him up, he can't
• 1:57:29
  push him down, he can't pull him anymore.
• 1:57:30
  It's duality is over with now. He's completely revealed, but
• 1:57:34
  it's so powerful when he just leans up against the car and
• 1:57:38
  just says, you know, you can shoot me, but you can't get me.
• 1:57:42
  You won't get who I really am. You'll never get what I've been
• 1:57:45
  doing. There's something deeper here.
• 1:57:46
  Yeah, there's a deep you can shoot this, but it doesn't mean
• 1:57:49
  that that's the end, because I've done something that nobody
• 1:57:51
  knows about. This is just a character play.
• 1:57:53
  You've just been watching this act all the way through, which I
• 1:57:56
  really, really get from that. And it's just really powerful.
• 1:57:59
  When he said what a day. He's.
• 1:58:02
  Like I'm winning anyway. As if he's done something and
• 1:58:06
  he's uncovered something that's going to play out that we don't
• 1:58:09
  know about. He's one.
• 1:58:10
  Yeah. And then the Russians turn up
• 1:58:12
  now the pull up at an intersection and absolutely
• 1:58:15
  destroy him to shoot the car up. He gets out the car.
• 1:58:18
  There's no discussions. No, there's no characters.
• 1:58:20
  There's no people to speak to that he recognized.
• 1:58:23
  Everyone's in masks. There's a woman in the car, and
• 1:58:25
  he's blown away. It is, you know, James Carlton
• 1:58:27
  blown. Jimmy Car isn't.
• 1:58:28
  It is absolutely. You know, it's like, like Bonnie
• 1:58:31
  and Clyde blown away. He's absolutely destroyed and it
• 1:58:35
  doesn't matter whether he's got the money or not at this point.
• 1:58:37
  So honestly think there's something else going on because
• 1:58:39
  this is an execution. There's something else going on
• 1:58:42
  here where this guy needs to be taken out, and he's been taken
• 1:58:45
  out in the worst way. I mean, this scene especially
• 1:58:48
  and that King Kong line is just is huge.
• 1:58:50
  That should be funny, but it's not.
• 1:58:51
  No, it should be. It should be.
• 1:58:53
  I'm King Kong. It's just definitely so what's
• 1:58:56
  the biggest thing I can think of that's going to destroy
• 1:58:59
  somewhere? And he's just, you know, he
• 1:59:00
  could have hit you with anything, King Kong, Godzilla,
• 1:59:02
  anything, and it would have worked.
• 1:59:03
  It's just that kind of size of it.
• 1:59:05
  Then this scene especially it was filmed at the Palmwood Dr.
• 1:59:09
  cul-de-sac known as the jungle in Baldwin Village area of Los
• 1:59:13
  Angeles. The Dead End St. in Black P
• 1:59:15
  Stones Blood Gang Territory had gang members on rooftops during
• 1:59:19
  filming for authentic neighborhood presence.
• 1:59:21
  Amazing. Yeah, those surrounding Alonzo
• 1:59:24
  Denzel, those are all real people.
• 1:59:26
  That's their neighborhood. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:59:28
  And obviously that line, one of the most iconic lines in cinema,
• 1:59:32
  I think. Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:59:34
  It was improvised by Washington on the spot.
• 1:59:37
  Incredible. Yeah, Fuqua looked at the
• 1:59:40
  cameraman after Washington delivered the line and said, I
• 1:59:43
  hope you got that because that's probably never going to happen
• 1:59:45
  again. Yeah, amazing.
• 1:59:47
  And Denzel later said his ego was so big that King Kong didn't
• 1:59:51
  register. When he gets out of his car,
• 1:59:53
  he's head into his trunk to try and get some guns.
• 1:59:55
  He still thinks that he can get away with it.
• 1:59:57
  He was all about the ego. Yeah, he has been all the way
• 2:00:00
  through. So that is it, We can finally
• 2:00:03
  pause for breath as the Wild Riders come to an end, with Jake
• 2:00:05
  making it home alive, barely in one piece.
• 2:00:08
  Yeah. Barely.
• 2:00:09
  What's he going to say to his Mrs. when he gets in?
• 2:00:11
  I had no breakfast, then I had some PCP.
• 2:00:14
  Sorry. Three fingers of whiskey.
• 2:00:17
  And then Roger got shot. Who the fuck's Roger?
• 2:00:19
  What are you talking about? Reception and awards.
