Rampart (2011)
Dave Brown is a Los Angeles police officer who works out of the Rampart Division. Dave is misogynistic, racist, brutally violent, egotistical and a womanizer, although he defends himself against many of these accusations as he says that his hate is equal opportunity. However unlawful, he uses intimidation and brutal force to defend his ideals. The most notorious of his actions is purportedly murdering a suspected serial date rapist, which is why he has been given the nickname "Date Rape Dave". He lives with two of his ex-wives - sisters Barbara and Catherine - in an effort to keep family together, namely his two daughters, Helen and Margaret, who each have a different sister as their mother. Dave still maintains a sexual relationship with both sisters - whenever the mood suits any of them - while he openly has other sexual relationships. His life is put under a microscope after he is caught on video brutally beating a person with who he got into an automobile crash. This situation is made all the more difficult for the police department because of the Rampart scandal. This microscope shows a further potentially scandalous incident involving Dave and a grocery store hold-up. Although he secretly has his defenders within the police department highers-up, Dave, who is unrepentant regarding his actions, has to figure out who he can and cannot trust among his colleagues and new associates as he goes about his business and tries to protect his ideals from being taken away by these scandals.
The most corrupt cop you've ever seen on screen.
Dave Brown: I don't cheat on my taxes... you can't cheat on something you never committed to.
Pacific Dining Car - 1310 W. 6th. St, Los Angeles, California, USA
(Restaurant)
303 S. Union St., Los Angeles, California, USA
(Rampart Police Station)
To achieve Dave's gaunt appearance, Woody Harrelson sought advice from Christian Bale. Bale told Harrelson to eat very little and run as fast as possible.
Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) appears in every scene in the film.
For a promotional stunt, Woody Harrelson was tasked with answering a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), but he barely answered any questions, except for those that were about the movie. Whenever he actually replied to unrelated questions, his answers were just plugs for Rampart. As of 2022, it is still referred to as "the worst AMA of all time" by users of Reddit.
"Klub Satan" was filmed in an old slaughter house in downtown Los Angeles.
"Rampart" was slated to be the name of the television series The Shield (2002) which is a show about a veteran Los Angeles cop who goes renegade and becomes increasingly corrupt.
Anachronisms
At the beginning of the film, the screen is black and a graphic states "Los Angeles 1999" As the film fades into a wide shot overview of the hamburger stand, a 2005 Cadillac CTS drives through the intersection.
When Brown goes down some stairs into the basement night club, the song playing is "Esther's", by Amon Tobin. The movie is set in 1999, while the song is from Tobin's album Foley Room, released in 2007.
Character error
Dave Brown tells Kyle, who tailed him to a shrimp shack, that "all the Founding Fathers owned slaves." Not True. Second U.S. President John Adams owned a farm, but never owned slaves.