Realistic Police Movies?

I remember enjoying The New Centurions (1972), a realistic view of Los Angeles police officers. It focused on the effects the job took on individuals, as well as the police work details. Can anyone recommend realistic cop movies they've liked?

__________________
Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

Serpico
French Connection

Hot Fuzz seriously

Check out The Onion Field (1979), based on a real 1963 incident where two plainclothes L.A. Policemen were kidnapped at gunpoint and one of them murdered in a remote location in Bakersfield. Like The New Centurions, it is also adapted from a book by Joseph Wambaugh, a former LAPD Sergeant. John Savage and Ted Danson play the cops, James Woods and Franklyn Seales are the criminals. In addition to the horrific night of the murder, it chiefly focuses on how the event devastates the surviving Cop as well as the distrust between the two criminals and the eventual trial. Very good movie.



The murder of Officer Campbell...

.
.

Attachments

   

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Colors (1988)

__________________
"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.

Another good one is William Wyler's Detective Story (1951). With the exception of a few brief establishing scenes in front of the precinct, one on the roof, and a quick trip around the block in a paddywagon, the entire film takes place in the detective's squad room (adapted from a stage play, which further explains the single set). Instead of looking at the procedural details usually dramatized in film and TV of working a beat, finding evidence and suspects, or car chases and gunplay, Detective Story wanted to show what happened back at the station, how the Detectives work to get confessions and the truth out of the people brought in, and how it effects them, psychologically....especially if it reveals a secret about your own life! Kirk Douglas and William Bendix play the two main Detectives.

.
.

Attachments

 

Copland
Bullit
The Negotiator

Realistic... police... movies... are not three words that go hand in hand...


It's been a while since I've seen them, but I would have to second both of Holden's choices and also Dex's... and add The New Centurions with George C. Scott...

If a guy uses his hands, you use your stick. If he uses a knife or club, You use your gun and cancel his ticket right there! ~ Kulvinski (George C. Scott)


As cheesy as the story was, some of the training scenes in S.W.A.T. with Colin Farrell were pretty factual... but as far as I'm concerned, television has always gotten it closer than films... and if you really want realistic, check out... COPS, SWAT, and The First 48 Hours on A&E... some other really good police shows are/were... NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Hill Street Blues, Homicide - Life on the Streets, Third Watch, and I haven't seen it yet, but I've been hearing really good things about The Wire on HBO...

__________________

further to Caity's post, if TV is included, Homicide-Life on the Street is worth a look.





Richard Belzer's John Munch (yes he reprises his role on L&O SVU) is my favourite TV cop next to the venerable Lenny Briscoe.

Man on the Roof

A Swedish Martin Beck flick which starts off as a police procedural and turns into an action spectacle.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Omigod!
You haven't seen the Wire? It's an almost a clinical look at inner city decay disguised as entertainment.

I just edited my post and added Homicide before I saw this... I knew I was forgetting one when I posted...

That's what I keep hearing... I added HBO not too long ago so will check it out as soon as I can...

And don't overlook "Barney Miller" (1975-1982). Yes, it is a sitcom, but I've heard cops and former cops (including eighteen-year Chicago Cop turned-actor Dennis Farina) say it is "Barney Miller" that most realistically captures the camaraderie and drudgery of day-to-day life in a squad, where statistically very few Officers ever have to fire their guns...but they all have to do paperwork, and deal with a constant parade of lunatics.

If you can find a copy of it, The Supercops is an oft overlooked one as well. Based on a pair of real life cops in NYC that were known as "batman and robin" in their precinct.



The poster makes it look like a comic book, but its a lot closer to Serpico in terms of feel.

If undercover cop flicks are included,

I'm not sure just how realistic is, but I think you'd enjoy this one a lot.

__________________

There were quite few good British police films made in the 50's and 60's such as The Long Arm (US: The Third Key) and The Blue Lamp.

Bullitt is pretty good one

Completely agree with with Dex about The Super Cops and Rush.

Without everyone dying I feel that The Departed is sort of an realistic police movie.