Tropescilloscope: Cowboy Cop

A loose cannon cop who DOESN'T play by the rules! (read more at tvtropes.org)

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More Tropes Protagonist Title Better to Die than Be Killed Dressing as the Enemy Laughing Mad Face Death with Dignity Meaningful Background Event Casting Gag Parental Incest Red Shirt Shirtless Scene Aluminum Christmas Trees Never Found the Body Unwitting Instigator of Doom Genre Savvy Groin Attack Rule of Symbolism Epic Movie You Killed My Father Smoking Is Cool Karma Houdini Unresolved Sexual Tension Rated M for Manly Badass Grandpa Your Cheating Heart Stalker with a Crush Get Out! Fingore Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Redshirt Army Off-into-the-Distance Ending The Bad Guy Wins Male Gaze Cowboy Cop Crazy Jealous Guy All There in the Manual Straight Gay Instant Death Bullet Setting Update Badass in a Nice Suit One Steve Limit Documentary Parental Abandonment Black Dude Dies First The Alcoholic Italian Films The Dragon Berserk Button Face–Heel Turn Together in Death Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Developing Doomed Characters Evil-Detecting Dog Accidental Murder Match Cut The Remake Chekhov's Gun Sexy Discretion Shot Have a Gay Old Time Adult Fear Annoying Younger Sibling The Great Depression Extremely Short Timespan Author Avatar Credits Gag The Hero Dies He Who Fights Monsters Offscreen Teleportation Black and Gray Morality Half the Man He Used to Be Those Wacky Nazis Deal with the Devil Peek-a-Boo Corpse Death by Irony Hate Sink Covers Always Lie Calling the Old Man Out A Minor Kidroduction Daylight Horror Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Daddy's Girl Apocalypse How Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Fantastic Racism Silent Movie Improbable Weapon User Leave the Camera Running Guile Hero Only One Name Cluster F-Bomb No Antagonist Evil Counterpart Amusing Injuries Empathic Environment Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Obviously Evil Jump Scare Amoral Attorney Fat Bastard Almost Kiss Demonic Possession Jerk Jock And I Must Scream Reality Has No Subtitles Broken Bird Mooks Ambiguously Gay Slasher Smile Real Life Smug Snake Black Comedy Rape Bare Your Midriff Those Two Guys Gory Discretion Shot Zombie Stories Take a Third Option World of Ham Aside Glance Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Your Head A-Splode Insane Troll Logic Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Time Skip I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Yandere The Vamp Never My Fault Manic Pixie Dream Girl Hypocritical Humor Artistic License – History Curb-Stomp Battle Ironic Echo Alpha Bitch Contrived Coincidence Deconstruction Red Right Hand Motor Mouth Line-of-Sight Name Big Bad Pretty in Mink Horror Comedy Anguished Declaration of Love The Atoner As Himself The Brute All for Nothing Villain with Good Publicity The Big Guy No Ending Rasputinian Death Every Car Is a Pinto Arc Words Love at First Sight Awesome, but Impractical Captain Ersatz Ambiguous Disorder Improvised Weapon Bavarian Fire Drill Double-Meaning Title Film Noir Brick Joke Funny Background Event Shut Up, Hannibal! Humans Are Bastards Mexican Standoff Blackmail Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Nice Hat Deliberately Monochrome Central Theme The Stinger Ugly Guy, Hot Wife The '50s Foregone Conclusion And Starring Adorkable Obfuscating Stupidity Freeze-Frame Bonus Visual Pun A God Am I Leaning on the Fourth Wall Broken Aesop Hoist by His Own Petard As Long as It Sounds Foreign Punny Name Malevolent Masked Men Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Anti-Hero Foreshadowing Diabolus ex Machina Police Brutality Hero Antagonist Bait-and-Switch The Lost Lenore I Did What I Had to Do Big Brother Instinct Say My Name Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Chiaroscuro Continuity Nod Tranquil Fury In Medias Res Arch-Enemy Dutch Angle Adapted Out Babies Ever After Dark Reprise Hair-Trigger Temper An Aesop Bolivian Army Ending Asshole Victim No-Sell Canon Foreigner Camera Abuse Domestic Abuse Final Girl Dirty Coward Recycled IN SPACE! Race Against the Clock Naked People Are Funny Fan Disservice Sanity Slippage More Dakka Death Seeker Author Appeal Retcon For the Evulz Sassy Black Woman Chewing the Scenery Captain Obvious Curse Cut Short Enemy Mine Genre Throwback Older Than They Look Villain Opening Scene Mr. Exposition Unreliable Narrator Unusual Euphemism Important Haircut The Musical Would Hurt a Child The Reveal Thriller Gainax Ending Rape as Drama Gone Horribly Right Silence Is