• 2:00:27
  Training Day tested at San Diego Comic Con and received probably
• 2:00:31
  the lowest test screening scores of Fuqua's career.
• 2:00:33
  Wow, wow. Audiences were particularly
• 2:00:36
  upset that Denzel's character dies at the end, He said they
• 2:00:39
  were unable to accept his death despite them being obviously,
• 2:00:42
  you know, the most henous person in the world.
• 2:00:44
  Right. Yeah.
• 2:00:45
  So despite the poor test scores, Fuqua refused to change the end
• 2:00:48
  and believing it was essential that the corrupt cop face
• 2:00:51
  consequences for his actions. Of course he can't get away with
• 2:00:54
  it. It's outrageous.
• 2:00:55
  What does that teach people? Exactly.
• 2:00:58
  Yeah, sounding a boat like Andy Dufresne.
• 2:01:04
  And the film premiered at the 58th Venice International Film
• 2:01:07
  Festival on September 2nd, 2001, and received very strong word of
• 2:01:12
  mouth buzz, some of which came from Richard Linklater, who told
• 2:01:15
  Fuqua and Hawk that they'd made a classic.
• 2:01:17
  Nice. To true, Yeah.
• 2:01:19
  Fuqua attended the Venice premiere but largely stayed away
• 2:01:21
  from the limelight. He later said that he had
• 2:01:23
  immersed himself in the film so much that he needed to step away
• 2:01:26
  from it. He said that it'd been viewing
• 2:01:28
  through the lens of another character for too long, that he
• 2:01:31
  had to distance himself from all these gang members.
• 2:01:34
  He was just immersed, entrenched in the culture, and he needed to
• 2:01:37
  get away. Yeah.
• 2:01:37
  Fair enough. It was scheduled for a
• 2:01:39
  nationwide release on September 21st, 2001, but Warren has
• 2:01:43
  decided to delay this until 5th of October because they spotted
• 2:01:46
  a potential backlash from audiences in the wake of 9/11.
• 2:01:49
  Right. Yeah.
• 2:01:50
  Particularly as emergency services police were being
• 2:01:52
  hailed as heroes. Yeah.
• 2:01:54
  Yeah. The soundtrack was actually
• 2:01:55
  released on September 11th. Ouch.
• 2:01:58
  The plan did work, training days, word of mouth being
• 2:02:01
  translated into a steady box office success.
• 2:02:03
  Final totals reached $104.9 million worldwide against a
• 2:02:08
  45,000,000 production budget. Lovely.
• 2:02:11
  But the popularity of the film wasn't limited to audiences.
• 2:02:14
  Varieties Review praised the film, saying it had enough rough
• 2:02:17
  action, edgy behavior and violence laden titillation to be
• 2:02:21
  a muscular box office performer for one of others.
• 2:02:24
  Nice Empire gave it 4 out of five, marred slightly by an
• 2:02:27
  unsatisfactory climax. This is a cracking cop drama
• 2:02:31
  anchored by great performances in intelligent direction from
• 2:02:34
  Fuqua. It's refreshing to see a
• 2:02:36
  thriller worthy of the label. Yes, it is.
• 2:02:39
  Very good. Yeah.
• 2:02:39
  And finally, the big man himself, Big Rog, Roger EBIT out
• 2:02:45
  of four, what do you think he gave it?
• 2:02:46
  3. I got 2.5.
• 2:02:49
  Maybe he was a little caught on it.
• 2:02:51
  Oh, I know he was warmer than that.
• 2:02:53
  Matt. He was 3.
• 2:02:54
  Westy, well done enough. Nice one.
• 2:02:56
  He said Alonzo Harris makes Popeyes oil look like officer
• 2:02:59
  friendly. Washington's performance is over
• 2:03:02
  the top and down the other side is screenplay is ingenious in
• 2:03:05
  the wave plants queues and pays them off in unexpected ways.
• 2:03:08
  It might have been better if it had stayed closer to life, but
• 2:03:11
  it doesn't want to be fair enough.
• 2:03:13
  And now it has. 74% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, 89% from
• 2:03:17
  audiences and 7.8 out of 10 are IMDb.
• 2:03:20
  Big score, big score. Lovely.
• 2:03:22
  The buzz followed into award season.
• 2:03:24
  The film didn't pick up a raft of nominations across the board.
• 2:03:27
  They were mostly for best actor for Denzel, only the big Best
• 2:03:31
  actor winner that year at the Baftas and the Golden Globes.
