It’s been over 30 years since Home Alone first hit screens, and somehow, fans are still uncovering new details about the beloved holiday classic.
And by “new”, we mean “details that are glaringly obvious to the plot of the movie that somehow flew over our heads when we were kids”.
Home Alone is a Christmas classic. Credit: 20th Century Studios/YouTube
This latest revelation involves the police officer at the beginning of the movie.
As you may remember, at the start of the movie, Kevin family is visited by a police officer as the McCallisters are frantically getting ready for their trip to Paris.
In the scene, Peter McCallister – Kevin’s dad – take a moment to let the cop know all about the property’s home security measures, such as the automatic timers for the lights. Then Kevin’s mom let’s it slip that the family will be out of town for the holidays.
Little do the mom and dad know, they’ve actually just divulged their plans and home info to one of the Wet Bandits.
Yep, that’s right. The charmingly inept burglar Harry – played by Joe Pesci – is actually the cop in the opening scene — a twist that has left many viewers smacking their foreheads in disbelief (despite the fact he flashes his gold tooth to Kevin — a moment that is called back later in the movie).
Some viewers are only just realizing this key detail years later. Credit: 20th Century Studios/YouTube
Of course, Harry is casing the joint to plan a holiday heist with his partner in crime, Marv.
For those who’ve known this plot point for years, it might feel like a no-brainer. But thanks to the power of social media, plenty of fans are just now piecing it together.
“Just found out the ‘cop’ from Home Alone was THE ROBBER IN THE MOVIE—I’m a f**king idiot,” one Twitter user confessed. Another added: “Did u guys know the cop from Home Alone was also the robber?”
“How old were you when you found out the cop in the beginning of home alone. Is the robber. cause I just found out,” another added.
Check out the moment below:
And over on YouTube, I scrolled through the comments on the scene above and more people admitted to missing this key detail upon their first watch.
“First time I saw Home Alone as a kid I thought that the cop and Harry were two different characters, but I realized years later that it’s Harry disguised as a police officer,” one person wrote.
“I never realized that its one of the robbers,” another YouTube comment read.
“I was today years old when I found out the cop is the burglar,” another baffled viewer wrote.
Credit: X
Attempting to offer an explanation as to why so many people missed this key detail, people were quick to praise Joe Pesci’s acting — hailing his portrayal as a cop as “amazing”.
Another YouTube user also pointed out: “The cop uniform is so legit most people don’t realize to this day that that’s actually harry. Even though harry mentions later that he was pretending to be a cop in an implied way, people still don’t get it.”
The realization makes Harry’s later surprise at finding Kevin home alone even funnier. After all, he thought he’d done his homework — turns out, he didn’t count on an eight-year-old turning his house into a fortress of pain and humiliation.
