The Greatest Badass Cop Films Ever

Clint Eastwood was the MAN. A cop with his own sense of the law and using his own style as well...The greatest one liner in screen history is a classic..."Well do ya punk?"

Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle. What more can I say? No wonder its one of AFI's top 100 movies of all time and the result was five Oscars including Best Picture of 1971. This was the apex of Hollywood cimema that emerge from the 1970's.

The coolest car chase in screen history through the mean streets of Brooklyn is cimematic treat.

Released in the summer of 1975,Gene Hackman returns as hard-boiled NY Cop Popeye Doyle in the sequel to one of the greatest cop movies of all time.
"French Connection II",has Hackman again as Popeye Doyle trailing and going after the notorious heroin drug kingpin from the streets of New York all the way to dangerous towns of France. And this time around Popeye is not only out for revenge,but to settle a score once and for all. And he does.
Action galore and non-stop suspense.
Directed by John Frankenheimer.

This was a movie that not only gambled millions,but also made Bruce Willis one of the top action superstars of the 1980's. And this was the movie that cemented his career. And this was the original that spawned three sequels make this one of the most runaway blockbuster masterpieces that had audiences flocking to see when it came to theatres in the summer of 1988. "Die Hard" piles very known element of the action genre onto a flimsy story of the New York cop who rescues hostages from a Los Angeles office tower on Christmas Eve. Partly an interracial buddy movie(on the style of the Lethal Weapon movies)this was partly the sentimental tale of a ruptured marriage,the film is largely a special effects carnival full of machine-gun fire,roaring helicopters,and an explosion tank. It also has a villain fresh from the Royal Shakespeare company,a ruthless thug from the Bolshoi Ballet and a hero who carries the him the smirks and wisecracks that made this film of the top ten action flicks of all time. "Die Hard" was basically
"The Towering Inferno" by way of "The French Connection" in a "Lethal Weapon" style that goes beyond the cop buddy finesse and then some. What makes Die Hard worked is the toughness and all out action that is non stop with something unexpected at ever turn. The producers(Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver),and the director(John McTiernan) were also responsible for other action flicks that exploded onto the 80's,most notably for some that starred one of the top action buffs of the era..Arnold Scwarzenegger(of "Commando","Predator" films).
Here they have grafted Bruce Willis smart aleck wit and tough New Jersey-New York attitude and here he not only commands the film he conquers it.
The movie is slow in the first half-hour,and that is when John McClane(Bruce Willis),lands in Los Angeles to visit his estranged wife(Bonnie Bedelia)and goes to her office Christmas party. Minutes later a group of six terrorists shows,planning to steal six million dollars in bonds. The terrorists have crack a difficult computer code before getting into the vault,so there is plenty of time for McClane to play the hero and save the hostages. Bruce Willis' true expertise is in banter,so the direction of John McTiernan shrewdly blends bursts of action with some hilarious comic dialogue. McClane races up and down elevator shafts. He kills one terrorist,taking his machine gun and citzens' band radio.. Now he can have a running conservation with Al,the sympathetic black cop(Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters fame)becomes part of the only buddy film where the friends don't meet until the end of the story. Meanwhile back in the executive suite,there is Hans,the ruthless terrorist leader in a very well tailored suit. In the film's greatest surprise,Hans' character(played by Alan Rickman)comes out to be one of the greatest villains of all time...ruthless,manipulative and just pure evil. He makes a perfect snake. "Who are you?" he superciliously asks McClane via radio. "Are you just another American who saw too many movies as a child?"

Yes,he did. McClane is a movie maverick who worships his idols like Roy Rogers and John Wayne. Here,he walks around in sleeveless undershirt,a tattoo on his left bicep,getting sweater,dirtier,and bloodierby the minute. A great part of the film is watching the down-and-dirty cop match wits with the aloof master criminal. The final action sequence in breathtaking,as FBI helicopters buzz the rooftop and McClane swings down the side of the high-rise and crashes through a window. While below fellow officers from the LAPD just stand there to look like imbeciles. But the scenes move with such relentless energy and smashing special effects that action-genre fans hoped for and this movie did not disappoint. AFI's top 100 action movies of all time.

The car chase scene through the San Francisco streets says it all. Steve McQueen was supercool as the no nonsense detective who goes after the truth against crooked cops and the system to catch a deadly killer. Peter Yates' suspenseful thriller became one of the highest grossing films of 1968,and some 40 years after its initial release,it still reigns supreme as one of Steve McQueen's best.

The original. Nothing like it.
Richard Roundtree rules. Not to even mention the Oscar winning theme from Issac Hayes.

A Soul Cimema Classic from the golden age of the 1970's. Watching the great Issac Hayes as Truck Turner taking out the baddies is well worth viewing not to even mention the grindhouse performance of Nichelle "Uhara" Nichols
as a sadistic evil female pimp who is gives a performance(as well as a shock)to anything beyond the dimension of Star Trek

Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams together in this exciting suspensful cop thriller.

A gripping and riveting performance from Frank Sinatra in a role that you would never expect from The Chairman of the Board(in a rare form beyond the glare) and the subject matter so intense it will leave you asking for more. Released in 1968,this was one of the few films that explored police corruption within the force,brutality,and not to mention to taboo subject of homosexuality which shocked audiences with it was release which included scenes depicting of a frank and shocking nature. Based on the gripping novel by Roderick Thorpe with a ripping screenplay by Abby Mann and Directed by Gordon Douglas. This was the first Sinatra film to received an "R" rating for its use of strong language and explicit subject matter. Jack Klugman, Lee Remick, Robert Duvall, Tony Mustante, and William Windom star.

What can I say here? The sequel to Dirty Harry is nothing but short of greatness and it shows. All of the stops are pulled here as Clint Eastwood takes out the baddies one by one. Catch also David Soul and Robert Urich in this one too.
The classic line from this reminds one of the cimema greats:
" A Man Has Got To Know His Limitations."

"American Gangster" is this year's version of "The Departed". Ridley Scott's direction and the spectacular acting of Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe has OSCAR written all over it.

Forget the remake featuring The Rock,cause it doesn't even compare to the original. However,this was weirdly marketed as a right wing screed upon its initial release in 1973(and became a surprise runaway boxoffice hit especially a huge following within the drive-in theatre circuit in the South).Walking Tall was a really tragic,graphically violent post-noir film based on the life and times of Tennessee county sheriff Buford Pusser. However,Joe Don Baker gives a riveting and powerful performance as Pusser who took on determined force of crime and corruption in his town at great personal expense. Directed with an intentionally crude force by Phil Karlson,one of the toughest filmmakers of the 1950's and 1960's. Here,the film's grimness doesn't let up and neither does the scenes of raw language and strong graphic violence that gave this film a strong influence of the racial stride and hatred that went on in the South. Interesting note about this picture...It was produced by BCP Productions which was Bing Crosby's production company(yes folks,Bing Crosby was still around in 1973)and theatrically released through Cinerama Releasing Corporation. The theme song was done by none other than the great Johnny Mathis. Elizabeth Hartman(plays Pusser's wife) and Noah Beery also star in this runaway boxoffice hit which was one of the highest grossing films of 1973.