'Home Alone' viewers stunned after finally realizing who plays the police officer after three decades

vt-author-image

By Nasima Khatun

Article saved!Article saved!

It's been over three decades since the Christmas classic Home Alone first hit our screens and since then, we've been enjoying the movie every time the festive season rolls around.

No matter how much time has passed, it seems as though we're still discovering new nuggets of information about it - well, some of us are.

The latest so-called revelation happens to involve the police officer at the start of the film.

Sergeant Larry Balzak, who only appeared at the start of the film for a scene, attempted to get someone's attention while the McCallister kids ran wild with no adults in sight.

The officer then warned Kevin's father that there are "a lot of burglaries around the holidays."

size-large wp-image-1263241924
Credit: 20th Century Studios

It seems as though a lot of people had no idea that this "police officer" was also Harry Lyme - one-half of the antagonists, the Wet Bandits. Of course, the iconic character is played by the perfectly cast Joe Pesci.

I mean, I know some things are a little tricky to figure out, but this one? I just assumed everyone knew.

Well, not according to Twitter, as social media users took to the platform to share their shock at the revelation.

"Just realizing that the police officer at the beginning of home alone... is one of the bandits," said one person.

"I’m pretty sure I was a full grown adult before I realized that Harry was the police officer at the beginning of the film #HomeAlone," wrote another.

Relive the iconic moment below. Did you notice who was behind the uniform?

A third also added that even as an adult, they had no idea until recently: "I'm 30 years of age and I've only just realized Joe Pesci is the cop at the start of Home Alone, which is how he knows the house will be empty for them to rob."

"Whoa, did you know in Home Alone, the same actor who plays the cop at the first of movie is also a member of the wet bandits?", questioned a fourth.

It seems as though others were confused as to how these people had no idea about the uncanny character switch.

"Baffled as to how some folks didnt/don't know that the "cop" at the beginning of Home Alone is actually one of the wet bandits casing the joint!", one user said.

"Please tell me your joking?",  tweeted another. "People to this day never realized the Police officer in the first Home Alone was really Harry from The Wet Bandits?"

While we're on the subject of Pesci's acting chops, you may be interested to know that deliberately avoided McCauley Culkin on the set of Home Alone 2 in order to preserve the “adversarial relationship” between the characters.

In a retrospective on the movies in PEOPLE, Pesci said he found Culkin to be “a really sweet kid and, even at his age, very professional."

However, he admitted that he intentionally limited his interactions with the child star between takes on set in order to "preserve the dynamic between his character, Kevin, and my character Harry."

The Goodfellas actor, famed for his method-acting chops, claimed he did so in order to “maintain the integrity of the adversarial relationship," between the two, and said he "didn’t want it to come across on the screen that we were in any way friendly" while shooting scenes with his young co-star.

In fact, Pesci went so "method" during the filming for the first movie, that he actually injured the young Culkin - and left him with a scar to remember him by.

While filming the scene when Harry and Marv finally get their hands on Kevin, Pesci's character tells the young boy: "I’m gonna bite all your fingers off, one at a time".

However, Culkin recalled on Late Night with Conan O’Brien that during one of the rehearsals, Pesci actually bit his finger and "broke the skin."

"I still have the scar," Culkin told O’Brien, as he smiled at his finger.

Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Studios