Buddy Cop Movies: People need buddies, and movies, apparently, need cops. Pair those two truths together and we’ve got one of the greatest film tropes there ever was. Here are our picks, the 10 best buddy cop movies of all time.
To create the coolest cop buddies, we need to look at what makes a buddy cop teamwork. It’s not just about two police officers catching bad guys. It’s about two people who complement each other perfectly, like a yin and yang, but with guns.
First, let’s talk about where this all started. Many film experts say the buddy cop genre began with Akira Kurosawa’s 1949 film “Stray Dog.” In this movie, a new detective gets help from an experienced partner to find a missing gun. This film is important because it was an early example of a great partnership.
However, the buddy cop genre really took off much later. The key discovery that made these movies popular was adding lots of exciting action scenes. Just like cavemen discovered fire, buddy cop movies discovered thrilling action.
10.Lethal Weapon (1987)Top 10 Buddy Cop Movies :
A good buddy cop film needs a strong friendship built through exciting action scenes. John Connery and Nicolas Cage became friends while dealing with smashed trolleys and dangerous rockets. Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee bonded while fighting and exploring their cultural differences. Burt Reynolds and Morgan Golden II were fun to watch, but the boat chases, wheelies, and sparking cowboy boots in Cop and a Half made their friendship even more thrilling. The best buddy moments happen when the stakes are high, so we love seeing intense action scenes with our favorite buddies. The most exciting sequences can be found in Legal Weapon.
The whole Lethal Weapon series is famous when people think of buddy cops. Riggs and Murtaugh might be the best-known pair. Over ten years, four blockbuster movies showed their wild moments and daring stunts. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover made the characters gritty and real, adding humor in the sequels. Their running, shooting, and crazy moves made these films legendary.
Director Richard Donner was great at many genres. He directed Superman, Goonies, and Scrooged. With Lethal Weapon, he mixed comedy with high-action scenes perfectly. The series showed future films how to use a funny duo to make action movies more fun.
09.Freebie And The Bean (1974)Top 10 Buddy Cop Movies
To get the exciting action we love in buddy cop films, the movie can’t be about officers who just sit at desks and always do their paperwork on time. Whether it’s a good cop bad cop setup or one going rogue, these films need some push back against authority.
Jimmy Dix didn’t follow the rules. Axel Foley didn’t either. Detective Chris Leach even fell for the suspect’s girlfriend while on a stakeout. It doesn’t matter why they ignore orders, just that they cause trouble for their bosses.
That’s why, in our number 9 spot, I’m choosing a duo known for breaking the rules: James Caan and Alan Arkin in “Freebie and the Bean.”
The 1970s had many TV cop dramas like The Streets of San Francisco and Hawaii 5-0, where officers did their jobs well. In contrast, Freebie and the Beam showed two cops who often failed but accidentally found evidence and crashed cars into people’s homes. They wanted to do the right thing but weren’t very good at it.
Directed by Richard Rush, the film starred two well-known actors. Khan was famous from The Godfather, and Arkin had just been in Catch-22. Their casting made the movie seem serious, even though it was full of funny mishaps.
The movie wasn’t a big hit, but it was a fun spoof of serious cop shows. Freebie and the Beam gave a silly twist to the genre. Even 50 years later, we still enjoy watching buddies who mess up, whether from incompetence or rebellion.
08. Memories Of Murder (2003) Top 10 Buddy Cop Movies
The action and authority issues are just part of a bigger story. They help set the stage for two officers who might become good friends. But the heart of a buddy cop film is the relationship between the two crime fighters. Every Holmes needs a Watson, right?
One of the best parts of watching police partners is seeing how their different views change the story and each other. In “Feds,” Rebecca DuMornay is the muscle, while Mary Groves is the brains. “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” pairs Stallone with Estelle Getty, turning buddy cop tropes on their head.
“Shanghai Noon” shows what happens when a Chinese imperial guard teams up with Owen Wilson to rescue a princess in the 1800s. This formula worked before for Jackie Chan when he paired with Chris Tucker.
While broad comedies are great for showing clashing personalities, more subtle differences can also create interesting stories. We see this in “The French Connection” with Jimmy Doyle and Buddy Russo’s styles. In “Seven,” an aging Detective Somerset works his last case with young David Mills.
Though all these examples are great, my 8th spot goes to Bong Joon-ho’s 2003 crime thriller, “Memories of Murder.”
Park Dooman and Cho Tae-yoon investigate a series of killings. They are both serious, but they use very different methods. One cop thinks he can tell if someone is guilty just by looking into their eyes. The other cop prefers to use evidence like fingerprints and gunpowder samples.
In “Memories of Murder,” Jun-ho uses the buddy cop formula to explore the psychology of a thriller. The two officers learn about themselves and each other as they slowly overcome their differences. Bong Joon-ho uses visual contrasts to tell the story and show the differences between the detectives. For example, Park is shown in the center of the screen during an intuitive interrogation, while Seo is at the edge of the frame when analyzing evidence.
