10. Colors
This gritty 1988 police drama takes the age-old formula of the rookie hothead cop and the old and wise veteran and drops it in the middle of the gang warfare that plagued the city at the time. Director Dennis Hopper keeps us right along those front lines of the struggle between the police, fighting off claims of racism and poor treatment while still trying to do their job. On top of the solid action and parched, dry landscape of a hot LA summer, the performances (from a young Sean Penn, playing firecracker young kid Danny McGavin, and Robert Duvall as cagey vet Bob Hodges) elevate this police drama to another level.