In American Gangster, although drug baron Frank Lucas and cop Richie Roberts don't meet until the final 20 minutes of the film, Lucas immediately displays a grudging respect for Roberts when the latter turns down his offer of a bribe. The closing montage shows the amicable relationship evolving as the two work together to bring down NYPD's corrupt officers.
Burton Mercer, played by John Candy, in The Blues Brothers. He never seems anything other than amused at the brothers' antics, and insists on watching their show before arresting them.
Bridge of Spies: Unlike his fellow Americans gripped by anti-Soviet hysteria, defense attorney James Donovan always treats Abel with dignity and respect, even when it endangers himself or his family. Similarly, Rudolf Abel is always well-spoken and deferential to his American captors.
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) in Casablanca are a textbook example until the closing scene, when, impressed by Rick's heroic sacrifice, Renault does a Heel–Face Turn. Rick famously declares, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Rick is also on pretty good terms with Signor Ferrari, who is his chief competitor in the nightclub business. In spite of being The Don, Ferrari's dealings with Rick are on the level, and the two are generally cordial and respectful when they meet. When Rick leaves Casablanca, Ferrari buys him out and honors Rick's request that Ferrari retain his staff.
Early on in Casino, mobster Nicky Santoro sends his son to a little league team coached by a Las Vegas police detective; the two are seen chatting pleasantly about his son's progress. This is when Nicky was newly arrived in Vegas and before his increasingly Axe-Crazy antics made him public enemy number one.
Catch Me If You Can: Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). This is based on real life. While Hanratty was a compilation of the men that chased Abagnale throughout his criminal career, he remained friends with several of them after he went straight.
In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Peter Bretter tries his best to hate Aldous, who has cuckolded him for over a year. However, Aldous' cheerful personality and lack of malice makes this so difficult that he eventually gives up.
In Forsaken, John Henry (a Retired Gunfighter who comes out of retirement to fight monsters) and Gentleman Dave (The Dragon) have great respect for each other and go to great lengths to avoid a situation where one has to kill the other.
French Kiss has one between Jean Reno's Inspector Cardon and Kevin Kline's thief, Luc. Luc once saved Cardon's life, and Cardon believes that Luc will go straight if he has a chance, despite having stolen a $100,000 necklace. Fortunately, he's right.
The Fugitive. Richard Kimble calls US Marshal Sam Gerard as soon as he's found his wife's killer, despite the fact that the man has been pursuing him and tried to gun him down a few hours earlier, having clearly recognized him as someone he needs on his side.
Gods and Generals has a rather touching scene of a Union soldier and Confederate soldier standing sentry duty on Christmas and commiserating across a river (including about how General Burnside is a General Failure). They then each walk out to the middle of the river and trade a few puffs on a pipe for a mug of coffee.
Heat: Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro). The two men are both dedicated to their professions (one is a cop, the other a criminal), but they understand each other very deeply.
Highlander: Although eventually they will have to try to kill each other, a lot of the nicer immortals act this way. Protagonist Connor was trained and mentored by Ramirez in the past and meets another immortal for a friendly drink in the present. This accord doesn't appear to apply to the more hostile or homicidal immortals, and it seems that the more heroic ones delay fighting each other to deal with those types first.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The opening sequence shows a young Indiana stealing a priceless relic from a group of hired grave robbers led by Garth. During the chase across a circus train, Garth (unlike the rest of his group) never tries to hurt Indy but instead attempts to reason with him and even saves him from a lion when he could have left him to die. When Indy gets away with the relic, despite being furious Garth cannot help but admire the youngster's courage, initiative and luck. He manages to get the relic back and hand it over to his client by calling the sheriff claiming Indy was the one who stole it from them, however afterwards he gives the boy some words of encouragement and even gifts him his Fedora of Asskicking that Indiana would wear throughout his adult life.
General Pushkin in The Living Daylights continues the pattern, as he and Bond appear to, at the very least, have a healthy mutual respect for each other. When given the order to assassinate Pushkin when it appears that he's an insane hardliner, Bond initially protests because he can hardly believe that Pushkin is the kind of man he's being depicted as. Sure enough, Pushkin is being framed, and the two end up working together to the point where Pushkin has a minor Big Damn Heroes moment for Bond at the climax. This is likely because the role was originally intended to be filled by General Gogol, but by the time filming started the actor was too ill for anything beyond a cameo appearance at the end.
Valentin Zukovsky occupies the same role, as Bond's ex-KGB counterpart in the post-Soviet Pierce Brosnan-era films. They two are briefly hostile in their first reunion in Goldeneye but quickly but their differences aside to help Bond's mission, and in The World Is Not Enough despite enduring considerable misery at his hands, Zukovsky even goes as far as to rescue Bond from captivity.
Zero from John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum takes Nothing Personal to outright fanboy levels. During the moment when he and John sit together waiting for a meeting with Winston, the man outright gushes over John, talking to him the way a die-hard fan would talk to a famous celebrity he worshiped, and actively gives the man time to recover between fights rather than attacking when John is exhausted and open. During their final fight, he says the two would have been old pals if their work hadn't put them at odds, and when defeated he compliments John on a fight well fought before succumbing to his wounds.
