BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984)

BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984)

Tagline: He's been chased, thrown through a window, and arrested. Eddie Murphy is a Detroit cop on vacation in Beverly Hills.

(Action, Comedy, Bananas) [R]

You're not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe? It should be more natural, brother. It should flow out, like this - "Look, man, I ain't fallin' for no banana in my tailpipe!" See, that's more natural for us. You been hanging out with this dude too long.

So back in 1984, I just turned 11 years old and this movie was off-limits as far as seeing it in theaters, but I am pretty sure my dad would have let me watch this pretty much as soon as it came out on VHS. Having said that, being able to watch it didn’t mean I did. Back then I didn’t give a crap about cop movies or comedies unless they involved a billion explosions, cheesy horror, something giant, something super small, a monster, or space. Needless to say, Eddie Murphy will still a household name at that time having a string of success that was pretty mind-blowing. I think when this came out it was near the start of a string of movies that opened at number 1 at the box office. He actually turned down GHOSTBUSTERS to do this movie. Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone turned down this movie because he didn’t think he’d be believable as an out-of-place cop and didn’t want to do a comedy. Apparently, he changed his mind because that is essentially the plot of DEMOLITION MAN. 

The plot involves, Axel Foley, working as a detective in Detroit, but after his friend is murdered he ends up getting sent on vacation. Refusing to not work on the case he ends up in Beverly Hills where he begins investigating what might have happened. There he ends up getting into a run-in with cops who have been asked to tail him for the remainder of his vacation. In fact, he is told if he continues to try and find his friend's killer, he will be fired. Does Axel listen? Nope. He befriends two of the cops that were tailing him and they must overcome the rules, the bureaucracy, and a drug ring to find the truth. 

I normally can’t stand a lot of profanity in movies and this thing is loaded with it. It’s like they were trying to meet some sort of quota or something. Perhaps the writer only knew like 4 words, I have no idea, but for some reason, in this setting, it actually works and doesn’t override my enjoyment of the film. A lot like other comedians, Eddie Murphy is best when he is just freewheeling and making things up on his own. During the scenes where he does this, this movie is pretty hilarious. When he doesn’t, it’s pretty stiff. 

I do like Judge Reinhold as Det. Billy Rosewood in this and I am excited that he’s returning for the 4th installment in the series (especially since he hasn’t acted since 2017). John Ashton is also likable as Sgt. Taggart and will also be returning for the new movie. Ashton unlike Reinhold has had a full slate of acting roles recently. He might be most famous for KING KONG LIVES. Of course, Eddie Murphy is great, he was on top of his game when this came out even though I like him much better in other films. People can be pissed, but my favorite movie of his was THE HAUNTED MANSION. Anyway, the cast was lights out and I always like seeing Ronny Cox show up. The dude screamed 80’s “jerk”, but he plays a decent character in this one. I think Lisa Eilbacher was just okay as Jenny Summers. I don’t know if this is common in Hollywood, but she is actually from Saudi Arabia. 

Pacing-wise and cinematically this thing works pretty well but feels underwhelming as an action flick. What actually stands out more than anything else is how iconic the soundtrack is. There might not be a song in this entire movie that most people that are alive for more than 30 years haven’t heard, even if they don’t recognize it from the movie itself. 

Overall, there is a LOT of this movie I checked out on, and I think we’ve got better cop-centric movies out there these days, but this still lands at a 5 out of 7. It’s better than just “Pretty Solid”. It’s a reminder that we actually live in a time where the United States is so anti-racist that we’d die for one another regardless of race just on principal and values, a country where actual racism is so hard to find that it has to be falsely manufactured and forced on entire segments of society by declaration rather than fact.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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