Tropescilloscope: Cowboy Cop

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

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