In the 1980s though, no one was flying higher than him, and he was never better than he was in 1984's Beverly Hills Cop. Originally supposed to be a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, Murphy stepped into the lead role and turned an action heavy police story into a new breed of cop movies. It was the buddy cop movie without the buddy. Comedy and action around every corner, it was something audiences hadn't seen previously, and they ate it up. As Murphy points out on the DVD special features, it feels like every cop movie since has been influenced by this 80s classic.
After an undercover sting goes wrong, Detroit Detective Axel Foley (Murphy) finds an old friend, Mikey (James Russo) waiting in his apartment. They go out on the town, but coming home they're attacked and Mikey gets shot in the head twice in what seems to be a professional hit. Foley has little information to work with, but knows that Mikey had a job in Beverly Hills. Taking some vacation time, he road trips to California in his crappy blue Chevy Nova and starts poking around. With some help from childhood friend, Jenny (Lisa Eilbacher), now the owner of a high-end art gallery, Axel finds out that Mikey had been working for Victor Maitland (Steven Bergoff), an art dealer who seems to be involved with a little bit of everything. It's not long though before Axel has rubbed the LAPD the wrong way, and he's got two detectives (John Ashton and Judge Reinhold) trailing him.
Movies like Ferris Bueller, the John Hughes flicks, Lethal Weapon, Back to the Future, all of those just scream out '1980s MOVIE!' and Beverly Hills cop certainly qualifies. It's a snapshot of the time it was made in, and even now while it does come across as a little dated, it's still a great movie. It was one of the first movies to blend comedy and action together so seamlessly. Director Martin Brest weaves everything together with a thin story that jumps around most of the time, content to let the cast have some fun. The music is a key -- starting with The Heat is On over the opening credits -- and then of course, Axel's theme, which I guarantee you've heard before. Listen HERE. It's hard to picture the movie without that electro-rock theme playing in the background.
Lost in the badness of Norbit, Pluto Nash and Meet Dave (among several others worth mentioning) is the fact that Murphy is one of the funniest guys to ever star in a movie. This is Murphy at his sharpest, improvising left and right, throwing one-liners all over, and making every scene watchable because you want to see what he does next. It's his likability, that distinctive and instantly recognizable laugh (listen HERE), that huge smile, just the general entertainment value he brings to the character. His knack for delivering a line at just the right second, setting up a fellow cast member, or doing physical comedy, it's all second to none. It is just too bad Murphy couldn't have bottled up the 1980s and preserved it.
What jumps this movie from average to above average, near-classic is the rest of the cast. As the detectives trailing and eventually working with Foley, Reinhold and Aston are the quintessential Odd Couple cops. Asthton's Taggart is the cynical, weary cop while Reinhold's Rosewood is the wet behind the ears, still naive officer. They play off each other so well you can imagine them having their own spin-off. Ronny Cox doesn't disappoint either as Lt. Bogomill, their supervisor trying to maintain his sanity. Eilbacher is the sexy friend (and that's it!), Jenny, who was originally supposed to play a love interest in the Stallone version. Berkoff is Berkoff, the villain the second he steps into the movie because...well, because he's Steven Berkoff, and he always played the bad guy.
For a comedy to be a step above all the other dreck out there, certain scenes have to leave an impression that aren't easily forgettable. 'BHC' has more than I could mention, but here's a few. Foley goes to meet Jenny and instead meets Serge (Bronson Pinchot), a foreign art salesman. Watch HERE. If his delivery after Murphy says 'Get the bleep out! doesn't crack you up, I don't know what you think is funny. There's others like Foley getting thrown out a window and his reaction, his toying with the LA cops, but most of all it's worthwhile because of Murphy. Read through IMDB's Memorable Quotes for a sampling, which even taken out of context are still funny. A real winner and one of the best movies to come out of the 1980s.
Beverly Hills Cop <---trailer (1984): *** 1/2 /****
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