Beverly Hills Cop

The heat is on - indeed! 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

This is probably my favourite outing for a fresh-faced and wise-cracking Eddie Murphy. He ("Axel Foley") is the cop from Detroit who finds himself embroiled in some criminal antics in the upper class and distinctly by-the-book LA suburb of Beverly Hills. Despite the serious reservations of "Lt. Bogomil" (Ronny Cox) he ends up working with two of his detectives "Taggart" (John Ashton) and "Rosewood" (Judge Reinhold) as they try to track down the murderer of a childhood friend from Detroit that, of course, soon has them knee-deep in a lucrative - and deadly - drugs operation. It's the unorthodox nature of Murphy's character and the paradox with the posh culture of his new surroundings that gives the star a chance to be exactly that here. The writing provides him with quick-fire dialogue and the two foils work well in being the butt of the gags and, as the relationships develop along fairly predictable lines, the whole thing marries the comedic, the slapstick and some pyrotechnics with just enough sophistication to keep it from being cringeworthy. Of course there's no doubt that the guys will get their man - a rather hammy Steven Berkoff, but the manner in which this is all pursued is funny and entertaining. Keep an eye to for the disdainful Stephen Elliott as "Chief Hubbard" whose disbelief in just what's going on under his nose raises a smile, as does Bronson Pinchot's "Serge". It's got quite a memorable soundtrack - even if I hated "Axel F", and is good fun!

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John Chard

CinemaSerf