Golden From Nobody to Nightmare Spiritual Successor Creator Cameo Interrupted Suicide Closed Circle Translation Convention It Will Never Catch On What Happened to the Mouse? Dogged Nice Guy Only a Flesh Wound Let's Get Dangerous! Kill 'em All Badass Normal Paper-Thin Disguise The Stoner "Awesome McCool" Name Ambiguous Ending Everyone Has Standards Mind Screw It Can Think Demoted to Extra Immune to Bullets Darker and Edgier Mythology Gag Handicapped Badass Call-Forward Bring My Brown Pants Playing Gertrude I Have Your Wife Corrupt Corporate Executive Homage Attempted Rape Fish out of Water Funny Foreigner Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Pragmatic Adaptation Actually Pretty Funny Agony of the Feet Television Movie Index Dirty Old Man Easily Forgiven Woman Scorned Chase Scene Too Dumb to Live Distracted by the Sexy Corpsing The Casanova Non-Indicative Name Really Gets Around Grey and Gray Morality Bland-Name Product Self-Deprecation Bury Your Gays Market-Based Title Composite Character Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Decoy Protagonist B-Movie Public Domain Feature Films Evil vs. Evil Well-Intentioned Extremist All Girls Want Bad Boys Refuge in Audacity Pre-Mortem One-Liner Maybe Ever After This Is Gonna Suck The Power of Love Beta Couple Antagonist Title Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Made of Iron Only Sane Man Deadpan Snarker The Smart Guy Large Ham Pyrrhic Victory Works Set in World War II French Films Beard of Evil Blatant Lies Cassandra Truth Madness Mantra Hooker with a Heart of Gold What the Hell, Hero? Mundane Made Awesome Adaptational Villainy The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Whole Plot Reference Overprotective Dad Breaking the Fourth Wall Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Based on a True Story The Chessmaster Did Not Get the Girl Children Are Innocent Cain and Abel Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Riddle for the Ages Dramedy Slasher Movie Fatal Flaw As the Good Book Says... Narrator Action Survivor From Bad to Worse Faking the Dead Vitriolic Best Buds Sole Survivor Monumental Damage Morality Pet Award-Bait Song German Films How We Got Here Rule of Cool N-Word Privileges Stylistic Suck Combat Pragmatist Australian Movies Ascended Extra Betty and Veronica Boom, Headshot! Cool Old Lady Unspoken Plan Guarantee Dirty Cop Abhorrent Admirer Random Events Plot Conspicuous CG Deliberate Values Dissonance You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Noodle Incident The Voiceless Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun You Have Failed Me The '90s Adaptation Expansion Establishing Character Moment After the End Plot Hole Evil Is Petty Disproportionate Retribution Fun with Acronyms Flashback Friend to All Children Police are Useless Jerkass Has a Point Ass Shove Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? "Shaggy Dog" Story Scenery Porn Cool Shades Those Two Bad Guys Stepford Smiler Shout-Out Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Abusive Parents The Mafia The Mole What You Are in the Dark Red Eyes, Take Warning Auto Erotica Dying Moment of Awesome Oh, Crap! Christmas Movies Index Names to Run Away from Really Fast Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique The Load Stealth Pun Alas, Poor Villain True Companions Broken Pedestal Dark Action Girl Wicked Cultured Hypocrite I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Artistic License – Gun Safety Take That! Mighty Whitey 20 Minutes into the Future Anyone Can Die Dies Wide Open My Greatest Failure Humiliation Conga Film Series Hope Spot Hong Kong Films All Men Are Perverts Fake Shemp Back from the Dead Expy Death of a Child Pragmatic Villainy Country Matters Beware the Nice Ones The Dog Bites Back Rule of Funny Throwing Your Sword Always Works Once More, with Clarity! The Stoic Foil Historical-Domain Character Tagline All Just a Dream Butt-Monkey Suspiciously Specific Denial Dissonant Serenity Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Film Noir Index Offscreen Moment of Awesome Major Injury Underreaction Taking the Bullet Even Evil Has Loved Ones Scenery Gorn Guns Akimbo Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Twist Ending Taking You with Me Eiffel Tower Effect Bad Boss Wretched Hive The Alleged Car British Films Eyepatch of Power Cat Scare Knife Nut Took a Level in Badass The Cameo Danny Peary Cult Movies List Sinister Minister Properly Paranoid "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Exactly What It Says on the Tin Costume Porn Age Lift Spell My Name with an "S" Department