At the end ofDirty Harry, tough guy Inspector Harry Callahan guns down the Scorpio Killer.
In 1971, audiences were primed to see a Zodiac Killer stand-in get so definitively taken down.
But Callahan himself felt clear remorse for crossing a line.
Still, not all cop movies were the same.
RoboCop (1988)
As one would expect from Dutch directorPaul Verhoeven,RoboCopfeatures all manner of mayhem.
And yet, RoboCop never breaks any laws.
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11.
The super cop story was working.
It was working, and you guys just messed it up… You fucked up a perfectly good lie.
No, thats not as bad as the guys who gun down suspects in others 80s movies.
But, crucially, the killer is not an active duty cop.
At the start ofRunning Scared, Hughes and Costanzo harass a small-time hood called Snake (Joe Pantoliano).
As Snake points out, he hasnt committed a crime.
So what does Costanzo do?
With Reggie signed out for a 48-hour release, Cates will do whatever it takes to get his man.
And, relatively speaking, he doesnt have to do that much.
But, still, it is an illegal abuse of power.
To its credit(?
Which, to its credit, is kind of the point ofCode of Silence.
And with good reason.
BeforeUnder Siege, Davis got an earlier solid performance from Seagal withAbove the Law.
Seagal plays a former special ops officer turned Chicago cop who uncovers a CIA operation on American citizens.
At least Davis makes it look good.
Because of Miranda rights, Ridzik explains, cops cannot brutalize people in the States.
We cant even touch his ass, declares Ridzik.
I dont want to touch his ass, responds a stone-faced Danko.
I want him to talk.
What about his rights?
bellows Cobretti, ending the argument on ethical and legal grounds, apparently.
Cobretti is the ultimate police state nightmare, even more than Stallones later character,Judge Dredd.
