Best cop movies of the 80's (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

I'll give you my three picks right at the top:

To Live and Die in LA (1985)Directed by William Friedkin
starring William Petersen

Year of the Dragon (1985) Directed by Michael Cimino
starring Mickey Rourke

Manhunter (1986) Directed by Michael Mann
starring William Petersen


What others can you name?

 

[Dave_Brown]

Robocop!

 

[David_Giles]

Lethal Weapon

 

[Steve Christou]

Turner and Hooch

 

[Steve Christou]

No, I'll second 'To Live and Die in LA' and 'Year of the Dragon'.
Lethal Weapons 1 & 2 were great fun too.
Robocop was superb, Verhoeven's best film in my book.
Stakeout.
Sea of Love.
Can't think of any more, minds gone blank.

[Edit]
Thought of a couple more...
Colors
And for comedy the first 'Beverly Hills Cop' was great fun.

 

[DougFND]

I'll give seconds to Sea of Love, Lethal I & II and RoboCop.

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

How about "Cop" with James Woods?

-Dennis

 

[Parris]

I gotta go with Robocop as well. I just recently watched the Criterion version and it has stood the test of time very well for being almost 20 years old.

I still consider Clarence Boddicker one of my all time favorite villians "Can you fly Bobby"

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

King of New York (Sorta)
Beverly Hills Cop
48 Hours
Shakedown (Ok, a sentimental pick)
Lethal Weapon
Gorky Park

 

[Quentin]

RoboCop, Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, Running Scared, Manhunter, Sea of Love, Midnight Run (kind of a cop movie?), The Untouchables, Prince of the City.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Quentin,

Nice additions. I had forgotten about Running Scared.

 

[Steve Christou]

...and I'd forgotten about 48hrs.

 

[Tim Glover]

Not sure if this really fits this category but my favorite of this decade is...

Die Hard
Beverly Hills Cop is awesome too.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Prince Of The City was a great film...they should get that out on DVD as well as Year of the Dragon...

I kind of think Robocop was science fiction more than cop flick...

 

[chung_sotheby]

How about the "Police Academy" movies? How can you beat a series of cop movies with the two titans of 80's filmmaking, Steve Guttenberg and Bobcat Goldthwait?

Some others that may or not make your "Best Of" list

Cobra
Red Heat
The Killer
A Better Tomorrow
Mississippi Burning
Married to the Mob
Action Jackson
Tequila Sunrise
Tango & Cash
Remo Williams-The Adventure Begins
Angel Heart (more of a detective movie, but what the hell)

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Well, I really like Angel Heart and I have the special edition dvd but I'd call that a horror movie more than a cop flick. It's a great film though.

I also really liked Mississippi Burning. Alan Parker did a good job with those two. Mainly I thought the 80's was a horrible decade for film...there was some good stuff but a lot of crap.

This subject of cop films came up with some people I was talking to and I couldn't remember many good cop films from the 80's...I think that may have been because there wasn't many.

 

[Quentin]

Die Hard!! How could I forget my favorite of the bunch? Guess I really don't think of it as a "cop movie". But, it can certainly be categorized as such.

I also wasn't thinking Hong Kong - but, A Better Tomorrow and The Killer are great additions.

Tequila Sunrise has its problems, but is pretty good. Probably worth a re-watch by now.

 

[chris winters]

how about blade runner. hes kinda a cop right? or unlawful entry. The untouchables is one of my faves.

 

[chris winters]

wasnt there also a movie called 8 million ways to die? I kinda remember that as being pretty cool. Its been a long long time sense i saw it though.

 

[Sami Kallio]

Does Mad Max count? It's a '79 movie so many saw it in the 80's. It's IMO better sequal, Road Warrior, would definately be on the list but probably not a real "cop movie".