Film Inquiry Recommends: Little-Known Cop Films

Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is focused on obscure cop procedural films.

Police films are one of the most overdone, heavily-populated genres in film (and television too), which means that such a high stream of films means that some go under the radar. Between the large amounts of poor, cliché-ridden films, the best known cop films include Dirty Harry, Lethal Weapon, The Departed and Die Hard. The following are just a selection of titles that deserve to get wider recognition.

1. The Laughing Policeman (1973, Stuart Rosenberg)

Walter Matthau did some terrific work in the 1970’s, going from mainstream comedy (The Front Page, The Sunshine Boys), sports comedy (Bad News Bears), epic action films (Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Earthquake) and crime thrillers (Charley Varrick). What made Matthau so engaging to watch was his every-man quality, which gave his characters a level of believability, a shift from the standard Hollywood protagonist. He was an actor whose deadpan delivery and shaggy appearance displaced audience expectations, so his dramatic turns in films like this and Charley Varrick really show his sublime acting chops. One fun fact to always watch out for in Matthau’s films is his characters are always chewing gum, an acting technique of Matthau’s that give his characters always something to do physically.

The Laughing Policeman, a cynical police drama from American director Stuart Rosenberg, famous for directing Cool Hand Luke and the original Amityville Horror. Based loosely on the novel “The Laughing Policeman” by Sjöwall and Wahlöö, late one night on a public bus, a masked assailant jumps on board with a machine gun and kills everyone inside. Sgt. Jake Martin (Matthau) takes the case personally when he discovers that his police partner, Dave, was one of the victims on board. Determined to find the reason behind the shootings, he teams up with enthusiastic Inspector Leo Larsen (Bruce Dern, always doing great work) to find the reason why someone would target the bus.

The film grabs you from its opening scene, a tense set-up where we witness the bus massacre from the perspective of Dave. The film inhabits a lot of the qualities of the new age 1970’s Hollywood; mainstream films with cynical tones and depressed characters, more extreme depictions of violence in cinema and dealing with political and socio-economic issues in ways that hadn’t been dealt with before in mainstream Western cinema.

Matthau and Dern make a terrific team: Matthau the determined-yet-depressed cop who wants to solve the crime for personal reasons, and Dern as the younger enthusiastic inspector who doesn’t care how he gets his results. Much like any great buddy-cop film, the two partners even each other out and together get great results. The film has been forgotten in recent years, possibly put off by the film’s obscure title, but it’s one underrated cop procedural that should be seen by more people.

2. Cop (1988, James B Harris)

James Woods starred in a string of great genre films during the 1980’s: Cronenberg’s Videodrome, Leone’s Once Upon A Time in America, Oliver Stone’s Salvador and John Flynn’s Best Seller. Woods‘ knack of playing eccentric, energetic men with an understated sense of temper just under the surface, Woods is a powerful character actor who is nowadays better known for his active politically charged Twitter account or his frequent guests spots on Family Guy. Cop is another genre film where he shines, a film which plays with the tropes of the cop procedural with a hint of anarchic pleasure.

Woods stars as Lloyd Hopkins, a dedicated passionate police detective who is startled by the murder of an innocent woman. Determined that the girl was killed by a proficient serial killer that the police haven’t thought about yet, Lloyd sets out to prove that his theory is correct, even when his methods and thought processes start to make everyone around him start to seriously question his mental health. Whilst the overall film sounds like a standard police-murder mystery film, Hopkins’ slowly growing desperation and unhinged state makes his investigation interesting, making the audience constantly question if Hopkins is right or wrong, without making it obvious.

Directed by James B. Harris, best known for being Stanley Kubrick’s producer during his earlier genre films such as The Killing, Lolita and Paths of Glory. Woods’ central performance holds the film together, his sardonic, cynical nature gives a nice gritty edge to the film, where his dedication to solving the case unfolds organically, without resorting to the boring trope of the obsessed detective that goes slowly insane due to an unsolvable case.

This hard-edged cop thriller also has one of the best film endings I’ve seen in quite a long time, a fist-pumping finale which ends the film on a violent, but hilarious note. Avoid the trailer as it shows the final scene, which spoils the film entirely.

3. Across 110th Street (1972, Barry Shear)

Best-known for its main theme song by Bobby Womack and J.J. Johnson, Across 110th Street is a unique film, a blend of gritty 70’s cop procedural tropes with the framing of a blaxploitation film. Directed by Barry Shear, a lesser-known director who mainly dealt with TV films, with this being his best known picture.

