TV/Movies Megathread

[Malthus]

I dunno if it started with Dirty Harry, but that's one of the exemplars of that particular trope. Not only are the politicians bad and obstructive, so is the law: the obviously-guilty brutal serial killer "gets off" with apologies and genuflections, because Harry didn't follow procedures! (Plus tortured him a bit). 

The movie was so much identified with this trope that in the sequel Magnum Force the creators quite consciously went the opposite way: Harry was up against a death squad of cops (a sort of more-extreme version of himself!) 

[Eddie Teach]

Has anybody watched the Queen biopic series on Netflix?

Spoiler: Freddie gets AIDS.

[celedhring]

I dunno if it started with Dirty Harry, but that's one of the exemplars of that particular trope. Not only are the politicians bad and obstructive, so is the law: the obviously-guilty brutal serial killer "gets off" with apologies and genuflections, because Harry didn't follow procedures! (Plus tortured him a bit). 

The movie was so much identified with this trope that in the sequel Magnum Force the creators quite consciously went the opposite way: Harry was up against a death squad of cops (a sort of more-extreme version of himself!) 

I have always seen this trope as the natural extension of "cops are useless/corrupt/ineffective" which has been prevalent in movies since... forever? Once your character is an actual cop, you have to move the incompetence upwards.

[CountDeMoney]

I dunno if it started with Dirty Harry, but that's one of the exemplars of that particular trope. Not only are the politicians bad and obstructive, so is the law: the obviously-guilty brutal serial killer "gets off" with apologies and genuflections, because Harry didn't follow procedures! (Plus tortured him a bit). 

The movie was so much identified with this trope that in the sequel Magnum Force the creators quite consciously went the opposite way: Harry was up against a death squad of cops (a sort of more-extreme version of himself!) 

Yeah, Harry wound up becoming the dfender of the system against a smoother, more attractive and therefore  more sinister Magnum Force.

Unfortunately Tyne Daly didn't get shot in that one.

[Oexmelin]

Started in the 70s, became the main point of mainstrean Hollywood action movies in the 80s.
Lots of cop movies with Kurt Russel and/or Sylvester Stallone where they complained about judges not keeping criminals inside.
Robocop, where the police force is privatized to better fight crime, while the good police officers are on strike.
There was also, Iron Eagles, I think, where a teenage kid goes on the rescue his dad abandonned by the govt.  Rambo II, Missing in Action 1,2,3.

My memory of these movies and their "plot" is somewhat hazy - but I am trying to see the evolution of the trope.

There were a bunch of movies before that hint at political corruption - that's for sure - and well before the 70s. But I may venture that  the Nixon years represent a turning point where "the government" is dominated not so much by greed, but by moral cowardice, coupled by a shadowy, ominous presence. Yet the heroes are not yet police / law enforcement: they are runaways, marginalized, they fight the system of which they were, or are, a part of, in the name of the injustice perpetrated by a blind system.  Nowadays, however, the "you know how politicians are" trope is almost matter-of-factly, not in the name of injustice, but in the name of efficiency, or in the name of revenge - i.e., the bad guys could not be properly punished if the rules were followed, and politicians are sticklers for rules - again, not by virtue of the rules being good, but by virtue of wanting to have control.   

[CountDeMoney]

I have always seen this trope as the natural extension of "cops are useless/corrupt/ineffective" which has been prevalent in movies since... forever? Once your character is an actual cop, you have to move the incompetence upwards.

Cops were always the white hats until you started to see the kickback against the culture wars and the Warren Court.  The cop always got his man...until the system and its hippie Jew lawyers got the darkies off on a technicality because nobody read him his Miranda rights.  Oh noes!

You should read the Washington Post series from a couple weeks ago on Hollywood and law enforcement.  Great reading.

[Oexmelin]

You should read the Washington Post series from a couple weeks ago on Hollywood and law enforcement.  Great reading.

I'd love to read that if you can find the link again.

[Malthus]

There is always TV Tropes. 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OffOnATechnicality

[Malthus]

Is this it, seedy?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/opinions/2016/10/25/how-pop-cultures-cops-turned-on-their-communities/?utm_term=.2a56b2e2dee6

[celedhring]

I have always seen this trope as the natural extension of "cops are useless/corrupt/ineffective" which has been prevalent in movies since... forever? Once your character is an actual cop, you have to move the incompetence upwards.

Cops were always the white hats until you started to see the kickback against the culture wars and the Warren Court.  The cop always got his man...until the system and its hippie Jew lawyers got the darkies off on a technicality because nobody read him his Miranda rights.  Oh noes!

You should read the Washington Post series from a couple weeks ago on Hollywood and law enforcement.  Great reading.

Oooh, I'll track that down, then.

EDIT: Thanks Malthus.

[Ideologue]

I think JR and Mal get it right when they say that Dirty Harry might not the first movie to feature an inept/corrupt/pussified liberal establishment being defied by the hero (my understanding is that Coogan's Bluff is close to a dry run for both Don Siegel and Eastwood for the later film), but it's got to be one of the biggest deals when it comes to influence.  But then, half the movies that got made in the 1970s are about inept/corrupt government that gets in the way of the greater good--shit, the first half of Jaws is at least as much about that as it's about a shark--they're just not always pussy liberals, too.

You know one thing I really hate about the Trump election?  I'm not sure I'll be able to enjoy the muscular right-wing entertainment of the 70s and 80s as much as I used to.  For example, take John Milius--likely Trump voter.  (Even more likely Gary Johnson voter, I guess, but that's bad, too.)

Gonna read that WashPo thing; looks cool.  Thanks Mal.

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, that's the one.  Thanks, Mal.

[CountDeMoney]

Yeah, that's the one.  Thanks, Mal.

Make sure you guys read all 3 (4?) parts, though

[Malthus]

Yeah, that's the one.  Thanks, Mal.

Make sure you guys read all 3 (4?) parts, though

There's a navigation bar on the side of the article with links to the other articles - there are 5 parts:

About the series: Police influence played a powerful role in shaping early Hollywood. The entertainment industry has since spent decades advancing ideas about policing that play out in some of our most agonized public debates.

PART I: How police censorship shaped Hollywood

PART II: How pop culture's cops turned on their communities

PART III: In pop culture, there are no bad police shootings

PART IV: The drug war's most enthusiastic recruit: Hollywood

PART V: Blue lives: Pop culture's minority cops

Lots of good reading there!

[The Larch]

Today it feels as if half my female friends are going nuts over the Beauty & the Beast trailer.