Tropescilloscope: Cowboy Cop

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

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