Watching all the gun-play, chase scenes, nastiness, and occasional humorous one-liners got me to thinking about other cop movies that made an impression on me over the years. When I look at my sizable movie collection, I don't see very many crime thrillers, but I do have some of the ones that would make most folks' Top Ten lists. But even among those, how many of them have likable and memorable cop characters?
Tom Selleck as Chief Jesse Stone
I enjoy the genre plenty; I just don't like a lot of crime films so much that I'd want to re-watch them enough to own them. But I can still mention several notable (and some favourite) police officers in film:
Max Rockatansky: Mel Gibson is a Aussie cop in the first Mad Max movie, but goes rogue (and crazy) in the sequels
Jesse Stone: Tom Selleck as no-nonsense chief of police in nine made-for-TV movies
David Toschi: Mark Ruffalo plays the persistent SFPD Inspector in Zodiak
"Dirty Harry" Callahan: Clint Eastwood is tough-as-hell SFPD inspector in five movies
Ed Tom Bell: Tommy Lee Jones faces off against a ruthless killer in No Country for Old Men
Axel Foley: Eddie Murphy's seminal 80's comedy role in Beverly Hills Cop (and its sequels)
Martin Riggs: Mel Gibson goes crazy again as a wacko officer in the Lethal Weapon movies
Frank Serpico: Al Pacino really nailed his part in Serpico... and I need to see this again!
Frank Drebin: Leslie Nielsen was rarely funnier than in The Naked Gun and its two sequels
Freddy Heflin: Sylvester Stallone as NJ sheriff battling corruption in Cop Land
Popeye Doyle: Gene Hackman as a NYPD detective lays the foundation for future morally questionable movie cops in The French Connection
Vincent Hanna: I need to see Pacino in action in Heat, a classic that's evaded me too long
John McClane: not my favourite, but Bruce Willis must be mentioned for his Die Hard work
John Book: Harrison Ford is excellent as a Philadelphia police detective in Witness
Jacques Clouseau: comic genius Peter Sellers is the inept French police inspector in the Pink Panther flicks
Sly Stallone as New Jersey sheriff in Cop Land
There are doubtless dozens more famous cinematic cops, but these are the ones that come to mind right now, including some that are favourites. Though we can certainly get deeper into the minds of the investigators via the written word in fictional books, it is in film that we can better visualize the sweat and dirt and blood that comes with the job. Plus the thrilling "stunt" scenes provide us with unforgettable movie memories. Jumping from one building roof to another, tense foot chases, daring high-speed car chases, and exciting hand-to-hand combat.
As a kid growing up watching movies on TV, I guess it was Inspector Clouseau who first caught my attention with his crime-fighting finesse... er, bumbling. At the time, there were far more TV cop shows available and appropriate for me. They were "clean" enough that I could easily watch them without parental guidance. Stuff like Barney Miller, CHiPs, S.W.A.T., Starsky & Hutch, Kojak, Baretta, Columbo, The Streets of San Francisco, and Adam-12. These are the main ones I can think of now, but they were definitely my favourites back in the day. And those were just the actual police shows: I loved private detective programs just as much, like Rockford Files, Magnum P.I., Cannon, Charlie's Angels, and McCloud, among others. Some was fluff (like the Angels), but others were a bit heavier, grittier, and more realistic.
Though I now love to read crime fiction on a regular basis, I have little interest in TV shows of that genre anymore. There are just so many out there that it seems a chore to wade through all the average (or worse) stuff just to locate a few truly good ones. Having said that, I do enjoy the current comedy cop show Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Oh, and a couple of amazing imports caught my attention: The Fall, from the UK, and The Bridge, a Danish-Swedish production. And of course, I was entranced by season one of True Detective, Sherlock, and The Wire was pretty wild. Breaking Bad, Narcos, and Dexter were great but focused a lot more on the criminals... not a bad thing... they just don't feel like "cop shows" in the truest sense.
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