• 2:03:34
  Other award ceremonies as well was Russell Crowe for A
• 2:03:36
  Beautiful Mind. But allegedly after an
• 2:03:39
  altercation Crow had backstage at the Bafta's when a poem he
• 2:03:42
  read out during his speech was cut from ATV broadcast.
• 2:03:46
  He basically had a punch up with the producer.
• 2:03:48
  Yeah. Attention switched to Denzel for
• 2:03:50
  the Oscars, where he did end up getting that coveted best actor
• 2:03:54
  award. This was a historic moment as he
• 2:03:56
  became only the second Black actor to win best actor after
• 2:03:59
  Sidney Poitier, who won for Lilies of the Field from 1963.
• 2:04:03
  Yeah. And that same night, Mr. Sidney
• 2:04:06
  Poitier, my favorite actor, you saved an honorary Oscar.
• 2:04:10
  And this created a momentous occasion, which Denzel
• 2:04:13
  acknowledged in his speech. He said, 40 years I've been
• 2:04:15
  chasing Sydney, they finally give it to me.
• 2:04:18
  And what did they do? They give it to him on the same
• 2:04:20
  night. I'll always be chasing you,
• 2:04:21
  Sydney. Lovely.
• 2:04:23
  Wonderful. That's wonderful.
• 2:04:24
  Yeah. And during film, one of the
• 2:04:25
  driving sequences for the film, Fuqua leaned in and told Ethan
• 2:04:28
  Hawke, you get this right and you're going to get nominated
• 2:04:31
  for an Oscar. I mean, that's motivation, isn't
• 2:04:33
  it? Yeah, isn't it?
• 2:04:33
  When it was that the very first scene, very as he met him.
• 2:04:37
  Make sure you get this right. So never a true word said as
• 2:04:40
  Hawk was also nominated at the Oscars for Best Support and
• 2:04:43
  Actor, although he lost out to Jim Broadbent for Iris.
• 2:04:47
  After the winner was announced to Washington lead over the Hawk
• 2:04:50
  and said it's better that you didn't win, losing was better.
• 2:04:53
  You don't want an award or improve your status.
• 2:04:56
  You want to improve the award status.
• 2:04:58
  Nice. Lovely, but I bet he didn't say
• 2:05:00
  that when he won about 20 minutes later.
• 2:05:02
  This is actually pretty good. Ethan, you have one of these.
• 2:05:06
  Hulk wasn't too bothered about the loss, so he later reflected,
• 2:05:09
  having been sat next to Washington and nominated against
• 2:05:12
  Ian McKellen, had already won. Yeah, nice.
• 2:05:15
  So a triple threat from Training day with box office critical and
• 2:05:17
  awards recognition fully deserved in our opinion.
• 2:05:20
  Oh. Absolutely, yeah, sequels and
• 2:05:25
  influence. There has been talk about a
• 2:05:30
  return to training day for the big screen for years, which has
• 2:05:33
  failed to materialise so far. The training day world was
• 2:05:36
  expanded for the small screen in 2017, starring Bill Paxton and
• 2:05:39
  Justin Cornwell AS2. Earlier, cops said 15 years
• 2:05:42
  after the events of the original, notable as the first
• 2:05:46
  episode was released only three weeks before Paxton.
• 2:05:49
  Sad passing. All right.
• 2:05:50
  So it was never going to be renewed for a second season,
• 2:05:53
  which was unlikely anywhere as the reviews were not kind.
• 2:05:57
  Right. Currently, it's 24% of Rotten
• 2:05:59
  Tomatoes. Not two years after the film was
• 2:06:02
  released in June 2003, Alonzo Harris was ranked 50th greatest
• 2:06:05
  villain of all time on the AF5100 Years 100 Heroes and
• 2:06:09
  Villains list. Immediate recognition in the
• 2:06:11
  annals of history for an iconic performance, but for us, where
• 2:06:15
  do we see its legacy and influence in the intervening
• 2:06:19
  years? Westie I.
• 2:06:21
  Mean it's legacy and influence for me.
• 2:06:22
  I mean he should definitely be higher than 54 villain.
• 2:06:25
  I agree it's up there. I think if that was revised
• 2:06:27
  soon, he'll be further up the list.
• 2:06:29
  I think it's just only two years after, yeah.
• 2:06:32
  Very, very good performance, almost like a timeless
• 2:06:34
  performance, I think from Denzel.
