Let us ignore Ridley Scott’s misjudged Julianne Moore led 2001sequel, shall we?

Silence of the Lambs saw Jodie Foster portray FBI trainee Clarice Starling to a second Oscar and establish a new breed of law enforcement: an attractive, intelligent, politically savvy Government agent, whose gender restricts her advancement in a sexist organisation, yet whose actions exhibit more balls than her male counterparts.

Who else could go tit-for-tat (or quid-pro-quo) with the nuttiest of nutters in Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lector? Or, face off against lover of all things skin Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) and come up tops?

Cue the silence from the crowd.

As far as wisecracking heroes go, Axel Foley has the ammunition to crack you up when he isn’t busting you down.

The part was originally earmarked for Sylvester Stallone, yet thank the movie gods he went on to make Cobra instead. Insert SNL funny man Eddie Murphy, who injected the right amount of wise ass and street smarts to his fish out of water portrayal of a Detroit cop whose murder investigation leads him to Beverly Hills, using his uncanny knack for impersonation to wreak havoc on the town, disturbing the social elite while garnering new allies (Judge Reinhold & John Ashton).

A sequel repeats the same winning formula, but stay away from the third outing.

Right wing. Trigger happy. Incorruptible. Tenacious. Iconic. All of these apply to “Dirty” Harry Callahan, San Francisco’s finest crusader for justice, and pain in the ass to politicians and criminals alike.

The role was first offered to the likes of John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Steve McQueen, before Clint Eastwood decided to take on equally iconic Smith & Western .44 Magnum, gnarling at any punk to “go ahead and make my day”.

5 films chronicled Callahan’s exploits and a legend was born.

Marge Gunderson represents the ideal police officer: a sworn civil servant who stands for duty and  justice in a world ceseptable to countless evils and its many temptations, with money being the case in Fargo.

Never mind her funny accent. Nor that she is heavily pregnant. Marge is a light that shines bright in a cold world full of kidnappers and murders, Frances McDormand injecting the right amount of sentiment, street smarts, and tenacious persistence into her Oscar winning role. There will never be another quite like her.                

In the history of hard men in cinema, it is hard to look past Irish-American Chicago beat cop Jim Malone.

Whether duking it out with a corrupt cop outside of a police precinct, or dispensing brutal wisdom to naive idealist Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) in a Catholic church, Malone’s frank outlook on life coupled with his hard as nails approach to crime makes him a cop not to be missed with, Sean Connery inhabiting these qualities with natural fervour.  

Not many cops skirt the thin blue line like Popeye Doyle.

In the pursuit for his man, French drug kingpin Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), Doyle goes above and beyond to the point of sheer brutal criminality, a shot to the back of an unarmed yet guilty suspect all but confirming the lengths he will go in the quest for “justice”, Gene Hackman playing Doyle uncompromisingly as a cop on the edge of darkness more than content with his actions. He will get his man, and no one will stand in his way.

Michael Mann’s 1995 cops and crims tale Heat saw master theps Al Pacino and Robert De Niro go one on one as dogged cop and master thief, respectively.

Yet while De Niro received better notices for his portrayal of ice cold sociopath Neil McCauley, it was Pacino’s Vincent Hanna who provided the films momentum and indeed its most memorable moments, Pacino’s hoo-ha buster lending itself magnificently in one of the better exhibits of over the top acting, creating a movie cop to remember.

Mel Gibson did something quite groundbreaking in his portrayal of lethal weapon Martin Riggs: he brought sorrow and vulnerability to the type of character that should not possess either trait.

Many point to John MacClane as the cop who broke the mould, but it was Riggs who remade the movie cop: tough, vulnerable, unpredictable, dangerous, full of zippy one liners (courtesy of screen writer Shane Black) and an arsenal of kick ass moves that would make Bruce Lee proud.  

Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs rejuvenated the heroic cop character, yet it would be Bruce Willis as John McClane who took it to the next level, all but killing off the muscle man as tough cop stereotype in the innovative and controversial casting of Moonlighting star Bruce Willis.

Yet while Riggs would spend his spare time playing one man Russian roulette, or firing off a few hundred rounds at the range, McClane was a much more relatable alternative, the type of guy you could share a beer and watch the big game with, when he isn’t kicking terrorist ass.

The wife beater and residing hair line gave him an image. His dry humour, personality. “Yippie-ki-yay motherfucker” the ultimate catch phrase.   

Going up against murderers, thieves, and drug dealers is one thing. But undercover cop Frank Serpico did the unbelievable: he flipped the lid on a corrupt police force and brought attention to a system which turned a blind eye to the incriminating actions of its civil servants.

 There are many ways to label Serpico: Hero. Snitch. Idealist. Yet perhaps the best way to view the man is via Al Pacino’s impassioned performance in Sidney Lumet’s underrated 1973 biopic Serpico. Presented here is a man of unquestionable morals who will not let his sense of right and wrong be compromised, despite being the subject of ridicule and threats within a police force which only wants to save face and not pursue justice.