Beverly Hills Cop

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.

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

A fun and excellently directed film with the great Eddie Murphy in the lead role.

This film is a true product of its time, a time when directors and writers tried to provide the viewer with good entertainment.

The characters are fun, likeable, and the humor is not forced, but naturally funny. Eddie Murphy is funny and he does a great job in this role. But other characters are also fun and human, Taggart, Billy Rosewood, Lt. Bogomil, they are all interesting. The villains are also fun and the actors did a great job.

The film is practically a crime story with a large dose of humor and action. Back then, they knew how to make a fun movie.

The soundtrack is great and shows what the music means to the film. The direction is also excellent and the action scenes are fun.

Eddie Murphy elevates every film with his persona, and when he has a good script and a good director, then films like this are created.

An excellent and above all entertaining film from a time when films were made to entertain.

Eddie Murphy became a true bankable superstar with "Beverly Hills Cop". The film is an unconventional detective story that has Murphy, a Detroit police officer, go to Beverly Hills after his close friend is killed. Murphy wants to find out who killed his friend and why. What he discovers is one of the largest illegal drug fronts around in an art museum. Now it is up to Murphy to bring down the bad guys and save the day. "Beverly Hills Cop" is a film that showed the greatness of the 1980s. A pop-culture, box office hit that was funny and full of action and sported a smashing soundtrack. A nice film that is one of the most memorable money-makers of the decade that was the 80s. 4 stars out of 5.

Martin Brest has only made five feature films (Going in style, BHC, Midnight run, Scent of a woman, and Meet Joe Black), films strikingly different from one another, but that all share certain traits. They are finely crafted, energetic, and extraordinarily human. The warmth and friendship shine through, even through the gun- and fist-play which are obligatory in a cops-and-robbers movie. This is one of the first and best prototypes of the buddy movie.

Brest's casting is superb, and he elicits performances which are often the best of even young actors' careers. Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, and Ronnie Cox are outstanding, and the ensemble clicks like a well-oiled infield. To me, this movie is still far and away Eddie Murphy's best performance. He is remarkably talented, a comic genius. As an actor, his expressions are sometimes outlandish, but always completely in character, and appropriate to the dramatic situation. Villain Victor Maitland (played by Steven Berkoff, the husband of Alberta Watson, Madeline in La Femme Nikita) is chillingly underplayed; the cold-blooded evil shines through the civilized facade.

BHC is one of the few movies which I can watch with my loved ones again and again and never tire. Even as a comedy, it has a solidness and integrity which make it extremely durable. I look forward eagerly to Martin Brest's next film. Meanwhile, I always have Beverly Hills Cop.