• 2:06:35
  Yeah. And I think what we got from
• 2:06:37
  this is a real surge of Denzel films, you know, that were
• 2:06:40
  centered around Denzel. There was a lot of things that
• 2:06:42
  he did before this. Even the hurricane didn't really
• 2:06:45
  seem to be around him. You know, the Bone Collector
• 2:06:47
  wasn't that much around him. No Courage under Fire, no
• 2:06:50
  Philadelphia, No. But then all of a sudden you've
• 2:06:52
  got like American Gangster, which kind of seemed to be his
• 2:06:55
  films. And then from there you've got
• 2:06:57
  the Equalizer films. I think when he did the first
• 2:07:00
  Equalizer with Antoine, Football again added a little bit more to
• 2:07:03
  his career. I think this film gave him a lot
• 2:07:05
  of confidence, give Fuqua a lot of confidence.
• 2:07:07
  And I think here as well, he just started writing about
• 2:07:10
  characters and creating character pieces and started
• 2:07:12
  stop worrying so much about plot when he realized that plot in
• 2:07:15
  this is there. But it's an inconvenience for
• 2:07:18
  me. I think I would like to have
• 2:07:19
  seen more from Ethan Hawke on the back of this, but again, I
• 2:07:23
  just really respect and appreciate his choices because
• 2:07:27
  they are few and far between and when he does something he does
• 2:07:30
  it with everything, even if it's not massive or not brilliant.
• 2:07:33
  He just has a real honesty and real integrity about who he is,
• 2:07:37
  and I really, really adore him as a human being.
• 2:07:39
  To be fair, I think he's a wonderful guy.
• 2:07:41
  People have tried to imitate this, even like 2 Guns with
• 2:07:45
  Denzel in it. It's just nothing really touches
• 2:07:48
  it. Nothing really has this kind of
• 2:07:49
  level of intertwining mystery because I think this film itself
• 2:07:53
  is just an incredible melting pot of all of these themes, but
• 2:07:56
  also all of this talent that all of this need to make something
• 2:08:00
  that was authentic. We are getting more authentic
• 2:08:02
  films and we definitely have since this one, but this is the
• 2:08:06
  one for me that feels the most cinematic and is a real
• 2:08:08
  blueprint. Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:08:10
  Yeah. I think you can look at it from
• 2:08:12
  a number of different ways. I think first up, the film gave
• 2:08:15
  Fuqua A springboard as a director.
• 2:08:17
  I don't think he gets a career without it, so not a career he's
• 2:08:20
  had. And gave us further collabs with
• 2:08:23
  Denzel. You've got a number of similarly
• 2:08:26
  themed films that came in its wake.
• 2:08:28
  Brooklyn's finest, A Fuqua film, 999 Rampart, which was based on
• 2:08:32
  true events about the police crimes that this film was
• 2:08:34
  inspired by before they were even exposed.
• 2:08:37
  I just don't think that's getting made without this film.
• 2:08:39
  End of Watch, which is a David A written and directed, which is a
• 2:08:43
  sequel to this. It's very, very spiritually
• 2:08:46
  connected, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:08:48
  Would Peter Jackson have revisited King Kong in 2005
• 2:08:51
  without this film? That's maybe a stretch.
• 2:08:52
  That's a good point, yeah. But of course you've got a
• 2:08:57
  character of Alonzo Harris, one of the most iconic anti heroes
• 2:09:01
  bad guys in cinema. He was the first character that
• 2:09:03
  Denzel really leaned into as a bad guy, which had an influence
• 2:09:06
  I think on the rest of his career to be morally ambiguous
• 2:09:09
  and that King Kong line. And that's transcended film.
• 2:09:12
  It's got that crossover appeal. And that's just from 1
• 2:09:15
  character. So I think there's a lot to
• 2:09:17
  discuss in terms of influence and legacy, but the biggest
• 2:09:20
  revolves around that enormous Denzel performance.
• 2:09:22
  Yeah, it does. Yeah, very similar to it's, it's
• 2:09:25
  peak Denzel here. It's possibly the one
• 2:09:27
  performance maybe Malcolm XI put in there as well that most of
• 2:09:30
  the performances will be judged against because it's so central.
• 2:09:34
  It's all good and I think it's just very hard to make any kind
• 2:09:37
  of corrupt cop film after this without people going.
• 2:09:40
  It's as good as Training Day, though.