Three degenerate robbers get a bit too ambitious when they decide to rob $300,000 from a mafia-owned Harlem policy bank, which causes the deaths of seven people: three black gangsters, two Italian gangsters and two patrol officers. This high profile case causes three different parties to go after the men: the police, the Italian mafia and the members of the black gangsters gang.

By-the-books police Lieutenant Pope (Yaphet Kotto) is forced to team up with reckless, racist but tough police captain Mattelli (Anthony Quinn) to get the men before the criminals do. The central relationship between Pope and Mattelli avoids the usual tropes of the buddy-cop genre and even though their constant clashing drives most of the film’s emotional beats, the film avoids falling into cliché and allows their friendship to build organically.

Quinn and Kotto work really well together, the juxtaposition of their crime-solving methods gives us interesting insights into the difference between these two characters, apart from constantly comparing their race. Whilst the film deals with race relations and characters constantly balk at the idea of an African-American cop and a White Italian cop teaming up, the film doesn’t constantly dwell on the issue and deals with it in a subtle fashion.

Due to the casting, advertising and main theme song, the film presents itself as a blaxploitation film, but the film is much smarter and well-made than the average blaxploitation film, allowing strong character moments and genuine emotion in the middle of the hard-boiled cop drama. A film which has sadly flown under the radar, Across 110th Street is one of the most underseen dramas of the 1970’s.

4. Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976, Ruggero Deodato)

A Eurocrime film directed by Cannibal Holocaust director Ruggero Deodato and written by Eurocrime master Fernando Di Leo (The Italian Connection), Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is an episodic cop film which doesn’t hold back at all, revelling in its misogynistic, violent manner with a goofy grin the entire time.

Deodato is a director best known for his ability to work in extremes – Cannibal Holocaust pushed the boundaries of decency in film, with its extreme level of sexual violence and brutality, mixed in with real-life animal cruelty. Live Like A Cop displays Deodato’s ability to go all out in audience-shocking aesthetics, featuring various violent acts, dangerous-looking stunt work and unapologetic non-political correct actions which, due to the nature of society and how films are made nowadays, is still completely striking and a beauty to behold.

Fred (Marc Porel) and Tony (Ray Lovelock) are two members of an underground ‘elite squad’ police division in Rome, Italy. They are undercover, licence-to-kill officers who are called in to take out the criminals when the usual methods don’t work. The film’s episodic style, following Fred and Tony as they ‘solve’ different crimes (it usually ends up in the cops getting laid and killing people) but threaded together by their search for the elusive mafia don, Pasquini.

Due to the film’s Eurocrime style, the story isn’t quite deep and the main characters are kind of psychopathic, laughing as they kill the criminals and often hitting on every woman they encounter in a very aggressive and misogynistic fashion. Fernando Di Leo’s script is not subtle at all, with the English dubbing not helping to convey the stilted dialogue, where between stiff exposition and awkward character moments, the highly sexualised dialogue is so odd that it’s quite compelling to listen to.

The film’s large action sequences, such as the film’s opening 15-minute motorcycle chase, work really well, a mix of Deodato’s eye for action visuals and the down and dirty filmmaking techniques of the Eurocrime genre, which featured shooting without permits or safety precautions, so all the stunts feel raw and off-the-cuff, without the typical Hollywood sheen. A favourite of genre directors Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino, Live Like a Cop is a cop film which doesn’t hold back in the best way possible.

5. Q & A (1990, Sidney Lumet)

One of the most tired and worn-out storylines in cinematic history is that of the corrupt cop. It’s been done thousands of times, but like any overdone cinematic trope or go-to plot device, it all depends on how it’s used or who is using it in terms of how effective it is. Some films deal with corrupt cops in a terrific way (L.A. Confidential, The Negotiator and Bad Lieutenant) but most are just tired, cliché-ridden films which simply use the tropes and do nothing creative with them.

Luckily, Sidney Lumet’s Q&A, whilst slightly predictable in its narrative, makes the corrupt cop a dominant antagonist that actually feels threatening rather than a lazy plot device, in the form of Nick Nolte’s Michael Brennan.

When corrupt police Captain Michael Brennan (Nolte) kills a low-level Hispanic drug dealer, he plants some evidence and claims that it was done in self-defence. Ex-cop-turned-district-attorney Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton) is asked to investigate the claim, thinking it will be a simple one to figure out. Due to his father, a hero cop who was killed on the job that dealt with Brennan, Al starts to notice Brennan’s history and current actions, realising his deep corruption and manipulative use of his police powers. In order to convict him, Al must get evidence from scorned drug dealer Bobby Tex (Armand Assante) who just happens to be in a relationship with Al’s ex-girlfriend Nancy (Jenny Lumet, Sidney‘s daughter).

