Have police work changed today compared to the 80s and 90s?

[moonhill99]

I have notice big culture shift today among young people and it seems this may be spilling over in Hollywood movies and TV shows.

I remember the 80s and 90s the action cop movies the Clint Eastwood movies the Dirty Harry movies the TV shows hunter like the Dirty Harry movies Hunter (1984 American TV series) - Wikipedia

And remember Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal or Bruce Willis so on.

And how these movies and TV shows all but missing in Hollywood today.

And how young people today are striking down self defence laws and attacking police that police should change people should take sociology and psychology and talk to the mad guy.

I’m wondering if this is spilling over into Hollywood. And see Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal or Bruce Willis has big no that not how you deal with mad guy.

When lot of younger people protesting police shootings and calling for defund the police and demanding social workers sent to deal with mentally ill people or mentally ill armed people.

There was a mentally ill person armed with a knife and the police shot him and this spark big protest and home owner shooting a armed home invasion suspect and this spark boo boo boo among the people and the option politicians party.

I’m wondering if young people see 80s and 90s as too politically incorrect to like those movies or TV shows. And Hollywood as changed to reflect that.

Most come shows now are detective base than the car chases, foot chases, shootings and fighting.

 

[Flying Crane]

My suspicion is that most people recognize that there are better ways to deal with mentally ill people, than shooting them. It’s complicated.

 

[drop bear145 21]

This was police movies when I was a kid.

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[Buka50 2]

I’m a movie freak that’s been in law enforcement for a while, but I don’t know. I’m not even sure of the question.

It’s difficult to weigh any real world concerns, problems and thoughts against Hollywood movies of any kind. Including police movies.

Hollywood does not care about social anything or making any statement about anything, profit is the only goal.

And I don’t think it would be any different if any of us here were running a Hollywood studio. If the studio doesn’t make money it won’t be around for very long.

You mentioned Bruce Willis. The Die Hard franchise was very successful, made a ton of cash and audiences absolutely loved the character of John McClane.

But Hollywood was petrified that nobody would accept Bruce Willis as a movie action hero because he was a TV actor known for romantic comedy. The original movie posters for Die Hard didn’t have Bruce Willis’s name on them. Until it became a smash hit.

A friend of mine, Paul Goodman, was an artist that worked for the movie studios. He drew the posters for the Dirty Harry movies (as well as a hundred others.)

When Paul was leaving Maui he asked me if I wanted the original movie poster for the film Dirty Harry, which was signed by Clint Eastwood. I jumped at the chance. Until I got to his house and started laughing.

The poster was over seven feet tall and over three feet wide. I live in an 880 square
foot house, no way I was bringing that home.

The only thing I know about police movies is the plot is not as important as the characters.

 

[skribs145 166]

I think it's the same answer I gave in the other thread. Police movies are mid-budget movies. They just don't fit the current Hollywood plan of min/maxing profit on every movie by either going super low budget or super high budget.

 

[punisher73]

Two separate questions really.

1) Has Hollywood changed its "action hero" genre in response to "social pressure"
2) Has police work changed as training has advanced

Like some of the others in this thread. I have worked in LE for just over 29 years.

Yes, the profession has changed. In many ways. From defensive tactics to technology to verbal de-escalation skills to body cameras just to name a couple of examples.

But, Hollywood hasn't really changed in regard to its "action heroes". For example, the latest "cop" movie I can think of is "The Wrecking Crew" which had Jason Momoa and David Bautista in it on Amazon. It was a straight up 80' style action movie. Light on plot and heavy on action.

That being said, there are some "police procedurals" that better reflect modern policing and address some of the issues that it faces like Blue Bloods.

 

[Gyakuto146 155]

There seems to be a great deal and indeed increasing amounts of suspicion together with a lack of confidence in the police in the USA and the Metropolitan Police Force (that covers Greater London) in the UK. Would you want to make films where the main protagonist wasn’t trusted or even respected?

Instead we get ‘secret agents’ and ex-special forces and strange, masked people in lycra as our film heroes

 

[moonhill99]

Two separate questions really.