The visuals highlight their differences throughout the movie. This continues until the end when they stand together and watch the bad guy get away.
07. Last Action Hero (1993)
When you’re busy with exciting action, arguing with your bosses, and dealing with a partner who annoys you, there’s no time for long speeches. That’s why our favorite buddy cops are great at quick one-liners. You’re fired.
The right words at the perfect moment can stay in our minds forever. For example, “I’ll be back” makes us think of Schwarzenegger with his shades on.
Schwarzenegger, also known as the Governator, is famous for his one-liners. One of his memorable lines is “Stick around.” Movies like Training Day, Die Hard, and The Rock have great one-liners too. But my favorite comes from a film full of puns and punches.
Please don’t count them or leave comments about it because that would make me look silly. At number seven, we have Last Action Hero.
In movies like Commando, Terminator 2, or Kindergarten Cop, Arnold Schwarzenegger often ends action scenes with a clever one-liner. This is the Lieutenant Governor. Here’s what I told him. The Governor knows who called him. It’s hard to pick Arnold’s best line, but Last Action Hero combines his catchphrases and buddy cop one-liners perfectly.
In the movie, Jack Slater is an action star police officer who teams up with a kid magically transported into the movie world. Last Action Hero fully embraces its genre with lots of one-liners and action scenes. These aren’t just extras; they’re the main part of the movie. Schwarzenegger’s famous lines from earlier films are why this movie was made.
The original script, written by Zach Penn and Adam Leff, was a parody of action movies like those by Shane Black, who wrote The Weapon. In a funny twist, Shane Black was hired to rewrite Last Action Hero to make it more commercial. His version added a lot more action.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger is in front of the camera, his presence can’t be ignored. Like fine wine, Last Action Hero has aged well. The movie came out in 1993, during the peak of buddy cop films. Back then, people loved their crime-fighting movies and didn’t know what to think of a film that made fun of the genre.
Some folks were upset about the movie in the mid-90s. But now, it’s seen as a classic buddy cop film that shows everything silly and fun about those movies.
06. 48 HRS (1982)
We’ve got exciting action, authority problems, characters who are very different, and lots of funny one-liners in our buddy cop story. What’s the next ingredient? Should we add some friendship or a bit of conflict? Let’s go with conflict because sometimes these cops aren’t friends at all.
In “Training Day,” Alonzo Harris and Jade Hoyt start as mentor and student, but their relationship falls apart, turning one into the villain and the other into the hero. In “Zootopia,” Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are on opposite sides of the law. If Officer Hopps had her way, Wilde would have been jailed before the story even began.
Johnny Utah and Bodhi’s friendship in “Point Break” was doomed from the start, yet it still ranks high among buddy cop movies. One of the best non-friendships in film is in “48 Hours.” The two main characters dislike each other so much that it’s surprising to learn the actors got along off-camera. This makes “48 Hours” the top anti-buddy buddy cop film.
The 1984 film “48 Hours” begins like many buddy cop comedies, with a cop and a con who need each other’s help. What makes this movie different is Nick Nolte’s intense anger and Eddie Murphy’s sharp sarcasm. At first, Jack Cates (Nolte) and Reggie Hammond (Murphy) can’t stand each other. Their relationship starts as cop versus criminal but gets even worse when they have to work together.
While other buddy cop films have tried similar plots, “48 Hours” stands out because of the unique chemistry between the actors. Nolte plays a grumpy, experienced cop, while Murphy is a young comedian making his first movie. This mix made Nolte’s growls and Murphy’s big reactions even funnier. Interestingly, the two actors got along well off-screen, saving all their fighting for when the cameras were rolling.
05. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
After all that angry talk, it’s time to relax and laugh. Every good buddy cop movie adds some comedy when things get too intense. With high stakes in the buddy cop world, it’s common to see silly moments in serious times. If you disagree, just look at Leslie Nielsen’s career from 1980 onward.
The Naked Gun from the Files of Police Squad set a high standard for slapstick cop comedy, but it didn’t have a buddy duo. Then there’s 21 Jump Street, with two cops out of their element, and Dead Heat, which introduced zombie cops long before The Walking Dead. When it comes to wild action and odd pairings, one buddy cop movie stands out. The movie in our 5th slot, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, has cartoons.
Robert Zemeckis’ 1988 film broke many molds. It showed a world where 3D humans and 2D cartoons lived together, despite their big cultural differences. Bob Hoskins played an overworked detective, very different from the goofy rabbit he worked with.
Instead of car chases and explosions, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” had falling refrigerators and brick walls flattening silly characters with squeaky voices. The film took the crazy violence of Looney Tunes and put it in a story about a movie star rabbit framed for murder.
Every scene was larger than life because the filmmakers weren’t limited by what was physically possible. Bob Hoskins showed impressive physical comedy skills, making the slapstick scenes even funnier. The movie is wild and outrageous but important in understanding what makes a perfect buddy cop story.
