Marty Michaels

It occured to me that there’s way more awesome movie cops that I had overlooked for the first list, so here’s a special treat for all you lovely people – a (very) quick look at the other top ten movie cops. Onward!

10. DETECTIVE EDMUND EXLEY from L.A. CONFIDENTIAL

Just as the last list of Supercops kicked off with a character from L.A. Confidential, we start this one with his polar opposite, Edmund Exley. Young, idealistic and driven, Exley is everything Bud White isn’t. The Exley of the movie (played by the quite remarkably handsome Guy Pearce) has nothing on the Exley of the book who has way more grey areas to his past and personality than his celluloid counterpart, but even so he’s deserving of a place on the list, even if it is last place on the B-Team.

9. COMMISIONER JAMES GORDON from BATMAN

Officially, Commisioner Gordon does not approve of vigilantism in any form. Off the record however is quite a different story. Wether he’s being played by Neil Hamilton, Pat Hingle or Gary Oldman, Jim Gordon is one of Batman’s closest allies in the battle against crime. Once a simple beat cop stomping the mean streets of Gotham City, Gordon worked his way up to Commisioner and yet somehow always falls for it whenever Batman lurks in the shadows atop police headquarters to scare him shitless.

8. LIEUTENANT RAYMOND TANGO and LIEUTENANT GABRIEL CASH from TANGO & CASH

One’s named after a carbonated beverage, the other’s played by the guy from The Thing, together they are Tango and Cash and together they are tied at number eight. There are certain things that just go together – peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies – and Tango and Cash are no exception. The movie’s no masterpeice, but it’s a fun and diverting couple of hours spent in the company of Sly Stallone and Kurt Russel, and what more can you really ask for?

7. SERGEANT JACK VINCENNES from LA CONFIDENTAL

Flashy and with more than a splash of Hollywood glitz about him, Kevin Spacey’s Jack Vincennes rounds out the trio of cops from LA Confidential. More concerned with his TV show Badge of Honor and tipping off the diminutive editor of “Hush Hush” magazine in exchange for hefty payoffs and the thrill of seeing his name in print than actual policework, Vincennes is nonetheless the most likeable of the three central characters of both film and book.

6. DETECTIVE FREDDY NEWANDYKE from RESERVOIR DOGS

Perhaps better known as Mr. Orange, Freddy Newandyke, played by Tim Roth, spends the majority of the film flat on his back screaming and bleeding. An undercover cop masquerading as a member of a gang of black suited diamond thieves, what should have been a relativley easy operation goes tits up when the psycopathic Mr. Blonde starts shooting innocent bystanders. In the ensuing chaos, Newandyke gets shot and begins dying slowly and painfully. Honorable mention to Officer Marvin Nash who, like Tyler at the Redeemed pointed out, allows Mr. Blonde to torture him and cut his ear off even though he knows Newandyke is an undercover cop.

5. SERGEANT FRANK DREBIN, DETECTIVE LIEUTENANT POLICE SQUAD from THE NAKED GUN

The lulziest cop on the list and the cop with the longest official title on any list of anything anywhere, Drebin was first seen in the crimally short lived TV series Police Squad! before being rusurrected on the big screen in the Naked Gun trilogy, quite possibly the most lol inducing trilogy of movies ever made. Played by the incomparable Leslie Neilsen, Drebin is not only an ace cop, but also the man Vince McMahon called in to unravel the mystery of the two Undertakers (don’t ask.)

4. OFFICER FRANK SERPICO from SERPICO

The first of three characters on this list to be based on real people, Frank Serpico, played by Al Pacino, is an idealistic New York city policeman who goes undercover to expose corruption in the NYPD. This, of course doesn’t go down well and Serpico ends the film in Greenwich Village, long haired and beared due to the threats and indimidation of his fellow cops. Pacino was nominated for an Oscar and won his first Golden Globe for his performance, a performance that is undoubtedly one of his very best.

3. DETECTIVE JAMES DOYLE from THE FRENCH CONNECTION

“Alright, Popeye’s here!” The second character on this list based on a real person, “Popeye” Doyle of the NYPD drug squad, played by the always fantastic Gene Hackman, is another of those “fuck your red tape” types who does whatever it takes to lock up drug dealers. Based on real life cop Eddie Egan, Doyle and his partner Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) are, to quote the original poster, “bad news – but good cops.”

2. OFFICER JAMES MALONE from THE UNTOUCHABLES

The self proclaimed only good cop in town, Malone is an Irish American beat cop nearing retirment who throws in with Elliot Ness to take down Al Capone’s criminal empire in Prohibition-era Chicago. Played by Indiana Jones’ dad, Malone gets all the good lines in David Mamet’s great script including the now classic “they pull a knife, you pull a gun” speech. Interestingly and somewhat disingenuously, despite the film’s being based on a true story, Malone is an entirley fictional character.

1. LIEUTENANT FRANK BULLITT from BULLITT

The proto-Dirty Harry, Steve McQueen’s effortlessly cool Frank Bullitt was based on real life Bay Area cop Dave Toschi, a man most famous for investigating the Zodiac Killer. But his fictional counterpart had no time for decoding cyphers when there’s Jaqueline Bisset waiting to be romanced and Highland Green 1968 Mustangs to be driven at high speed on the trail of Mafia hitmen and mob bosses. Cutting through bullshit like a blowtorch trough butter, Bullitt pretty much sums up why Steve McQueen is remembered as the “king of cool.”

I’ve noticed there’s three Franks and three Jameses on this list – wonder why those names are so popular for fictional cops. Hmmm. Anyway, comment below. End transmission.

Tags: cops, movies, top ten