We all need a place where we can retreat from the rigors of the profession. In addition to the a mandatory big screen TV, the surround sound system, the gunsmithing tools, and the refrigerator filled with cold drinks, the well-stocked LEO Man Cave will include an extensive video and literary library. My LEO Man Cave, is still a work-in-progress and probably always will be, and one of the areas that’s ever-changing is this combined library of movies and TV shows to watch, as well as books, manuals, and magazines to read. Below I have listed what’s in my Man Cave. Give us some feedback with your thoughts for the ultimate LEO Man Cave, as well as your recommendations for the literary and video library.
LEO Man Cave Video Library
These are my favorites, but only 18th/19th Century British Chick Flicks are totally off limits. For example, I have the Harry Potter series, since they are fabulously well-acted and directed, with great special effects, and clearly define the battle between good and evil. Among my police-type movies (this area covers all police/sheriff/marshals/heroes), the first three Dirty Harry movies are mandatory (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force and the Enforcer). As is any John Wayne police-type movie, but particularly, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn, and McQ. Here are the rest...
Police-type Movies
Shaft
All four Die Hard movies
L.A. Confidential
The French Connection
Lethal Weapon (probably only the first one)
Heat
Serpico
The Untouchables (1987 version with Sean Connery)
The Choirboys
The New Centurions
The Blue Knight (original TV movie starring William Holden)
War/Leadership movies:
Any … Hell, ALL John Wayne war movies!
The Longest Day
Apocalypse Now (because of Robert Duvall)
Patton
Saving Private Ryan
U571
We were Soldiers
The Patriot
The Eagle has Landed
Blackhawk Down
Charlie Wilson’s War
Tora!Tora!Tora!
Full Metal Jacket
Midway
The Wild Geese
Sniper
The Hunt for Red October
Sink the Bismark!
Run Silent, Run Deep
Red Dawn
Braveheart
The Great Escape
Where Eagles Dare
The Big Red 1
The Rough Riders (1997 TV mini-series)
Band of Brothers (HBO series)
Westerns
Again, damn near every John Wayne western ever made!
Lonesome Dove
Open Range
Silverado
Quigley Down Under
Little Big Man
Jeremiah Johnson
Will Penny
Monte Walsh (both the original starring Lee Marvin and the remake starring Tom Selleck)
Legends of the Fall
The Mountain Men
The Man from Snowy River AND Return to Snowy River (REQUIRED for all mounted officers)
Unforgiven
Tombstone
Pale Rider
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (other Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns – if you like them)
3:10 to Yuma (both the Glen Ford version AND the Russell Crowe remake – different endings)
You Know My Name (1999 TV Movie)
Comedy
Dr. Strangelove (the FUNNIEST movie of all time!)
Hot Fuzz (perhaps the second funniest movie of all time)
Team America: World Police (yeah, they’re marionettes, but it is TOTALLY politically incorrect and hilarious)
Police Academy (only the first one)
Misc./Multiple Category Movies
Jeff Cooper: A Man in Full (documentary)
James Bond movies (especially those starring Sean Connery and Roger Moore)
Gladiator
All four Indiana Jones movies
Star Wars (all 6 episodes)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Firefly – the TV series (a SciFi western) & Serenity (the movie wrap-up of the Firefly series)
Star Trek (the latest movie - 2009)
Secondhand Lions
Forrest Gump
Roadhouse (because of Sam Elliott)
The Right Stuff
Apollo 13
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Ghost and the Darkness
Gran Torino
TV Police Series (TV is loaded with police shows, but most of them suck)
Dragnet
The Andy Griffith show
Hill Street Blues
NYPD Blue (most of the time)
Reno 911
Musical
Paint Your Wagon (the ONLY acceptable musical in a LEO Man Cave!)
LEO Man Cave Literary Library
Now, for the LEO Man Cave literary library. Again, these are my favorites, but your tastes may run an entirely different direction. To begin with, you should have anything written by President Theodore Roosevelt...
Police Training Books
All of your 3-ring binders from police training classes
Only useful college textbooks related to Police/Law Enforcement/Criminal Justice
Shooting/Firearms Training Books
Police Rifles by Dick Fairburn (a totally self-serving plug!)
Building a Better Gunfighter by Dick Fairburn (another totally self-serving plug!)
On Killing by Dave Grossman
On Combat by Dave Grossman and Loren W. Christensen
Sharpening the Warrior’s Edge by Bruce Siddle
Into the Kill Zone by Dave Klinger Ph.D.
Deadly Force Encounters by Alexis Artwhol, Ph.D. and Loren W. Christensen
The Modern Technique of the Pistol by Gregory B. Morrison and Jeff Cooper
The Principles of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
Handgun Combatives by Dave Spaulding
Hatcher’s Notebook by Major General Julian Hatcher
Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers by Major General Julian Hatcher
Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders (Volumes I and II) by P.O. Ackley
The Ultimate Sniper by Major John L. Plaster
Death from Afar (USMC Sniper series) by Norm and Roy Chandler
ALL Armorer’s manuals from any weapon manufacturer’s class you attended
Assorted reloading manuals
Hunting Books
Anything written by Elmer Keith
Anything written by Jack O’Connor
Anything written by Peter Hathaway Capstick
Use Enough Gun by Robert Ruark
The Man Eaters of Tsavo by Lt. Col. J.H. Patterson
Hunter by J.A. Hunter
History/Non-Fiction
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
The Declaration of Independence
The U.S. Constitution (as amended)
The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Monroe, and Jay
The Journals of Lewis & Clark by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
The 9/11 Commission Report
Anything written by Allan W. Eckert
The Shooters by Leon Claire Metz
Men with Sand by John Moring
Any sniper book by Peter Senich
Marine Sniper by Charles Henderson
A Frozen Hell: The Russo Finnish war of 1939-1940 by William R. Trotter
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
Blackhawk Down by Mark Bowden
ALL Non-fiction books written by Tom Clancy
ALL books by Ann Coulter
Biographies/Autobiographies
Theodore Roosevelt
ALL of the founding fathers (particularly Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin)
Winston Churchill
Ronald Reagan
Margaret Thatcher (the Iron Lady had more “balls” than most men!)
Will by G. Gordon Liddy
Leadership Books (most of them out there cover management not leadership)
Led by a Lion by Dick Fairburn (a totally self-serving plug for my next book project!)
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani
Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership: Lessons from the Bully Pulpit by James M. Strock
Patton’s One Minute Messages: Tactical Leadership Skills for Business managers by Charles M. Province
Fiction
All novels by Tom Clancy (and those “written in association with” Tom Clancy if you like)
All novels by Joseph Waumbaugh
Most novels by Zane Grey
Most novels by Steven Hunter
Most novels by Nelson DeMille
The Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry
The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
The entire 31 novel “Casca” series written by SSgt Barry Sadler (and several ghostwriters)
Misc./Multiple Categories Books
Any book by Jeff Cooper (make that ALL books by Jeff Cooper)
Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey by Skeeter Skelton
Poetry (History has long respected warrior poets!)
Most of the works of Edgar Allen Poe
All Cowboy poetry books by Baxter Black
Most of the works of Rudyard Kipling
Selections from the works of William Shakespeare
