Textbook Example of Relying on the Totality of the Circumstances

In Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) drinks in the surroundings at the gentleman's club.

Knock, Announce, Break Window

Dennis Hopper stepped behind the camera to helm this gritty, gritty, gritty cop drama, Colors (1988). In this clip, with a suspect just minding his business eating a burrito, Sean Penn gets a little too excited.

Miranda Rights? What's That???

It doesn't get any more iconic than Clint Eastwood as 'Dirty' Harry Callahan. Here, Harry is predictably puzzled by a dressing-down in the D.A.'s office.

The Bar Room Exception to the Warrant Requirement

The gold standard of the modern-day gritty cop flick, the French Connection, stars Gene Hackman as a Narcotics officer. Here, Hackman (playing Officer Jimmy Doyle) storms into a local dive.

Too Bad These Cops Haven't Read State v. Hempele

This is what happens when officers violate the standing order about thinking. It would have helped if they read the NJ Supreme Court case State v. Hempele, 120 NJ 182 (1990) dealing with expectation of privacy in garbage.

The Chinese Menu Exception to the Warrant Requirement

In Training Day (2001), Denzel Washington flashes a search warrant to enter Macy Gray's house, and he's not looking for kung pao chicken.

One More Reason You Should Park Your Car Behind the Motel

In the Coen Brothers' classic tale of bumbling small-time crime, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) obviously didn't bone up on Judge Carchman's opinion in State v. Mille, or he would have known an arrest warrant has implicit authority to search for a person in his residence.

No Knock, No Announce, No PC, No Warrant Entry

In Michael Mann's Heat (1995), Al Pacino blows the bolts off a door in order to deal with some delicate subject matter ... delicately.

"What's That ---t?"

In Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (1997), Jackie (Pam Grier) tries to play coy when Michael Keaton's ATF officer finds an extra added surprise in her envelope full of cash.

Plain View

In 1993's True Romance (directed by Tony Scott, written by Quentin Tarantino), Eliot (Bronson Pinchot) gets pulled over, but his contraband winds up in plain view.