• 2:09:41
  If it's not, what's the point? But in terms of influence,
• 2:09:45
  though, I'm going to see ATV. And it's difficult to see
• 2:09:47
  influence because it started the same year this film came out.
• 2:09:50
  But there was a show called The Shield, which was also based on
• 2:09:54
  the Rampart scandal. It was about a corrupt police
• 2:09:56
  unit in LA Absolutely fantastic. If you've not seen it, it's
• 2:10:00
  definitely well worth watching. Great stars.
• 2:10:02
  Michael Chiklis. He's the main character and he
• 2:10:04
  is unbelievable in it. Very, very long.
• 2:10:06
  So like. So, yeah, I think The Shield
• 2:10:08
  goes hand in hand with this. Brilliant.
• 2:10:11
  So incredibly popular on release and still now decades later.
• 2:10:14
  King Kong really ain't got shit on training day.
• 2:10:17
  No, he hasn't all the right movies ranking.
• 2:10:24
  We finally made it home a little bruised and batted a little
• 2:10:27
  worse for wear and tear, and now it's time to provide our summary
• 2:10:31
  and score for Training Day. Europe first, Westie.
• 2:10:34
  I mean, I know we've taught at length about this, and it is
• 2:10:36
  such a rewarding film and you get a lot from it.
• 2:10:38
  And the more you watch it, the more you think about it, the
• 2:10:40
  more rewarding it actually is because there is so much to, I
• 2:10:43
  mean, just the Denzel Washington performance alone is worth
• 2:10:49
  watching it 3 or 4 times, Then you've got everything else on
• 2:10:52
  top. Ethan Hawkes, absolutely
• 2:10:53
  fantastic, probably one of his greatest performances to be
• 2:10:56
  honest, but you just can't see it because of the shadow of
• 2:10:58
  Denzel Washington over the top of it.
• 2:11:00
  Supporting cast is absolutely fantastic.
• 2:11:02
  The level of authenticity is absolutely fantastic.
• 2:11:04
  Fuqua's direction is just so beautifully measured that we've
• 2:11:08
  talked about. The cinematography, the sound
• 2:11:10
  design is unbelievable. The edit works really, really
• 2:11:12
  well. Hand in hand with that, it's a
• 2:11:14
  perfectly constructed, really well made film and it's endless
• 2:11:18
  entertaining and it's 90% bullshit and that's the whole
• 2:11:21
  point. I think You really hits home for
• 2:11:24
  me. It's a great film.
• 2:11:25
  It's one I've enjoyed coming back to over and over and not
• 2:11:27
  one I would have watched as much if we weren't doing a podcast on
• 2:11:30
  it a couple of times to be honest.
• 2:11:32
  And I'm so pleased that I've checked it out 2345 times
• 2:11:36
  because it's just more and more rewarding every time.
• 2:11:38
  And if there's people listening to this who love Training Day,
• 2:11:41
  then you'll know what I'm talking about.
• 2:11:42
  If there's people listening to this scene it once or twice,
• 2:11:44
  then watch it again and again and it will become a much better
• 2:11:48
  film. Haven't said that.
• 2:11:49
  There is bits that we've mentioned that it's a little bit
• 2:11:52
  far fetched. It's a bit of a push for that
• 2:11:54
  one together, but it's just so good that you can't ignore it.
• 2:11:57
  But again, that's not an excuse for what it is.
• 2:11:59
  It could have been a little bit better written in places, it
• 2:12:02
  could have been a little bit more solid and a little bit more
• 2:12:04
  structured. It's a great film but it isn't
• 2:12:06
  perfect. So it's a nine out of 10 for me.
• 2:12:08
  Fantastic. Still a damn good score.
• 2:12:11
  What about you, Matt? Yeah.
• 2:12:12
  It's a great film, always thoroughly enjoyed coming back
• 2:12:14
  to this and it's one I'd recommend to people if they
• 2:12:16
  haven't seen it, like without any real reservations, because
• 2:12:19
  the thing it's it's just that type from the thing.
• 2:12:22
  Everyone will get something out of it.
• 2:12:23
  It's a real flavor of the streets, which The thing is done
• 2:12:26
  to how Truecour directed Ethan Hawke's underratedness.
• 2:12:30
  And you do just when I was superlative.