04. Turner & Hooch (1989)
Let’s talk about what makes a great buddy cop movie. It needs hot action, authority issues, different personalities, some friendly teasing, funny one-liners, and a bit of slapstick. You might think both officers have to be people, but that’s not true. Dogs have been in films since 1914 and fit perfectly into buddy cop movies.
Can dogs join in action scenes? Yes! Do dogs have authority issues? Always! Can a growl be a one-liner? Sure can! Pairing a dog with a tough cop always works. Think about Chuck Norris and a sheepdog fighting bad guys, Jim Belushi and a German shepherd hunting a drug lord, or Will Arnett and a rottweiler going undercover.
This idea worked so well they even tried it with Whoopi Goldberg and a dinosaur in Theodore Rex. That one didn’t work out, though. But dog-friendly films still hit all the right notes for buddy cop stories. None of them beat the best cop-and-dog movie ever: Turner and Hooch.
This 1989 classic is a great example of a buddy cop movie. Scott Turner and his huge Bordeaux Mastiff, Hooch, make an unusual but perfect pair. The slobbering dog messes up Turner’s neat home and life. Because of Hooch’s size, every scene feels like an action sequence with things getting knocked over and bad guys being pounced on.
But there’s more to this movie than just funny moments. Both Turner and Hooch have lost someone important—Turner lost his partner, and Hooch lost his owner. This shared pain helps them connect despite their differences. This bond is what makes dog buddy movies special in the buddy cop genre.
Turner and Hooch understand each other in a unique way. They speak their own language, and in tough times, they rely on each other both physically and emotionally. Even though most cops are humans, Turner and Hooch deserve to be considered one of the best buddy cop movies ever.
03. Hot Fuzz (2007)
When I think about what makes a great buddy cop movie, one word comes to mind: irresistible. These movies have hot action, clashing personalities, funny one-liners, and rebellion against authority. It’s like a hot stew where someone has to fall in love, right?
The buddy cops might not always kiss before the movie ends, but their connection goes beyond friendship. They learn about themselves, grow, and make each other better. For example, Gracie Hart and Eric Matthews banter until they start smooching at the movie’s climax. Mango and Cash see each other as rivals until they realize their tension is actually sexual.
From the moment Jack, Quinn, and Yaz meet in Double Team, we wonder if they’ll start hugging and never let go. And then there’s Hot Fuzz, a 2007 masterpiece where love breaks through like a weed finding the sun.
Nicholas Angel really dislikes Danny Butterman. He thinks Danny is the worst. Danny feels the same way about Nicholas. It seems like they will always be sad and mad.
But what changes everything? The true essence of Buddy Cop. Simon Pegg plays a serious sergeant who loves his work. Nick Frost plays a lazy cop who only cares about how things are done in movies.
When they have to solve real crimes, their differences bring them together. Nicholas learns that policing like a movie star can be useful. Danny learns it’s important not to be drunk all the time.
The movie has lots of action, rule-breaking, funny lines, and silly moments. We see these two characters change and become better friends.
In an early version of the screenplay, Danny was actually a woman. There is a scene on the couch where it looks like they might kiss, and they probably were going to kiss at some point.
They didn’t know it at first, but they needed each other. Once they found each other, they learned the truth about love.
02. Pure Luck (1991)
Buddy cop movies have action, authority issues, funny moments, and sometimes romance or a dog. But the buddies don’t have to be cops. The real heart of these movies is about two people working together to beat the odds. They might not always have guns and badges, but they need each other.
For example, in “Midnight Run,” Jack Walsh is a bounty hunter and Jonathan Mardukas is an accountant, but it’s still a buddy cop movie. “Hot Pursuit” features a cop and a drug lord’s widow. In “Armed and Dangerous,” a cop and a lawyer become security guards. Will Smith and Gene Hackman are a lawyer and a spy in “Enemy of the State,” but it feels like a buddy cop movie too. Even “Pineapple Express,” which is about weed, has that buddy cop vibe.
I appreciate these characters who aren’t real cops but fit right into this genre. There are many examples, but Eugene Proctor in “Pure Luck” stands out as the least cop-like character in our number two pick. Luck didn’t put him there; it’s just Pure Luck.
Eugene Proctor isn’t a cop and has terrible luck. He’s paired with a strict investigator because they both have bad luck. Proctor and Campanella are very different. Proctor can’t do anything right. Even if he wanted to be a cop, his bad luck would stop him from graduating the academy.
Throughout the movie, Campanella turns Proctor’s weaknesses into strengths. They use his bad luck to solve the case. Silly accidents drive the story, authority issues come from mishaps, and funny scenes happen because of Proctor’s condition.
This underappreciated buddy cop movie shows that all cops need buddies, but not everyone needs to be a cop.
01. Bad Boy (1995)
So, here we are at number one. What have we learned? Probably not much. The best Buddy Cop film can’t just have the best action or a great enemies-to-lovers storyline. It can’t be all jokes or too serious. It needs a rebellious streak and sharp one-liners. There are no dogs, and both characters are cops, but it would still be great even without those elements. So, the number one Buddy Cop movie of all time is Bad Boys.