Tropescilloscope: Cowboy Cop

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

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