1) Has Hollywood changed its "action hero" genre in response to "social pressure"
2) Has police work changed as training has advanced

Have not action movies changed in Hollywood? Where in the 2000s and 2010s it is dominated by comic Superheroes.

Where the 80s and 90s it was more sci-fi and cop movies?

May be comic Superheroes where culture is at today.

 

[punisher73]

Have not action movies changed in Hollywood? Where in the 2000s and 2010s it is dominated by comic Superheroes.

Where the 80s and 90s it was more sci-fi and cop movies?

May be comic Superheroes where culture is at today.

This is a societal shift in general of how Hollywood has been doing things. I had Gemini AI run a breakdown of movies in the 1980's versus between 2015-2025. Looking at the data, it reflects what I grew up with in the 80's until now. Notice the big shift between "The Star" versus "The Brand". In the 80's we had "movie stars" and people went to go see whatever movie they were in. The star was the draw for the movie.

Looking at the top 50 grossing movies in the 80's, only 16% were Action/Adventure movies (for example, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Top Gun, Rambo II, Die Hard) and 22% were Sci-Fi/Fantasy (for example, E.T., Back to the Future, Star Wars (V & VI), Batman).

Comedy/Rom Coms were almost a third of the Top 50 in the 80's.

Now, looking at the top 50 grossing movies from 2015-2025, 54% were Action/Adventure movies (including the Superhero genre) and 20% were Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

So, "yes". Hollywood has changed. In the 80's the focus wasn't really on action movies at all. Now, it is the majority of their focus. In the 80's the focus of movies was on comedies and dramas, now those are a VERY small percentage of movies that Hollywood is pushing out.

Here is another shift to consider: Movies versus TV.

In the 80's cop shows accounted for about 15-20% of programming. Now, cop related shows account for almost 50% of TV programming.

 

[drop bear145 21]

Media is very subjective these days. We all watch what we want when we want.

And that messes with our perception of TV entertainment.

 

[Prince_Alarming83 19]

Probably TV cops don't get to use the nine-word caution as much:
"Shut up sonny you're obviously guilty and you're nicked"

 

[drop bear145 21]

Police work in the 80s.

 

[clyde-cash]

I have notice big culture shift today among young people and it seems this may be spilling over in Hollywood movies and TV shows.

I remember the 80s and 90s the action cop movies the Clint Eastwood movies the Dirty Harry movies the TV shows hunter like the Dirty Harry movies Hunter (1984 American TV series) - Wikipedia

And remember Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal or Bruce Willis so on.

And how these movies and TV shows all but missing in Hollywood today.

And how young people today are striking down self defence laws and attacking police that police should change people should take sociology and psychology and talk to the mad guy.

I’m wondering if this is spilling over into Hollywood. And see Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal or Bruce Willis has big no that not how you deal with mad guy.

When lot of younger people protesting police shootings and calling for defund the police and demanding social workers sent to deal with mentally ill people or mentally ill armed people.

There was a mentally ill person armed with a knife and the police shot him and this spark big protest and home owner shooting a armed home invasion suspect and this spark boo boo boo among the people and the option politicians party.

I’m wondering if young people see 80s and 90s as too politically incorrect to like those movies or TV shows. And Hollywood as changed to reflect that.

Most come shows now are detective base than the car chases, foot chases, shootings and fighting.

It's because young people aren't born with the taste of boots on their tongue

 

[Kemposhot]

I’ve been in law enforcement since 2010. There’s been a lot of changes. Training has drastically improved. Body cameras have changed policing as well, I feel for the better. It allows a record of what happens and blocks a lot of false accusations, it protects the police as much as it does the public.

Movies and film have never done police work justice. I could go on and on about how it portrays police personalities wrong to tactics to the day in and out of the job itself.

 

[Prince_Alarming83 19]

I've played with writing a different sort of police thriler. Jones, the main character, is the direct opposite of all the clichés. He's a devoted family man, a friendly, cheerful, outgoing personality. He has all sorts of surprising lines, like "99% of the time you know bloody well who's done it, you just have to prove it" and "If there's one thing I hate, it's a philosophical copper. I do not want us to get the idea that they can be judge and jury"