• 2:12:32
  So that Denzel Washington performance, mesmeric, charming,
• 2:12:36
  terrifying, hilarious. He's evident and the film is
• 2:12:39
  absolutely at its best when it's as those two kind of dancing
• 2:12:42
  along that line of ambiguity about what's right and what's
• 2:12:45
  wrong in this world. But it is a film of three
• 2:12:47
  thirds. The 1st 2/3 is so good and if it
• 2:12:50
  maintained that quality, I think we'd be looking at an all timer
• 2:12:54
  of the film here. But that last third, as Wesley
• 2:12:57
  says we've discussed it, hinges on a massive coincidence.
• 2:13:00
  These are the plot holes along the way.
• 2:13:02
  And I think kind of want to get to that final confrontation.
• 2:13:05
  It just starts to feel a bit generic in a bit.
• 2:13:08
  I have seen this before these, yes.
• 2:13:11
  And then how much of the film is really carried by that Denzel
• 2:13:14
  performance? You know, even if they've got
• 2:13:16
  someone who gave even just 70% of the performance he gave, I
• 2:13:20
  think that would lower the overall quality quite a bit.
• 2:13:23
  So it's not an absolute out, not classic of the genre for me, but
• 2:13:26
  it is comfortably on that second row.
• 2:13:28
  So it's an 8.5 for me. 8.5 yeah. Nice.
• 2:13:33
  Well, I just get excited by this film.
• 2:13:35
  No matter how many times I see that dynasty, I have my mouth
• 2:13:39
  open in anticipation in the next hurtful comment that.
• 2:13:42
  Yeah, I know. You mean yeah.
• 2:13:44
  I watched Denzel in this roaring around LA with an ego as big as
• 2:13:48
  the city. I'd watch it all day long.
• 2:13:50
  And not to mention the selflessness of Ethan Hawke's
• 2:13:53
  performance as well. Yeah, and now it's a film I'll
• 2:13:55
  return to again and again, and I would recommend it to anyone
• 2:13:59
  because it entertains me. Very good.
• 2:14:04
  But you do have to suspend disbelief for large portions of
• 2:14:07
  the film. But I don't think that that's a
• 2:14:09
  conscious decision because you're on this 100 mile an hour
• 2:14:12
  roller coaster. You don't realize that the
• 2:14:14
  tracks wobbling, you're just going along for the ride.
• 2:14:16
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:14:17
  When you get that card game at the end, you've been through the
• 2:14:19
  ringer so much that you're willing to give it a pass
• 2:14:22
  despite the absolute liberties taken in the right thing.
• 2:14:26
  You're already invested. You're already in.
• 2:14:28
  Yeah, I think that's a testament to the performances and the
• 2:14:31
  storytelling from Fuqua. A film doesn't have to be
• 2:14:35
  perfect to make an impact, to be an Oscar winner, to be
• 2:14:37
  rewatchable and quotable as hell.
• 2:14:39
  But it can't get 10 out of 10 for that reason.
• 2:14:42
  Yeah, so I'm stripping away a point given Train and Dear 9 out
• 2:14:46
  of 10. OK, so those are our scores for
• 2:14:49
  the film, but our 4th and final scores come from our Patreon
• 2:14:52
  community. I will reveal their scores in a
• 2:14:54
  moment, but first some choice comments, OK?
• 2:14:57
  OK. Dermot C said not the best in
• 2:15:00
  the genre, not the best career performance from Denzel
• 2:15:02
  Washington or Ethan Hawke. Still watchable though.
• 2:15:05
  It's a solid 7 from me. Wow, OK.
• 2:15:09
  From Matt T, he said. It's a nine from me, a good
• 2:15:13
  portion of these votes of for the Bravaro performance by
• 2:15:16
  Denzel. It's not a 10, and if I could
• 2:15:19
  give it an 8.5, maybe I would because I find repeat viewings
• 2:15:22
  of it make it lose its cool and impact.
• 2:15:24
  Then I remember Macy Gray's in it and it's back to A9.
• 2:15:28
  Yes. Fair enough.
• 2:15:30
  Very much. It'll take much.
• 2:15:32
  No it doesn't. How about this though From Tim
• 2:15:35
  Bruce Alert? Tim said 5.
• 2:15:39
  OK, it's only that high so I don't get called out for a
• 2:15:42
  review bombing, right? Hate the subject matter, the
• 2:15:45
  ridiculously convenient plot elements, especially the ending
• 2:15:48
  and the feeling. I've seen this all 100 times
• 2:15:51
  before I changed my mind. It's a 3.