of Redundancy Department Ripped from the Headlines Stealth Hi/Bye The Lancer Gratuitous English Kick the Dog Gender Flip Pretty Little Headshots Trailers Always Spoil Artistic License – Physics Fatal Family Photo Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Psychopathic Manchild Does This Remind You of Anything? Villain Song Animal Motifs Four-Temperament Ensemble Epic Fail Death by Sex Sealed Evil in a Can Getting Crap Past the Radar Japanese Films Animal Title Index Determinator aka: The Determinator Historical In-Joke Fainting Death Glare Destination Defenestration Crapsack World Fire-Forged Friends Hollywood Darkness The End... Or Is It? Chekhov's Skill Heel Realization Artistic License – Military Becoming the Mask Bunny-Ears Lawyer Mad Scientist Tempting Fate Woman in White Evil Laugh Meaningful Echo Ax-Crazy Card-Carrying Villain Bullying a Dragon Naïve Newcomer Men Are the Expendable Gender She's Got Legs Small Name, Big Ego Frame-Up Missing Mom Storming the Castle Affably Evil NO INDOOR VOICE And the Adventure Continues Historical Villain Upgrade Early-Bird Cameo Index of Film Westerns Cat Fight Character Development Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Product Placement Brutal Honesty Good Is Not Nice Facial Horror Disney Death Bound and Gagged The Quiet One Not Even Bothering with the Accent Not What It Looks Like Sir Swears-a-Lot One-Man Army Framing Device Serious Business Logo Joke Victoria's Secret Compartment Kubrick Stare Grievous Bottley Harm Despair Event Horizon Parental Substitute Scare Chord It's All About Me The Smurfette Principle Dwindling Party Villain Ball Kids Are Cruel Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Bond Villain Stupidity Badass Boast Double Entendre Not Using the "Z" Word Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Overly Long Gag Lock and Load Montage Driven to Suicide Crazy-Prepared Kill It with Fire Fanservice Extra Advertised Extra Beauty Is Never Tarnished Deus ex Machina Wham Line Mr. Fanservice Rule of Three Big "NO!" Heroic Sacrifice Authority Equals Asskicking There Is No Kill Like Overkill The Faceless Vomit Discretion Shot Running Gag Honor Before Reason Word of God Armor-Piercing Question Needs Wiki Magic Love Black Comedy Big Applesauce Spared by the Adaptation Break the Cutie The X of Y Bond One-Liner Ominous Latin Chanting Retirony Badass Bookworm Plucky Comic Relief Adaptation Name Change Military and Warfare Films Camp Gay Intergenerational Friendship Karmic Death Super Strength Dramatic Gun Cock The '80s Adaptation Dye-Job No Celebrities Were Harmed Leitmotif Bar Brawl Sequel Hook Dramatic Irony Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Kick the Son of a Bitch Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Red Herring Fanservice Gorn Earn Your Happy Ending Sacrificial Lion Drives Like Crazy Serial Killer Didn't Think This Through Drill Sergeant Nasty Cruel and Unusual Death Henpecked Husband Genre Shift The '70s Moment Killer Bloodless Carnage Canadian Movies Disguised in Drag Defrosting Ice Queen Undying Loyalty Slashed Throat Comically Missing the Point Sadistic Choice Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Action Prologue Martial Arts Movie Same Language Dub Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Outrun the Fireball Hell Is That Noise Faux Affably Evil Book-Ends Papa Wolf Extreme Doormat Anachronism Stew Meet Cute Darkest Hour Biopic Celebrity Paradox Catch-Phrase Mood Whiplash Mistaken for Gay Politically Incorrect Villain Shown Their Work Ms. Fanservice Reality Is Unrealistic Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Fiery Redhead The Sociopath Not So Above It All Superhero Unusually Uninteresting Sight Cool Car Worthy Opponent One-Word Title Green-Eyed Monster Happily Married Insult Backfire O.O.C. Is Serious Business Bloodier and Gorier Cloudcuckoolander Eagleland As You Know Fate Worse than Death Big Fancy House Bilingual Bonus Put on a Bus Manly Tears BFG Retired Badass Lampshade Hanging Rousing Speech Took a Level in Jerkass He Knows Too Much Exact Words Bowdlerise Loads and Loads of Characters It's Personal Improbable Aiming Skills The Ace Mugging the Monster The Dreaded May–December Romance Anti-Villain Depraved Bisexual The '60s Punch-Clock Villain Horror Films Vampire Fiction Blood from the Mouth Imagine Spot Romantic False Lead Damsel in Distress Fantasy Films Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Laser-Guided Karma Black Best Friend Male Frontal Nudity Adaptational Attractiveness Psychological Thriller Idiot Ball Eureka Moment The Starscream Hero of