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COP (1988)
Director: James B. Harris
Based on a story by James Ellroy, "Cop" has James Woods teaming up with Director James B. Harris for a leisurely paced, graphic and sometimes misogynistic crime thriller.
A detective having marital woes comes home to his 6 year old daughter and playfully tucks her into bed. She wants him to read her a bedtime story. Dad proceeds to dish her the dirt of a burglary case with profanity for seasoning, as the daughter giggles on gleefully, interjecting a few choice descriptions of her own. You can tell they have a strong bond. This before-bed story is interrupted by a concerned wife who has Dad follow her into their bedroom as he shuts the door. An argument starts.
I paraphrase: "She's six years old! I don't want you to pass your sickness on to her!"
Cop replies, "Yeah, a little girl. They're all little girls! The junkie out on the street, the hooker getting carved up in a back alley, the thousands of women who hate men are all little girls! Little girls that have been lied to! Lied to by their parents. Told they were entitled to a white knight in shining armor. A Mr. Right who would come and sweep them off of their feet on a big, white horse! They grown up with these delusions in their head and it's no wonder they hate their lives. It's no wonder they walk around under a spell. Our daughter needs to be ready, she needs to know now!"
It's this argument and dialog (provided as an addition by director Harris) that sets up the mentality of Cop. Woods and his partner (played by Charles Durning) sit in a car, staking out a suspect in the most recent murder. Cop asks "Why can't they fly like us? Why can't they have wings?", referring to women. His partner replies, "She'd get a lot further in life with a big set of these (motions at chest) than a set of those."
As over the top as all of this dialog is, I couldn't help but feel a little more awake watching this movie. Clearly this is a point to consider when all you see day in and day out is murder and corruption. James Woods plays Det. Lloyd Hopkins, a tireless work-a-holic who becomes personally connected to what he thinks is a string of similar murders of women. To stop the killer he must question a high class call girl, a feminist and a beat cop getting kickbacks and running drugs in the gay part of the city.
Already up to his neck in the usual foreign territory and muck, he finds no hesitation in sleeping with his leads. Him and his partner bum rush a suspect and as the man reaches for his revolver, Hopkins unloads 5 bullets into his chest killing him instantly. He goes around to the passenger side of the vehicle that the suspect bolted out of before being shot. There's a slutty girl a bit shaken up who doesn't seem to know the now dead driver's name. "I just met him tonight". Hopkins offers her a ride home and asks his partner to clean up the mess and stick around for backup while he gets off with her. The man shoots a guy dead and then immediately wants to bang his date. And she's game!
That's Cop.
It's a comedy with a thriller wrapper. It's all absurd and offensive, yet I love this movie. It does not play around, mince words, or beat around the bush. It goes right for the bush.
Even as Hopkins is having dinner with another lead played by Leslie Ann Warren (a feminist book store owner), he keeps the slick macho pig in full stride. She confides in him her deepest and most treasured divulgences as he smiles, looks at his watch and subtly squirms in his seat, desperate to get her into bed.
In the end, the film wraps up in both a conventional and surprising way. I don't want to spoil it. It's not the best ending in the world but it's a damn good one. I mean, how could it possibly cheapen what we've seen so far? There's no way.
I'd recommend this movie to guys who like a solid procedural thriller with jolts of unexpected humor thrown in. It moves like a snail in the pace department, but that's a good thing. Where else will you see James Woods sitting down for a full minute at a time, smoking a cigarette, looking super cool? This might be the only ticket in town.
Director: James B. Harris
Based on a story by James Ellroy, "Cop" has James Woods teaming up with Director James B. Harris for a leisurely paced, graphic and sometimes misogynistic crime thriller.
A detective having marital woes comes home to his 6 year old daughter and playfully tucks her into bed. She wants him to read her a bedtime story. Dad proceeds to dish her the dirt of a burglary case with profanity for seasoning, as the daughter giggles on gleefully, interjecting a few choice descriptions of her own. You can tell they have a strong bond. This before-bed story is interrupted by a concerned wife who has Dad follow her into their bedroom as he shuts the door. An argument starts.
I paraphrase: "She's six years old! I don't want you to pass your sickness on to her!"
Cop replies, "Yeah, a little girl. They're all little girls! The junkie out on the street, the hooker getting carved up in a back alley, the thousands of women who hate men are all little girls! Little girls that have been lied to! Lied to by their parents. Told they were entitled to a white knight in shining armor. A Mr. Right who would come and sweep them off of their feet on a big, white horse! They grown up with these delusions in their head and it's no wonder they hate their lives. It's no wonder they walk around under a spell. Our daughter needs to be ready, she needs to know now!"
It's this argument and dialog (provided as an addition by director Harris) that sets up the mentality of Cop. Woods and his partner (played by Charles Durning) sit in a car, staking out a suspect in the most recent murder. Cop asks "Why can't they fly like us? Why can't they have wings?", referring to women. His partner replies, "She'd get a lot further in life with a big set of these (motions at chest) than a set of those."
As over the top as all of this dialog is, I couldn't help but feel a little more awake watching this movie. Clearly this is a point to consider when all you see day in and day out is murder and corruption. James Woods plays Det. Lloyd Hopkins, a tireless work-a-holic who becomes personally connected to what he thinks is a string of similar murders of women. To stop the killer he must question a high class call girl, a feminist and a beat cop getting kickbacks and running drugs in the gay part of the city.
Already up to his neck in the usual foreign territory and muck, he finds no hesitation in sleeping with his leads. Him and his partner bum rush a suspect and as the man reaches for his revolver, Hopkins unloads 5 bullets into his chest killing him instantly. He goes around to the passenger side of the vehicle that the suspect bolted out of before being shot. There's a slutty girl a bit shaken up who doesn't seem to know the now dead driver's name. "I just met him tonight". Hopkins offers her a ride home and asks his partner to clean up the mess and stick around for backup while he gets off with her. The man shoots a guy dead and then immediately wants to bang his date. And she's game!
That's Cop.
It's a comedy with a thriller wrapper. It's all absurd and offensive, yet I love this movie. It does not play around, mince words, or beat around the bush. It goes right for the bush.
Even as Hopkins is having dinner with another lead played by Leslie Ann Warren (a feminist book store owner), he keeps the slick macho pig in full stride. She confides in him her deepest and most treasured divulgences as he smiles, looks at his watch and subtly squirms in his seat, desperate to get her into bed.
In the end, the film wraps up in both a conventional and surprising way. I don't want to spoil it. It's not the best ending in the world but it's a damn good one. I mean, how could it possibly cheapen what we've seen so far? There's no way.
I'd recommend this movie to guys who like a solid procedural thriller with jolts of unexpected humor thrown in. It moves like a snail in the pace department, but that's a good thing. Where else will you see James Woods sitting down for a full minute at a time, smoking a cigarette, looking super cool? This might be the only ticket in town.