8. Frank Bullitt (Bullitt) / Dirty Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry)
When asked the question, Who is the most badass cop in history?A couple of legendary movie cops come to mind, and almost certain to make any list are Clint Eastwoods Dirty Harry and Steve McQueens Bullitt. Surely both of those legendary characters deserve mention, but what about Dave Toschi? Dave Toschi was a well-liked and respected detective for the San Francisco Police Department for over 30 years. He is perhaps known best as the lead investigator of the Zodiac Killer case that terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 60s and 70s. Mark Ruffalo even played him in David Finchers criminally under-appreciated 2007 film
Zodiac. But before all that, he also worked as a film consultant on
Bullitt (1968) and was the basis for much of Steve McQueens iconic portrayal, including his signature upside down, quick draw shoulder gun holster. Now Eastwoods equally iconic cop Dirty Harry is, admittedly, a bit more of a stretch. Toschi was not the direct inspiration of the character, but the film was based largely on the notorious Zodiac case and killer, which was still intensely ongoing at the time of the films production/release and for which Toschi was the lead detective.