Another Story Shipper on Deck Catapult Nightmare Adaptational Badass Evil Plan Bi the Way Intrepid Reporter The Chick Even Evil Has Standards She Cleans Up Nicely Big Eater Adults Are Useless Air-Vent Passageway Man on Fire Hidden Depths "The Reason You Suck" Speech The Hero Soundtrack Dissonance Body Horror Loophole Abuse Real Life Writes the Plot The Ditz Drugs Are Bad Soft Glass Ghost Fiction The Oner Jerk with a Heart of Gold My Beloved Smother Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Five-Man Band Wham Shot Blood Knight Gilligan Cut Femme Fatale Hollywood Law Re-Cut Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Redemption Equals Death Very Loosely Based on a True Story Eye Scream Adaptational Heroism Defiant to the End An Arm and a Leg Science Fiction Films Mercy Kill Bad "Bad Acting" Anachronic Order Neck Lift Manipulative Bastard Evil Is Hammy Spiteful Spit Token Minority Coming-of-Age Story No Name Given Poor Communication Kills An Axe to Grind Tap on the Head Toplessness from the Back Action Genre Cold-Blooded Torture Pet the Dog Stuff Blowing Up Parental Neglect Artistic License – Biology Revenge Spanner in the Works Last-Name Basis Freudian Excuse Creative Closing Credits Chekhov's Gunman Truth in Television Pimped-Out Dress Nice Guy I'm a Humanitarian Evil Sounds Deep Ungrateful Bastard Precision F-Strike timeperiod Room Full of Crazy The Film of the Book Star-Crossed Lovers Accidental Misnaming Actor Allusion Adaptation Distillation Disappeared Dad Affectionate Parody Determinator Shell-Shocked Veteran Neck Snap Bloody Hilarious folderlabel Drowning My Sorrows Heterosexual Life-Partners Not So Different Posthumous Character Action Girl Crucified Hero Shot Reality Ensues Flipping the Bird Rewatch Bonus Evil Cannot Comprehend Good The Ghost Be Careful What You Wish For The Place A.I. Is a Crapshoot No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Big-Bad Ensemble You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Wounded Gazelle Gambit Suddenly SHOUTING! Our Zombies Are Different Artistic License – Geography No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Bittersweet Ending A Date with Rosie Palms Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Famous Last Words Wrong Genre Savvy Badass Longcoat Belligerent Sexual Tension Nothing Is Scarier No OSHA Compliance Make It Look Like an Accident Jerkass Romantic Comedy In Name Only Manchild Heel–Face Turn A Father to His Men Eldritch Abomination Killed Mid-Sentence Suspiciously Similar Substitute Historical Hero Upgrade Due to the Dead Ragtag Bunch of Misfits For Want of a Nail Brainless Beauty Sci-Fi Horror Light Is Not Good Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Skewed Priorities Totally Radical Russian Films Implacable Man Informed Ability Gold Digger Big Bad Duumvirate Heroic BSoD Does Not Like Shoes Greater-Scope Villain Dark and Troubled Past The Bully Dull Surprise Roaring Rampage of Revenge Meaningful Name Insistent Terminology Creepy Child Dual Wielding MacGuffin Off with His Head! Rich Bitch Sports Stories Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Disney Villain Death Ship Tease Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Bottomless Magazines Bald of Evil Dumb Blonde Video Credits Reasonable Authority Figure Heroes Want Redheads Big Damn Heroes Cool Guns Downer Ending Scary Black Man Obstructive Bureaucrat Evil Brit Death by Adaptation I Need a Freaking Drink Villain Protagonist "Well Done, Son!" Guy Vacation Films Only in It for the Money Not Quite Dead Show Within a Show Early Installment Weirdness Shoot the Shaggy Dog Never Trust a Trailer Mystery and Detective Films Failed a Spot Check Our Vampires Are Different Made of Explodium Only Known by Their Nickname Slap-Slap-Kiss Music Stories Red Oni, Blue Oni Arranged Marriage Would Hit a Girl Call-Back In the Back Lighter and Softer Irony The Cavalry Love Triangle Training Montage Here We Go Again! Alliterative Name Car Fu Break the Haughty My God, What Have I Done? Stock Footage Psycho for Hire Left the Background Music On La Résistance Reckless Gun Usage Artistic License – Law Married to the Job Cool Old Guy Dropped a Bridge on Him Shower Scene Villainous Breakdown Sequel Escalation Animated Credits Opening The Un-Reveal Expository Hairstyle Change Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Title Drop All There in the Script Jitter Cam Fourth Date Marriage War Is Hell Batman Gambit Not So Stoic Up to Eleven Dark Is Not Evil Brother–Sister Incest Novelization Vomit Indiscretion Shot Mama Bear Knight Templar Race Lift Pay Evil unto Evil '80s Hair