# Movies with a cop living at the beach or marina (80's heavy) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503 "2016-01-18T15:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Salad\_Smell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Salad\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salad_Smell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/1 "2016-01-18T15:08:20Z")
I’ve noticed an odd trope lately - in many movies set in the 1980’s, a cop protagonist lives at the beach or at a marina. I’m not sure why this is so prevalent - I’m sure we could Baudrillard/Zizek it to death and tie it into the yacht rock movement and other leisure tropes of 1980’s media - but I find it both amusing and deeply interesting. For example, there’s Stallone’s Venice beach pad in _Cobra_. [Best Scene from Cobra [1986] - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32sLgUoj91o) Or Mel Gibson’s houseboat in the “Lethal Weapon” movies. It seems like every time I watch a 1980’s movie, a cop is returning to or coming from a beachfront/marina/etc. domicile. What are your favorite or notable examples of this? What is “peak beachcop?” ---
**Author:** ![SUZ\_MAC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@SUZ\_MAC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SUZ_MAC)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/2 "2016-01-18T15:13:29Z")
Sonny Crocket … Miami Vice. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/3 "2016-01-18T15:18:23Z")
I think we owe it all to [Travis McGee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_McGee). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/4 "2016-01-18T15:21:17Z")
Rockford, a private detective, also lived at the beach. He was kind of at odds with the cops a lot of the time. It may be a way to show the independent nature of the cop, the single man living a surfer lifestyle, but it also leaves a simple way to have the guys home be blown to smithereens without the expensive of blowing up a whole house in a crowded neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/5 "2016-01-18T15:25:49Z")
Harry Orwell, played by David Janssen in _Harry O_, first lived in a beach house on Coronado Island in San Diego, then in a beach house on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/6 "2016-01-18T15:29:44Z")
Thomas Magnum from _Magnum PI_ lived in the guest cottage at Robin Master’s beachside estate. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/7 "2016-01-18T15:45:38Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I think we owe it all to [Travis McGee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_McGee). **[Surfside 6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_6)** predates him. The detectives on the show lived in a houseboat \[In Miami Beach!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS3hoWKLPi8)\ ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/8 "2016-01-18T15:47:16Z")
Good scenery, women in bikinis. But yeah, rugged individualism and all that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/9 "2016-01-18T15:50:34Z")
Chevy Chase in _Foul Play_. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/10 "2016-01-18T16:09:17Z")
> [@Salad\_Smell](#): > > Or Mel Gibson’s houseboat in the “Lethal Weapon” movies. Didn’t he live in a trailer, that was bigger on the inside, by the beach? I remember the bad guys shooting it to pieces in Lethal Weapon 2 from a helicopter. They also killed his cute South-African girlfriend, the bastards. The titular main character of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, played by Andrew Dice Clay, lived in a bungalow by the beach. A pretty nice place for a private detective who’s, supposedly, hard for cash. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/11 "2016-01-18T16:15:31Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Didn’t he live in a trailer, that was bigger on the inside, by the beach? I remember the bad guys shooting it to pieces in Lethal Weapon 2 from a helicopter. They also killed his cute South-African girlfriend, the bastards. > > The titular main character of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, played by Andrew Dice Clay, lived in a bungalow by the beach. A pretty nice place for a private detective who’s, supposedly, hard for cash. Both Rockford and Riggs lived in a trailer that was parked on the beach in what looked like Malibu. As a teen watching these flicks from land-locked Arizona, I planned to move to California, buy a trailer, and park it on the beach like they did and live cheaply!’ I later learned you can’t even park your car for more than an hour on beachfront property and they would haul your trailer away forever if you tried parking it on the beach… ---
**Author:** ![Salad\_Smell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Salad\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salad_Smell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/12 "2016-01-18T16:18:06Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Didn’t he live in a trailer, that was bigger on the inside, by the beach? I remember the bad guys shooting it to pieces in Lethal Weapon 2 from a helicopter. They also killed his cute South-African girlfriend, the bastards. > . In the first movie, he’s in a houseboat. Part 2 he’s in the beach trailer. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/13 "2016-01-18T16:25:57Z")
Mid 80s American TV show Riptide. Couple of tough, ruggedly handsome guys and a nerd solve crimes out of a houseboat in LA. With sexy results. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/14 "2016-01-18T16:47:51Z")
Two(?) novels by [Michael Connelly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Connelly) feature former FBI agent Terry McCaleb who also lives on a boat (or at least works from there). ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/15 "2016-01-18T16:52:58Z")
> [@Salad\_Smell](#): > > In the first movie, he’s in a houseboat. Part 2 he’s in the beach trailer. No, he lives in a trailer in the first one too. [here’s the scene where Riggs contemplates suicide.](https://youtu.be/UpOqkz86_lg) You might be thinking of that other 80s action film, Sleepless in Seattle, where a hardened cop (Tom Hanks) tries to raise his son alone while being stalked by a dangerous obsessive woman (Meg Ryan). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/16 "2016-01-18T16:56:41Z")
In CHiPs, Ponch moved into a Marina Del Rey apt. That’s almost a beach house. I actually think it was the same apt complex I lived in when I lived in LA. However, I was a ruggedly individualistic engineer rather than cop/PI. I hope that still counts… Rockford’s trailer was actually in the [parking lot](http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=200801959&mode=big&lastmode=sequential&flags=0&year=2008) of the restaurant there, so we can assume he got permission or was paying lot rent. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/17 "2016-01-18T17:26:28Z")
So, did 2007’s _Burn Notice_ use this meme? Our Hero was ex-CIA doing PI work to survive, not a cop. But he lived above a dingy club on the Miami waterfront. I seem to remember the show not holding up in the long run but it had its moments. And Bruce Campbell… ---
**Author:** ![Salad\_Smell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Salad\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salad_Smell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/18 "2016-01-18T17:30:56Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > No, he lives in a trailer in the first one too. > > [here’s the scene where Riggs contemplates suicide.](https://youtu.be/UpOqkz86_lg) > > You might be thinking of that other 80s action film, Sleepless in Seattle, where a hardened cop (Tom Hanks) tries to raise his son alone while being stalked by a dangerous obsessive woman (Meg Ryan). I really do wonder what the hell I’m conflating it with now! Thanks. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/19 "2016-01-18T17:32:06Z")
To Live and Die in LA William Petersons place in San Pedro. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503/20 "2016-01-18T17:40:19Z")
Not so much a cop as a gambler, but [Mr. Lucky (1959–1960)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052494/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) (John Vivyan) had a floating casino! Cool boat, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-a-cop-living-at-the-beach-or-marina-80s-heavy/743503.md?page=2)