{"id":2171,"date":"2024-08-08T03:50:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T03:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2171"},"modified":"2024-10-14T13:43:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:43:21","slug":"cop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/08\/cop\/","title":{"rendered":"Cop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cop <\/strong>(1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Atlantic Releasing\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 110 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, drug references, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: James B. Harris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James B. Harris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michel Colombier\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Steve Dubin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 11, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: James Woods, Lesley Ann Warren, Charles Durning, Charles Haid, Raymond J. Barry, Randi Brooks, Steven Lambert, Christopher Wynne, Jan McGill, Vicki Wauchope, Melinda Lynch, John Petievich, Dennis Stewart, Annie McEnroe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $1.9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0What a difference 35 years makes. Way back at the end of summer 1988, I rented Cop<\/strong> from West Coast Video. I saw the ad for it at my local AMC earlier in the year, but it bypassed Philadelphia theaters completely so I had to wait for it to come out on video. At the time, I didn\u2019t think much of it. I thought it would be more of an action movie. It\u2019s actually more of a modern noir thriller. My cinematic palate wasn\u2019t yet refined enough to appreciate the nuances of noir. The only aspect that stood out was the final scene when James Woods\u2019 character gets off one of the best lines since Rutger Hauer uttered \u201cf*** the bonus.\u201d in Wanted Dead or Alive. Other than that, I wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cut to this past weekend when I decided to give Cop<\/strong> another shot. It was streaming for free on Tubi, so I thought why not. Now that I\u2019m a considerably more seasoned movie watcher, I saw it in a completely different light. It\u2019s really quite a film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Based on the James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) novel Blood on the Moon, Cop <\/strong>stars Woods (Against All Odds) as Sgt. Lloyd Hopkins, an LAPD detective on the trail of a serial killer. While investigating the brutal murder of a young woman, he stumbles across evidence suggesting the killer has done this kind of thing before. When he delves deeper, he finds several unsolved murders over the past 15 years that match the M.O. of the latest killing. He tries to open an official investigation, but his boss Capt. Gaffney (Barry, Year of the Dragon) isn\u2019t having any of it. He\u2019s not exactly a fan of Hopkins. With little to no support from his colleagues, Hopkins strikes out on his own to solve the case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only one willing to assist Hopkins is Kathleen McCarthy (Warren, Victor Victoria), a feminist book store owner who might be able to point him in the right direction. The case brings back memories of a traumatic event that might or might not be connected to the killings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The plot of Cop<\/strong> isn\u2019t what you\u2019d call complex. It\u2019s fairly straightforward in terms of the narrative save for a red herring involving a dirty cop (Haid, Hill Street Blues). What I didn\u2019t understand in the halcyon days of my misspent youth was that Cop<\/strong> was less about plot than character. And what a character this Lloyd Hopkins is! He makes Dirty Harry look like a bastion of civil rights. He crosses so many lines, it\u2019s a wonder he still has his badge. He\u2019s a brilliant detective who doesn\u2019t give up, not even when he\u2019s ordered to by his superiors. He relentlessly pursues his quarry at the cost of his career, family and other personal relationships. All the while, he\u2019s coming more and more unglued. He knows he\u2019s onto something, but nobody wants to hear it. They think he\u2019s nuts. That may be, but it doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

\u00a0James Woods is absolutely brilliant in the title role. He\u2019s always been one of my favorite actors. I love his natural intensity. It\u2019s a quality that makes his stand out from his peers. It also makes him the perfect choice to play a character like Hopkins, a cop who has no problem gunning down a suspect then leaving his partner (Durning, Sharky\u2019s Machine) to sort things out while he drives the dead guy\u2019s \u201cdate\u201d home, presumably for a quick screw. While he\u2019s on the side of right, he isn\u2019t at all above doing wrong to solve the case. For him, moral ambiguity is the flavor of the day every day. Not many actors could pull it off as well as Woods does here. His performance in Cop<\/strong> is right up there with his work in The Onion Field, Salvador and Best Seller.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Woods gets ample support from Warren who becomes what can kindly be described as a hostile witness. She might have crucial information, but she\u2019ll be damned if she reveals it to Hopkins after he violates her trust (and rights) like he does. In a change of pace, she doesn\u2019t become a damsel in distress in the climax. Haid is also good as the deputy sheriff involved in criminal activity of his own. Barry is sufficiently unlikable as the police captain who has it out for Hopkins. Durning has some good moments as the partner\/mentor fighting a losing battle keeping his friend out of trouble.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by James B. Harris (Boiling Point), Cop <\/strong>is a fine neo-noir crime thriller that\u2019s only slightly marred by pacing issues. But you know what; I don\u2019t even care about that. The film is made consistently interesting by Woods\u2019 unhinged and sometimes funny performance. His character isn\u2019t quite as bad as Harvey Keitel\u2019s bad cop in Bad Lieutenant, but he\u2019s not a whole lot better than the criminals and assorted sleaze bags he encounters on the job. He makes for a fascinating character study. Then there\u2019s that cool end scene. I won\u2019t ruin it for those who haven\u2019t seen Cop<\/strong>, but it\u2019s a real doozy. It\u2019s still talked about by movie fans. That alone makes the rest of the movie worth checking out.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cop (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Atlantic Releasing\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 110 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, drug references, sexual content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: James B. Harris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James B. Harris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Michel Colombier\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Steve Dubin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 11, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: James Woods, Lesley Ann Warren, Charles Durning, Charles Haid, Raymond J. Barry, Randi Brooks, Steven Lambert, Christopher Wynne, Jan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Cop-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3053,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions\/3053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}