• 2:15:55
  OK. Hitting us where it hurts there,
• 2:15:57
  Tim. But at least you're honest,
• 2:15:58
  right? Yeah, there he is, honest.
• 2:16:00
  Yeah, he's not a review woman. No, at least he's being honest.
• 2:16:03
  And finally from Dan Roberts, Superb film, perfect mix of dark
• 2:16:07
  humor and tension, great acting performances all round. 10 out
• 2:16:11
  of 10A palate cleanser from Dan there.
• 2:16:14
  OK. Nice limoncello from Dan.
• 2:16:16
  Yeah, lovely. Lovely.
• 2:16:18
  So a lot to wear through there. Some stirring views, some
• 2:16:21
  striking views. Yeah.
• 2:16:23
  What do you think? It averaged on Patriot and Chaps
• 2:16:26
  I. Think in it.
• 2:16:27
  I have no idea. Yeah, it.
• 2:16:29
  It got a very respectable 9 out of 10.
• 2:16:32
  Oh. Nice, that's good.
• 2:16:34
  Which means that Trinity's overall score is 35.5 solid.
• 2:16:39
  Yeah, Solid, solid, solid. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:16:41
  Join us again in all the right movies.
• 2:16:43
  In two weeks, John, Westie and Matt will be in Middle Earth to
• 2:16:46
  talk about the film as huge as Denzel's performance here, the
• 2:16:49
  first installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The
• 2:16:52
  Fellowship of the Ring. That should be jam packed.
• 2:16:56
  Yes. Sure, Crammed 1 does not simply
• 2:16:59
  make a podcast about Fellowship of the Ring, but we are.
• 2:17:03
  Very nice like that. Love that.
• 2:17:05
  Excellent. Did you get it, Luke?
• 2:17:07
  Did you understand the reference or?
• 2:17:09
  Yeah, OK. Yeah.
• 2:17:11
  Yep, definitely, definitely. You seen the meme?
• 2:17:13
  He's fine. That's all you need to see in it
• 2:17:19
  for our patrons. This month's episode of The
• 2:17:21
  Watch List, our movie review show, came out last week, and
• 2:17:25
  our double feature episode this month is on Leonardo DiCaprio
• 2:17:28
  and Shooter Island and The Revenant.
• 2:17:30
  That will be with you next week. What's a good?
• 2:17:32
  It's a very. Good one, and there are loads
• 2:17:35
  more treats on the way from all the right movies before the
• 2:17:38
  year's end. If you haven't done it already,
• 2:17:40
  please give us a positive rate. And wherever you listen to
• 2:17:42
  podcasts, if you've come this far, it's absolute certainty
• 2:17:46
  that you love the podcast. Must be.
• 2:17:48
  So please, five stars if you can.
• 2:17:51
  If you can, please yes. And as ever, social media is
• 2:17:54
  where it's at for your daily ATR and fix.
• 2:17:57
  We're on X Blue Sky, Threads, Instagram, TikTok.
• 2:18:00
  As always, our making of movie threads go up on X Blue sky and
• 2:18:03
  threads. And just like our podcast, they
• 2:18:05
  are extensively researched with all information corroborated by
• 2:18:08
  at least three sources are coming from the mouths of the
• 2:18:11
  cast or crew. Yes.
• 2:18:13
  You can join our Facebook group for another incredible movie
• 2:18:16
  community. Our YouTube channel is
• 2:18:18
  youtube.com/all Right Movies. More new videos going up there
• 2:18:22
  regularly, so don't forget to check that out on a regular
• 2:18:24
  basis. Absolutely.
• 2:18:26
  And our website is all the right movies.com.
• 2:18:29
  Yeah. And that is a wrap, everyone.
• 2:18:31
  Yeah. It's not what you know, it's
• 2:18:33
  what you can prove. And I think we've proved that
• 2:18:35
  this shit's chested in checkers. Nice you.
• 2:18:38
  Love that line so much. It does.
• 2:18:40
  Every time. We're going to go out to the
• 2:18:43
  office, which will no doubt involve drinking whiskeys, beer,
• 2:18:47
  red wine, smoke in the yard. Hit the PCP.
• 2:18:49
  Yeah. Why not?
• 2:18:50
  Yeah. Thanks for listening everyone.
• 2:18:52
  Come back to Lord of the Rings in two weeks, yes?
• 2:18:55
  Thanks guys. Thank you so much guys.
• 2:18:56
  Thank you. The shit's chess.
• 2:19:18
  It ain't checkers.