50 Craziest Movie Cops

Jack Traven Speed (1994)

The Crazy Cop: Fearless almost to a fault, LAPD officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) is drafted in when a psycho puts a bomb on a bus.

Jack fails? Bus go boom.

Most Lunatic Moment: Fighting with villain Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) on the roof of a moving train. This guy’s crazy.

(And crazy cool.)

Detective Axel Foley Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

The Crazy Cop: As brilliant as he is completely reckless, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a huge pain in the behind for his boss, Inspector Douglas Todd (Gilbert R. Hill).

When Axel’s friend is killed, Axel sets out for revenge, but is hampered by Beverly Hills PDs Detective Billy Rosewood and Sergeant John Taggart.

Most Lunatic Moment: Axel confronts the villain, this time at a packed country club. This is despite being told to keep a low profile by his bosses.

He’s arrested. Again.

He really doesn't know when to quit.

Ivan Danko Red Heat (1988)

The Crazy Cop: Built like a solid slab of granite, Moscow narc Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger) barely cracks a smile. In fact, he barely ever shows any emotion at all.

How does he get by? “Vodka.” Mental.

Most Lunatic Moment: Danko drives a bus.

Oh, right, but because he’s Danko, he drives a bus like a maniac, smashing into anything that gets in the way.

Marion Cobra Cobretti Cobra (1986)

The Crazy Cop: Hailing from the ‘Zombie Squad’ squadron of the LAPD, Marion Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone), otherwise known as Cobra, is one cool dude with some seriously odd character traits.

Like, isn’t Marion a girl’s name?

Most Lunatic Moment: He cuts his pizza up with scissors. WITH SCISSORS!

David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson Starsky & Hutch (2004)

The Crazy Cop: All-talk poser cop David Starsky (Ben Stiller) is partnered with cool cucumber Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson (Owen Wilson) and assigned a drug case.

They don’t get on. At all.

Most Lunatic Moment: “You just stole my voice!”

The guys go ‘undercover’ in ridiculous disguises .

As cops often do.

Jack Cates and Reggie Hammon 48 Hrs. (1982)

The Crazy Cop: San Francisco cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) and his new partner, who just so happens to be convict Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy).

Reggie’s given 48 hours out of jail (and a fake badge) to help Jack catch his former colleague, robber Albert Ganz (James Remar).

Most Lunatic Moment: Reggie has fun pretending he really is a cop when he hits up a ‘redneck’ bar for information.

James Carter Rush Hour (1998)

The Crazy Cop: Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) travels to the US when the daughter of Chinese Consul Solon Han (Tzi Ma) is kidnapped.

There, he’s paired up with one of the most annoying cops ever: Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker).

Most Lunatic Moment: When meeting undercover with dodgy-good-peddler Clive (Chris Penn), Carter’s caught by two police officers who mistake him for a criminal.

His ploy? “He’s my cousin, we just talkin’! Everythin’ cool officer!” Sigh.

Joe Friday and Pep Streebek Dragnet (1987)

The Crazy Cops: Sgt Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) is assigned a new partner in the decidedly snarky form of Pep Streebeck (Tom Hanks).

Let’s just say they don’t exactly get along.

Most Lunatic Moment: The guys commandeer a tank in order to storm a factory that’s apparently being used to make toxic gas.

It turns out to only be making milk. D’oh.

John Anderton Minority Report (2002)

The Crazy Cop: In a very slick-looking future, PreCrime captain John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is tasked with preventing transgressions before they happen using a trio of psychics known as ‘precogs’.

Most Lunatic Moment: Not only does Anderton throw himself around with no regard for his own safety, he even agrees to have his eyes replaced (ouch!) in order to avoid being detected by the optical recognition system in the city.

When needs must, huh?

Tom And Joe Cops And Robbers (1973)

The Crazy Cop: New York cops Tom (Cliff Gorman) and Joe (Joseph Bologna) are so sick of their jobs that they decide to retire.

Oh, and by retire, we mean stage a bank robbery, get their mitts on $10m and then retire.

Most Lunatic Moment: Actually going through with it…

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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