In The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), the CIA and KGB handlers, Saunders and Oleg, are friendly with each other, to the point of Saunders sending regards to Oleg's wife and being on a First-Name Basis.
In Captain America: Civil War, when Natasha and Clint are on opposite sides of the Cap vs Iron Man fight, they acknowledge that they are still friends even as they are hitting each other.
In Hawkeye this extents to their apparent successors, Yelena Betrova and Kate Bishop. While Yelena has been hired to kill Clint Barton because she believes he killed Natasha, Kate is trying to protect him. Yelena is not even remotely trying to kill Kate, while Kate is not really able to do much damage to Yelena without her arrows. So Kate winds up doing things like pushing all of the buttons on the elevator and throwing a bola to briefly disarm Yelana, who is simultaneously impressed and annoyed. During all of this they alternate between snark fights and congratulating each other.
Jim Trotter, the state prosecutor in My Cousin Vinny, is one of these to Vinny over the course of the trial. While he and Judge Haller are the closest things to antagonists in the film, Trotter is shown to be a genuinely friendly guy who is just doing his job. He even invites Vinny along for a hunting trip and offers him the use of his forest cabin so Vinny can finally get a night of good sleep.
All the main characters are this at various points in Pirates of the Caribbean. Most notably are Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa who are almost consistently on opposite sides and have a personal quarrel with one anothernote Barbossa was the one who staged the mutiny which cost Jack the Black Pearl prior to the first film, yet they are consistently quite friendly with one another and work incredibly well together.
In The Princess Bride, the Man in Black and Inigo Montoya start off as this when the latter helps the former reach the top of the Cliffs of Insanity rather than let him fall to his death. After a short rest to allow the Man in Black to catch his breath, the two move on to merrily discussing fencing techniques and complimenting each other's swordsmanship during their duel. Of course, the "Enemy" part doesn't last too long.
Pulp Fiction: Marsellus Wallace seems to be the film's Big Bad, but he is the employer and friend of the characters in the first and third story, and even in the second story, where he is the main enemy, greater antagonism comes from the minor character, Zed.
In Reservoir Dogs Joe Cabot is friends with Mr. White, but Mr. Blonde is definitely far more evil than Joe, and Mr. Orange, who is the policeman among them is an enemy of Joe and Blonde.
Road to Perdition: John and Michael have a fairly functional father-son relationship, and turn on each other out of a desire to protect their respective biological sons without losing any of that affection.
Also, the Capone outfit, whom Michael is robbing blind in an attempt to force them to stop protecting John's son, are forced to oppose Michael because he is threatening their business and their reputation. However, everyone in the outfit Michael speaks to (Frank Nitti in particular) is very understanding of why Michael feels compelled to do what he does, and the general tone indicates that they would be 100% supportive if he wasn't targeting them.
In Robin and Marian: Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham have grown into this. Just before their Duel to the Death, the two old enemies kneel in prayer, side by side. Robin then helps the Sheriff to his feet, and the Sheriff tells him: "God be with us, Robin."
Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs display a surprisingly genuine respect for one another, in spite of their contrasting alignments.
Hannibal Lecter: Clarice, people are going to think we're in love.
In Spider-Man: Far From Home Quentin Beck seems to genuinely like Peter Parker in spite of working the kid as part of his con, pitying ol' Web Head's rough lot in life, and actually did try to remove Peter from the equation so he wouldn't have to kill him like Nick Fury. Even when he decides he's going to have to kill the kid to keep his masquerade secret, he is genuinely cross with his henchman whom he blames for being responsible for it:
You know, William, one day after I've had to kill Peter Parker because of this, I hope you remember that HIS BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS!!!
They Shall Not Grow Old: British veterans of World War I featured in the documentary almost universally praise the captured Germans, describing them as boys much the same as the British who just wanted the war to end. There are many shots of British soldiers and German POWs posing, smiling and playfully exchanging hats. One veteran appreciatively notes how so many Germans would immediately volunteer for stretcher duty without being asked.
There is an amusing anecdote one British soldier gave who said that Saxons and Bavarians were basically no different from Brits, but Prussians were bastards... and the Saxons and Bavarians actually agreed with the sentiment, telling the British to give the Prussians hell if they met them.
Subverted in The Watcher between David Allen Griffin (Keanu Reeves) and Joel Campbell (James Spader). David thinks that this is what their relationship has become, but Joel does not agree.
Magneto to Charles Xavier in the X-Men Film Series. As in most incarnations, they started out as very close friends who eventually found themselves on separate sides due to their ideological differences, and some friendship still remains. The two play chess together at the end of the first film, and Magneto is genuinely horrified when Xavier is disintegrated by Phoenix in The Last Stand, sincerely grieving for him and promptly shutting Pyro up when he tries to talk disparagingly about Xavier:
