Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984) ***1/2 Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot. Murphy, hot off his debut in `48 HRS' wisely continued to ride his rising star in this his first starring vehicle, tailor-made for his fast-talking, fun-loving, street-smart persona as Detroit undercover cop Axel Foley in this blockbuster hit who heads to posh Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of a good friend mixed up in a drug smuggler's art dealer front headed by equally good friend Eilbacher, and faster than you can say fish-out-of-water he's rousted by Beverly Hills finest, Ashton and Reihold – a modern day Laurel and Hardy if you will, only to continue to fluster as he tries to unearth the muck in the richest city in America. Pinchot steals the show as the effete, espresso hawiking art shop clerk Serge. Lots of laughs and a good blend of action (this was once earmarked for Sylvester Stallone!) and sprinkled with pop tunes that led to an even bigger soundtrack goldmine. Waycool instrumental theme music via Harold Faltemeyer.

Fmovies: In the past thirty years, there have been more movies made in the cop genre than any other genre. Out of all of the cop movies made, BEVERLY HILLS COP still stands out as the best very best one. Twenty years after it was released into theaters in December of 1984, the movie remains to be one of the most popular and highest grossing action comedies of all time, making $234 million in the U.S. and $316 million worldwide.

When his friend Mikey Tandino is murdered, Detroit police officer Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) travels to Beverly Hills to investigate and find Mikey's killer. Lots of gunfire, laughs, and memorable quotes ensue. Highlights include Bronson Pinchot's cameo, the banana scene, and Eddie Murphy's "supercop" speech. ****

Mega-hit action comedy from Paramount Pictures and producing duo Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Eddie Murphy became a genuine superstar with the starring role of Detroit Detective Axel Foley, a rule breaker and wisecracker that travels to Beverly Hills to solve a childhood friend's murder. It puts him at odds with a shady art dealer (Steven Berkoff) and the Beverly Hills police department. But Foley soon proves his mettle out West as he obviously has superior detective skills compared to his rule centric equivalents in Beverly Hills.

There are a lot of laughs here, and Murphy has tons of screen charisma. A lot of this will probably seem routine to modern audiences, but at the time this film established the action-comedy as one of the biggest genres of the decade. It also contains one of the signature 80's soundtracks, both the pop songs (several of which charted) and the score by Harold Faltermeyer, which includes the top ten single "Axel F." Directed by Martin Brest.

What helped make this film so great - the very fact that nobody involved KNEW it was great until it got rave audience reaction, is exactly what killed the sequel. Beverly Hills Cop Two rests too much on the laurels of the original, but then that is another story.

Beverly Hills Cop fmovies. Cocky rule dodging Detroit Cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) heads to Beverly Hills in search of those responsible for murdering his friend. Upon getting there he falls foul of everyone he meets due to his tough Detroit approach work. Undaunted, Foley, aided by old friend Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher) and two intrigued local detectives, starts to unravel the mystery.

Hey Axel you got a cigarette?

There was a time when Eddie Murphy ruled the world. After Trading Places had introduced us to his sharp comedic tongue, and 48 Hours had shown him to be a more than capable action character actor, Beverly Hills Cop fused the two together and propelled Murphy to super stardom. Directed by Martin Brest and produced by Messers Simpson & Bruckheimer, it's really no surprise that "Hills Cop" is shallow, simple (a fish out of water comedy standard) and utterly commercial. Yet with its gusto, humorous script (Daniel Petrie Jr) and neat plotting, it becomes a hugely entertaining film - led superbly by Murphy due to infectious comedy energy and superb knack for timing.

You're not going to fall for the banana in the tailpipe routine!

It's hard to believe that the likes of Sly Stallone and Al Pacino were first mooted for the role, so not as a comedy one imagines, but as it being a standard police action movie, but enter Murphy and it ended up as a fine blend of action and comedy. There's little digs at Beverly Hills and its smugness, a way of life that Foley, with his down on the streets toughness, can't comprehend, while opposing police methods also get a wry once over - wonderfully threaded in the relationship between Foley, Taggart (John Ashton) and Rosewood (Judge Reinhold).

Small gripes reside, such as Steven Berkoff's by the numbers villain being something of a let down and Ronny Cox is sadly playing filler time with an underwritten character. But this is about Murphy, the fabulous stunt work and the successful union of action and comedy. And hey! even Harold Faltermeyer's bobbing synth score, "Axel F," has a nippiness that remains quintessentially 1980s. 8/10

Without a doubt this film sums up the 80s; a feel-good movie with a great soundtrack and jaw-dropping stunts -- like that shot in the opening chase sequence with the bus doing a powerslide. And of course, Eddie Murphy's hilariously funny one-liners serve as a comic contrast to the violence and profanity. Why can't they make movies like this anymore?

Beverly Hills Cop is by far Eddie Murphy's most popular role, and the movie that officially launched his career as a genuine movie star. It was one of those movies that my dad would let my brother and I watch on weekends, after my mom made him promise not to show us any rated R movies, and over the years it's easy to forget the level of violence and profanity in it that earned it that forbidding rating. Of course, as a kid I was just excited that I was getting to see something that I shouldn't, but in retrospect I tend to think that it was this combination of clever comedy and the ingredients from harder action thrillers that ensured Beverly Hills Cop's status as a cop comedy classic.

You see, Foley has a bit of a criminal past of his own, but he is clearly much more at home on the right side of the law, and he uses his experiences in crime to his advantage in working his way into the criminal underworld, where he routinely attempts to bring down major crime ring kingpins. One day an old friend comes to visit him after having been released from prison and spending some time relaxing in the California sun. The two have a great time at the bar recounting their old criminal days together, until we learn that this guy, who once took the fall for one of Axel's crimes and served prison time for him without ever mentioning his name, now has stolen bearer bonds with him worth millions. Before long the owner of the bonds shows up and is not in a reminiscent mood. Axel is knocked out as they're staggering back to his apartment for the night, and he wakes up to find his friend murdered.

The movie follows one of the biggest 1980s action movie clichés to the letter. Every single line is here, 'take some time off,' 'stay away from this case,' 'if you go after this guy don't bother calling in on Monday,' etc. My eyes tend to glaze over whenever I hear this situation in a movie, probably because I work so much and in such situations can only think of how great it would be if my bosses told me to take some time off, go on vacation, don't let them catch me working or they'll fire me. But Foley's trip to Beverly Hills to perform his own investigation yields results so promising that it keeps the movie moving along at a pretty fast pace. Of course we realize the real life odds of a police officer traveling to the other side of the country and immediately stumbling across the major crime organization that he's looking for, but Murphy's quick-talking wit and street-wise charm makes it pretty easy to root for him.

The movie has the perfect premise to combine with Murphy's personality – he's an urban cop from Detroit named Axel Foley who is always driving his boss insane because he doesn't wait for piddly things like authorization when he wants to do major undercover work. The movie opens with one of these undercover and under the radar missions, which culminates in the police being called and then a major car chase through city and residential streets that must have caused millions of dollars in damage. Of course, when the cops have Axel at gunpoint, he gives them a grin and they shake their heads and lower their guns. Aw shucks, it's that crazy Foley again!

Judge Reinhold and John Ashton play Detectives Rosewood and Taggart, two of Beverly Hillss finest who are assigned to keep an eye on Foley and make sure he doesn't start doing police work while a dozen states or so outside his jurisdiction, from which he's suspended an