Tropescilloscope: Cowboy Cop

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

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