50 Coolest Movie Cops
Best of the boys in blue
Blade Runner (1982)
The Cool Cop: Rick Deckard
Coolest Moment: Deckard chases a snake-loving replicant through the streets of a futuristic Los Angeles before finally managing to ‘retire’ her.
If He'd Been From Blighty: It all would’ve been a much politer affair, with a pre-retirement discussion over scones and tea.
Midnight Run (1988)
The Cool Cop: Jack Walsh
Coolest Moment: Formerly a Chicago cop, now an underground bounty hunter, Walsh gets the jump on his rival Marv by knocking him out and taking his bounty in as his own.
If He'd Been From Blighty: Do bounty hunters exist in England?
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Cool Cop: Lieutenant James Gordon
Coolest Moment: When he’s held capture by Two Face, Gordon pleads for his family’s life...
If He'd Been From Blighty: He’d be helping out Captain Britain instead of Batman. Which would suck. Royally.
Training Day (2001)
The Cool Cop: Detective Alonzo Harris
Coolest Moment: “You disloyal, fool-ass bitch-made punk.” Harris lets rip on a gun-wielding bad guy . Boom!
If He'd Been From Blighty: That line reading would have sounded a whole lot different.
Hot Fuzz (2007)
The Cool Cops: Nicholas Angel and Danny Butterman
Coolest Moment: An ammoed-up, shade-wearing Angel rides a white horse into Sandford town square and engages in a brilliantly brutal gun battle .
If They’d Been From Blighty: They already are – points to us!
Bullitt (1968)
The Cool Cop: Lieutenant Frank Bullitt
Coolest Moment: Bullitt’s car appears in the rear-view mirror of the crims, and the car chase to end all car chases kicks off.
If He'd Been From Blighty: Let’s face it, he just wouldn’t be quite as cool. Am I right?
Die Hard (1988)
The Cool Cop: John McClane
Coolest Moment: McClane does some serious damage to the elevator in his attempt to bring down the terrorists.
If He'd Been From Blighty: His outfit wouldn’t so much consist of a white wife-beater as a white wife-beater paired with lots of gold jewellery and a tattoo of his wife’s name on his arm.
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Dirty Harry (1971)
The Cool Cop: SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan
Coolest Moment: While out having lunch at a diner, Callahan comes across an in-progress robbery, takes out three of the culprits and confronts the fourth with a seriously bad-ass attitude.
If He'd Been From Blighty: He’d be known for his brilliant and timeless catch phrase, “Does I feel lucky? Well, does ya, wank-ah?!”
French Connection (1971)
The Cool Cop: Popeye Doyle
Coolest Moment: Doyle races through the city in his car, attempting to keep up with a Metro train – at all costs .
If He'd Been From Blighty: The congestion charge would have crippled his citywide car chase.
RoboCop (1987)
The Cool Cop: Alexander James Murphy / RoboCop
Coolest Moment: RoboCop takes on the OCP headquarters alone, destroys the massive guard-bot ED-209 and storms the building. Talk about a hero.
If He'd Been From Blighty: He’d be programmed to sing ‘God Save The Queen’ every time he takes down a bad guy.
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.
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