The film’s biggest attraction is the central boisterous performance of Nick Nolte, who gained an extra 40 pounds just to add more stature to his already large frame to exaggerate his aggressively intimidating character. His brutal and violent ways make him quite a compelling antagonist, smart enough to keep ahead of his adversaries, his manipulation of those around him to get what he wants is an interesting display to witness.

Lumet had a history of directing tough crime dramas, such as this, Serpico and Prince of the City, along with his other terrific films in his filmography, with Q & A being another film to display his tight directing abilities. The film is an angry and violent revolt at the state of police politics and the general nature to hide the awful actions of people in organisations to save face, which is a sad action seen in any form of business worldwide.

6. The Detective (1968, Gordon Douglas)

Based on the 1966 novel by Roderick Thorp, The Detective is a neo-noir cop film which features Frank Sinatra’s strongest acting performance. The Detective was a feature film made as an attempt to shift the police procedural genre into more realistic and adult settings, moving away from the bombastic action and super sleuthing and more into darker themes and the monotony of everyday police life.

Whilst it leans on a predictable noir trope to deliver its narrative (the simple case that is much deeper than it seems), the film’s progressive stance on certain taboo subjects, such as homosexuality, office politics and presentation of violence in the media, elevates the film above other cop films of its time.

Police Detective Joe Leland (Frank Sinatra) is tasked with solving a seemingly simple case involving the grotesque murder of a homosexual male. Due to the victim’s homosexual status, many of the officers refuse to take the case seriously or are openly callous about the victim, but Leland’s no-nonsense direct approach allows him to see the case for how it is. With the leads weak and the lack of support by the police force, it is up to Leland to try and solve the case, which he slowly finds out involves many different people in layers of corruption around the city he lives in.

Roderick Thorp wrote a sequel novel to the original Detective novel titled “Nothing Lasts Forever”. The novel was about how Leland is trapped in a Klaxon Oil Corporation skyscraper after it is taken by German terrorists and must rescue his daughter and grandchildren. It might sound familiar, as it became the hugely influential action film Die Hard. Sinatra was legally asked if he wanted to play the role of John McClane (as the name was changed to establish a new franchise) but quickly turned it down.

Whilst Sinatra starred in quite an eclectic mix of films, including the standard rat-pack themed films such as Oceans 11, The Detective was Sinatra trying to make a serious, gritty film that would stand apart from the rest of his filmography. Sinatra manages to shed the usual boozy swagger of his musical persona, breathing life into the dedicated cop Leland. The supporting cast is quite strong too, including Robert Duvall, Jack Klugman and Tony Musante. A unique pragmatic take on the standard cop procedural, The Detective is a unique film of its era.

 7. The Seven-Ups (1973, Philip D’Antoni)

The sole directing credit of Bullitt and The French Connection producer Philip D’Antoni, The Seven-Ups is a spiritual sequel to The French Connection, a similar film in terms of its action sequences and its gritty depiction of the policeman’s work life.

Using many of the key players from The French Connection, including the likes of Roy Scheider, screenwriter and police technical advisor Sonny Grosso, composer Don Ellis, and stunt coordinator Bill Hickman, who was responsible for this film’s, The French Connection and Bullitt’s famous car chase sequences. Scheider’s character in the film, Buddy Manucci, has been said to be a loose version of his character Buddy Russo (notice the same name) from The French Connection.

The Seven-Ups, an undercover New York detective squad who take down criminals with sentences greater than seven years in prison (hence the name). When one of the informants from the group is part of a kidnapping ring which involves taking loan sharks and charging high ransoms, an investigation into the case gets one of the Seven-Ups killed. Due to the informant’s involvement with the Seven-Ups, their reputation is soiled and cops start to worry that they are corrupt. It is up to Buddy Manucci to solve the case and clear the name of his group.

The film’s best known for its car chase sequence midway through the film, one which some critics say tops the famous chase scene from the French Connection. The sequence is outstanding, an old-school Eurocrime-esque chase scene which really makes the car chase feel dangerous, a technique which has been lost in a lot of modern action films. Whilst the plot may be confusing at times, the film is filled with enough tension and great acting which makes it worth watching.

Are there any other great cop films that you can recommend?