Derek Winnert

Beverly Hills Cop **** (1984, Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold) – Classic Movie Review 1566

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The lean and hungry Eddie Murphy (just 23) scores a bull’s eye with this 1984 blockbuster comedy thriller, bringing back the cynical, glossy flavour of the 80s. Murphy stars in his iconic role as Axel Foley, a super-bad, ultra-abrasive Detroit cop causing havoc in LA’s alien culture of Beverly Hills when he goes there in pursuit of the man (Jonathan Banks) who killed his shady best friend Mikey Tandino (James Russo) right in front of him.

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Police Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox) assigns cop partners Detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Sergeant John Taggart (John Ashton), to tail Foley. But Foley finds that the killer works for drug kingpin Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), who is using an art gallery where Foley’s friend Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher) works, as a front.

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The young Murphy is extremely smart, sassy and likeable, Judge Reinhold ditto as the long-suffering local cop and there’s fine work too from an excellent support cast. The one downside, cast-wise, is that Bronson Pinchot is shamefully oppressive and unfunny as a camp art-world flunky. Damon Wayans makes his film debut, aged 24, as a banana salesman.

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Daniel Petrie Jnr’s commendable, Oscar-nominated screenplay is inventive, hard-boiled and often hilarious, there’s a famous driving pop score by Harold Faltermeyer and expert, fast-moving direction by Martin Brest. It’s a classic of its kind.

It may be edited when shown on British television for its strong language throughout with many uses of the F-word. Beware the awful American TV version.

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There are two much inferior sequels so far: Beverly Hills Cop II directed by Tony Scott in 1987 and Beverly Hills Cop 3 directed by John Landis in 1994. Beverly Hills Cop 4 is planned for 2016. And Murphy’s 1997 movie thriller Metro re-visits very similar territory.

Axel Foley was originally going to be played by Sylvester Stallone, who left the project and used some of his script ideas to make Cobra (1986). Murphy, Reinhold and Ashton improvised many of their comic lines, and they were often unable to stop laughing during shooting.

http://derekwinnert.com/metro-1997-eddie-murphy-michael-rapaport-michael-wincott-classic-movie-review-1565/

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1566

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/

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