Hollywood has no shortage of dirty cops, whether they’re conspiring to commit a crime or just bending the rules to dish out their own justice. Keanu Reeves joins the list in his newest film, Street Kings, in which he plays a corrupt cop facing a crisis of conscious. We prefer the ones that just get the job done, so here is our list of 10 favorite dirty cops (and the actors who played them) in film and TV.
10. Marion Cobretti in Cobra (Sylvester Stallone)
Stallone has played many cops, some successful (Demolition Man, Copland), others not so much (Judge Dredd, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot). Of the good ones, his character in Copland played by the rules to a fault. In Demolition Man, he did things his way, but we don’t really get to see him at work before the sci-fi happens. Cobra, on the other hand, is all modern-day rule bending, complete with Stallone’s slurry one-liners (“You are the disease. I’m the cure”). Also, we just love to brag that we know the full name of Sly’s title character in Cobra. [PAGEBREAK]
9. Cordell Walker in Walker, Texas Ranger (Chuck Norris)
Somehow we don’t think roundhouse kicks to the face are part of standard police procedure, but they make for great television. Actually, Walker is kind of a goody- goody fighting for the little guy, but at least he does those roundhouse kicks every single episode. And at age 61, during the show’s final season, that impressive fete earns Chuck Norris a spot on this list.[PAGEBREAK]
8. John Kimble in Kindergarten Cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Talk about unorthodox methods, Kimble goes undercover as a teacher of toddlers to catch his bad guy. This might qualify as entrapment. He never informs the kids of their right to take the 5th amendment. Not to mention, the PG family movie opens with the most brutally violent 15 minutes of shotgun shooting. Yeah, that’s one ballsy cop.[PAGEBREAK]
7. Frank Bullitt in Bullitt (Steve McQueen)
This is one of the original–and the best–“lone cop against the system” movies and is vintage McQueen. Fighting against his corrupt boss who wants to ruin him, Bullitt has to find the bad guys who shot his partner. His methods may be tamer by today’s standards, but McQueen is the king of the rogue cops and is a must-have on the list. His name is Bullitt, for Pete’s sakes! They can change the spelling all they want, but we know what that means.[PAGEBREAK]
6. James McFee in Witness (Danny Glover)
Later on in his career, he would become “to old for this sh*t,” but back in 1982, Danny Glover was downright scary. I mean, his McFee was ready to kill a little Amish kid to cover his tracks. We’re sure glad Harrison Ford’s John Book gets to McFee before he can do anymore harm. In learning to relate to the simple Amish people, it’s important to remember how evil a bad cop can be.[PAGEBREAK]
5. Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue (Dennis Franz)
Not only did Franz’s Sipowicz break the rules, he broke them on primetime network television. He was the first cop to say “d*ckhead” on TV AND show his ass. They tried to soften him up with the kid and some love interests, but he was always a tough ball of fury to us.[PAGEBREAK]
4. Alonzo Harris in Training Day (Denzel Washington)
Sure, Washington’s Harris turns out to be, like, super evil, but he is just so darn charming at it. How could you resist a mentor who randomly shouts, “Boom! You never know” and “King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on me!”? If he’d just busted the bad guys instead of framing his partners, he could have really made a difference in the city. [PAGEBREAK]
3. Martin Riggs on Lethal Weapon (Mel Gibson)
When we first meet Riggs, he is so suicidal he’d put himself in any kind of harm’s just to stop the crooks. Good for catching the bad guys, bad for his unwitting partner (Danny Glover) and the rest of the police department. It works out well for Riggs in the end, though, since we get more of him in three more sequels–and the detective gets over his pain more and more each time.[PAGEBREAK]
2. Dirty Harry in the Dirty Harry series (Clint Eastwood)
This has got to be one of go-to names in tough cops, created by the one and only Eastwood. First of all, his choice in weaponry is awesome: a .44 Magnum, not your standard issue gun, which he uses to taunt his perps by asking them to count his shots. But it isn’t just the “punks.” He takes down corrupt cops, Hollywood celebrities and the such. Nobody is above Dirty Harry’s law![PAGEBREAK]
1. Vic Mackey on The Shield (Michael Chiklis)
Poor Vic has had to face his inner demons for six long seasons on The Shield. Sure, he’s taken some innocent lives along the way, but in the gangland warzone of downtown L.A., we need cops like Chiklis‘ Vic Mackey. You can’t be nice to the criminals. So here’s to you, Vic. May season 7 see you retire to a tropical island paradise–but in case they serve you “justice” in the end, know that we thank you for your diligently corrupt work.
