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Top 10 Dirtiest Cops

Bad-boys in blue, what you gonna do, what you gonna do when they come for you?

Top 10 Dirtiest Cops

10. Detective Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles, Touch Of Evil)

With a suspiciously perfect arrest record, bloated police chief Hank Quinlan always gets his man. Usually by faking the evidence. Monstering himself with a fake nose and extra blubber, star/director Orson Welles transforms into cinema’s most monstrous corrupt cop.

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9. ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry)

Weirdly, ‘Dirty’ Harry is probably the least dirty cop on this list. Then again, he didn’t get that name for nothing – our Harry much prefers murdering suspects instead arresting them. He’s basically an unhinged vigilante with a badge and a (massive) gun.

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8. Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker, Street Kings)

Underrated cop thriller adapted by James Ellroy’s novel by Training Day writer David Ayre sees bent Captain Wander puppeteering an entire unit of corrupt cops. Watch it in a double bill with The Shield Season Five. Then go take a bath.

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7. Dennis Peck (Richard Gere, Infernal Affairs)

You can’t trust a man with a name like Dennis Peck, right? Slippery as an eel in oil, Richard Gere’s dangerously manipulative LAPD patrol plays Internal Affairs officer Andy Garcia and the entire police force like an orchestral string section.

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6. Gary Figgis (Ray Liotta, Cop Land)

In a town full of dirty cops, how can you tell who’s the dirtiest? Easy. He’s played by Ray Liotta. From Cop Land to Narc to Unlawful Entry, Liotta won’t just bend the thin blue line, he’ll break it over your head.

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5. Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell, LA Confidential)

Quietly hidden inside an all-star cast and a terrific script, James Cromwell’s upstanding police captain steps out of the shadows in the brutal third act with a heartstopping twist. We’ve said too much already. The rest is off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush.

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4. Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington, Training Day)

“King Kong ain’t sh*t on me!” Sweary, sadistic, corrupt, charismatic and... Oscar-winning. DW’s favourite character that he’s played enjoys drinking while driving, extortion and drug-trafficking. If you’re his partner, you’d better be ready to smoke some dope on the job. Bad cop, great performance.

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3. Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman, Leon)

Presumably holding down his job as a DEA agent because everyone’s too scared to sack him, Gary Oldman’s pill-popping sociopath massacres Natalie Portman’s family Mathilda while dancing to Beethoven. And that seems like a quiet day for him.

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2. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon, The Departed)

No more Mr Nice Guy. As a Mob mole in the Massachusetts State Police, Matt Damon is scarily complex, cunning and ruthless as he suckers fellow “troo-pahs” to protect crime king Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Two faced? This guy’s a hall of mirrors.

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1. The Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel, Bad Lieutenant)

“I’ve done so many bad things!” Yes you have, young man. Lost in the darkness of the city, Harvey Keitel’s nameless lieutenant spends his time nomming drugs, waving his ‘truncheon’ at women, gambling, drinking and crying in the nude. Oh dear

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Jonathan Crocker