Entertainment
The Best Cowboy Cop Movies, Ranked
List Rules
Vote up the greatest films with loose cannon policemen and detectives who can't be held down. They don't have to be wearing Stetsons.
Cowboy cops are loose cannons. These characters operate by their own set of rules, often throwing police protocol out the window to accomplish their goals and bring the bad guys to justice. The best renegade cop movies often find one lone maverick fighting against devious conspiracies and rampant crime. And while this genre sounds niche, some of the greatest action movies ever made qualify. Just read on and you'll see – the best cowboy cop movies include everything from Bad Boys to Beverly Hills Cop to Lethal Weapon.
What films will you find on this list of the best cowboy cop movies? Die Hard helped define the trend. John McLane (Bruce Willis) was such a cowboy cop that he made his catchphrase “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*****.” Hot Fuzz is a hilarious example of an entertaining cowboy cop comedy. Clint Eastwood practically invented the cowboy cop with the Dirty Harry series. Other good films featured on this top renegade cop movies list include Training Day, Rush Hour, and Last Action Hero.
Which cowboy cop movie do you think deserves the top spot on this list? Give your favorites a thumbs up and please add any good movies that are missing.Ranked by
- 1Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Don Siegel
Cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) attempts to track down a psychopathic rooftop killer before a kidnapped girl dies. When he is found Harry abuses the murderer's civil rights putting him back on ...more - 2Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Evan C. Kim
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: Buddy Van Horn
In the fifth installment of the Dirty Harry series, gritty cop Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is fresh off the conviction of a major mob boss. When horror film director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) ...more - 3Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, David Soul
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: Ted Post
Rogue San Francisco cop "Dirty Harry" Callahan (Clint Eastwood) doesn't believe in blind obedience to the rules, but when a vigilante group starts executing criminals who have escaped punishment on ...more - 4Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: John McTiernan
New York City policeman John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and two daughters on Christmas Eve. He joins her at a holiday party in the headquarters of the ...more - 5Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: James Fargo
Police officer "Dirty Harry" Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is reassigned from homicide to personnel after his latest use of excessive force. Meanwhile, a terrorist group calling themselves the People's ...more - 6Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Richard Donner
Following the death of his wife, Los Angeles police detective Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) becomes reckless and suicidal. When he is reassigned and partnered with Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), Riggs ...more - 7Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle
- Released: 1983
- Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) was gang raped, but the crime went unpunished. Now she demands revenge, killing off the men that attacked her years before. The murders attract the attention of Harry ...more - 8Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Marco Brambilla
With innocent victims caught in the crossfire in Los Angeles' intensifying war on crime, both cop John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) and violent thug Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) are sentenced to a ...more - 9Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Martin Brest
After his childhood buddy is murdered while visiting Detroit, rebellious cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) follows the leads to Beverly Hills, Calif., under the auspices of a vacation. He checks in with ...more - 10Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Téa Leoni
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Michael Bay
Miami-Dade detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) blow a fuse when $100 million worth of heroin they recently confiscated is heisted from station headquarters. ...more - 11Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Edgar Wright
As a former London constable, Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) finds if difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big ...more - 12Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Brett Ratner
When a Chinese diplomat's daughter is kidnapped in Los Angeles, he calls in Hong Kong Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) to assist the FBI with the case. But the FBI doesn't want anything to do ...more - 13Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Police drama about a veteran officer who escorts a rookie on his first day with the LAPD's tough inner-city narcotics unit. "Training Day" is a blistering action drama that asks the audience to ...more - 14Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: George P. Cosmatos
Los Angeles policeman Lt. Marion "Cobra" Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone) finds himself at the center of a spate of murders carried out by a secret society called New Order: killers who select "weak" ...more - 15
S.W.A.T.
Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez - 16Bruce Willis, Yasiin Bey, David Morse
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Richard Donner
Boozy and world-weary, NYPD Detective Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) draws a routine assignment to transport trial witness Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) to the courthouse by 10 a.m. The task quickly becomes a ...more - 17Kim Cattrall, Rutger Hauer, Pete Postlethwaite
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Ian Sharp, Tony Maylam
Split Second is a 1992 British science fiction film starring Rutger Hauer, Kim Cattrall, and Neil Duncan. The film is directed by Tony Maylam and Ian Sharp. - 18Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: David Ayer
Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), a veteran member of the LAPD, is still mourning the loss of his wife and trying to navigate through a world that does not make much sense anymore. When evidence implicates ...more - 19Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, Charles Dance
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: John McTiernan
Following the death of his father, young Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien) takes comfort in watching action movies featuring the indestructible Los Angeles cop Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). After ...more - 20Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: John Woo
Mob assassin Jeffrey (Chow Yun-Fat) is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse ...more - 21Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Philip Kwok
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: John Woo
Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action film written and directed by John Woo, and starring Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Tony an undercover cop, and Anthony Wong as ...more - 22Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Christopher St. John
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Gordon Parks
John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is the ultimate in suave black detectives. He first finds himself up against Bumpy (Moses Gunn), the leader of the black crime mob, then against black nationals, and ...more - 23Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Wayne Kramer
Mafia flunky Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is ordered to dispose of the guns that killed a pair of policemen. He hides them in his basement, where they are found by Oleg (Cameron Bright), the kid from ...more - 24
R.I.P.D.
Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Mary-Louise Parker - 25Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
When President Ulysses S. Grant (Kevin Kline) learns that diabolical inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh) is planning to assassinate him, he orders Civil War hero James West (Will Smith) ...more
