Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Continuing my plan to watch every Eddie Murphy movie in order, I come to his second movie of 1984, Beverly Hills CopPlot In A Paragraph: Detroit detective Axel Foley (Murphy) travels to Beverly Hills whilst investigating the murder of his childhood friend. We all know the story, Sly was involved, left and used some of his ideas, from rewriting this in Cobra. Murphy came in, made it more of a comedy and the rest is history!! It's truly impressive how well it balances humor, drama, and action. There are a lot of silly comedy moments where Foley's antics shouldn't fit into a movie about a cop trying to find his friend's killer. We have scene with Foley sneaking around and shoving bananas into the tailpipe of a car and a life or death shoot out. It shouldn't work, but it does. It worked so well, that movie producers are still trying to reproduce today, some 34 years later. I think some scenes stand out as being from the Sly version. The chase at the beginning, The warehouse scene and the shoot out at the end. It's the first time we see 'In association with Eddie Murphy pictures' and Foley is pretty much just Hammond/Valentine with a badge. Judge Reinhold and John Ashton are perfectly cast as the actual Beverly Hills Cops and Ronny Cox (Deliverance) adds more integrity to his role of the grumpy Chief Of Police. Beverly Hills Cop grossed $234 million at the domestic box office to finish 1984 the highest grossing movie of the year. Ahead of Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom, Ghostbusters, Karate Kid and Gremlins. A movie won't gross that much until Batman 5 years later. With this movie Murphy cemented his status as the first No 1 black movie star. Sure, Poitier and Pryor, had starred in hit movies movies before Murphy, but they didn't come close to achieving the popularity with audiences that he did here. In his previous movies Murphy shared top billing with a white costar, but with this movie, his was the only name and face on the poster and it was the number one movie of the year. This feat can not be under estimated. It would be 12 years before another black actor would have the highest grossing movie of the year, Will Smith in Independance Day, and it's not happened again since.

This review could almost just suffice itself to that title up there. It's EXACTLY what you think. It's the 80's, with the awful dress code, the cool smooth black guy protagonist, and Eddie Murphy particularly who's just immediate added value with just his lines' delivery and the tiny little things I'm almost certain he adds himself to the script as it goes (or 5min before the shoot). The crappy 80's music and that iconic synth lead. Overall it's got that feeling of tremendous freedom following Murphy as the main character, the anti-hero hero with his lightness and ability to get seemingly anything done whether through streetwise ruse or on-the-spot humor, that guy who's completely fearless and isn't always totally legal with everything he does but at the end of the day definitely plays for the 'right team'. There's a big bad villain, there's a chick, there are friends (along the way), and there's a bunch of action. It's heaps of fun. Don't miss out.

Beverly Hills Cop is a film about a rebellious Detroit police officer who plays by his own rules. He is a man who believes in justice and truth, he isn't afraid to get the job done even if it means getting a little dirty along the way. Axel Foley isn't your typical play by the rules type of police officer. Axel Foley is no basic police officer. The film Beverly Hills Cop begins with Axel Foley in the back of a semi truck along with two tough gang members in Detroit, Michigan. He is negotiating on a price for the untraceable drugs which he had "supposedly" packed into cigarettes. They are interrupted when a police unit rushes in with there sirens blaring; the police are oblivious to Axel's undercover operation. All of a sudden shots are fired, one man falls to the ground and the other jumps into the drivers seat and takes off, with Axel still in the trucks trailer. A wild police chase erupts with collisions and explosions throughout the city of Detroit and when the truck finally runs out of steam the police realize it is Axel working on an unauthorized case. This is not Axels first time to work undercover without authorization; and as a matter of fact the city of Detroit and the police chief are not happy with Axel's stunts. The city seems as if it was steamrolled and shredded to pieces. Axel is given a final warning from his police chief and threatens to take his job away if he pulls another stunt like that. Shortly after being sent home from work due to his crazed actions Axel witnesses the death of an old friend named Mikey and is driven to crack a case across the country in Beverly Hills. Here is where the movie truly begins to take off, Axels chief told him to stay away from the case, but Axel being the rebel police officer he is knows he can not stay away from the murder case of his best friend. He decides to take a "vacation" to Beverly Hills where Mikey had worked for a man named Victor Maidland. After some investigation on Victor Axel is arrested and taken down town and becomes very familiar with a few of the Beverly Hills police officers. Axel is picked up from the police department by an old friend named Jenny. She works for Victor and was also a good friend of Mikey's. This works out perfectly for Axel because she is able to get him access to buildings in Victors business and give him inside intel that eventually solves the case. The remainder of the movie is all about Axel investigating Victors company searching for clues and evidence to solve the murder case of his friend. He eventually becomes close with police officers who were originally sent to follow him and get him under tight watch. These officers eventually help Axel solve the case and are with him throughout the end of the film. Throughout the film Axel does many things that shouldn't be acceptable for a police officer to do. He goes under cover when he is not authorized to do so, he carries a gun outside of his jurisdiction, he goes to strip clubs and does many other asinine things that a cop is not expected to do. He bends many of the rules and even the laws that police officers are expected to abide by. Even though Axel makes many risky decisions he solves the case and does a really good job. He takes many bad people off the street and cleans up the city of Beverly Hills. If Axel would have done anything differently in the film, the outcome would have been much different. If Axel would have played by the rules and listened to his police chief, he would never have solved the case of his good friend. If he wouldn't have taken police officers that were on duty to a strip club, he never would have gotten a lead that would lead them straight to the source of the murder. Breaking the rules in Axels case was well worth it. Although he had to face a lot of opposition from his senior officers and take a lot of heat from his colleagues. A major case was solved because he wasn't afraid to finish a job regardless of the consequences. Axels bending and breaking the rules type of behavior was a necessary procedure in order for him to be a successful police officer. In the case of Axel Foley and Beverly Hills Cop risking your job, life, and reputation are worth doing something that you believe in. Overall the movie is pretty average, this is your typical police action movie with a bit of Eddie Murphy's comedic twist. So if you have the time go ahead and check out the film "Beverly Hills Cop"

"Beverly Hills Cop" (1984) stars Eddie Murphy as, Axel Foley, a fast-talking, streetwise Detroit cop who goes to Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of a close friend. He meets up with a fetching high school friend (Lisa Eilbacher) and encounters a handful of Beverly Hills police (Judge Reinhold, John Ashton and Ronny Cox ) while zeroing in on the wicked culprit (Steven Berkoff).Murphy's role was originally intended for Sylvester Stallone, who dropped out two weeks before filming was to commence because the producers insisted that Stallone's ideas were over-budget. A couple days later Eddie signed on resulting in massive rewrites to include his witty comedic flair. Despite these last-minute changes everything clicks for a great mid-80s cop thriller/comedy. The movie went on to become the #1 film in the USA in 1984 and #2 worldwide.Seeing it 31 years later (as of this writing) it's clearly a product of its time—e.g. the music and styles—but its greatness still shines. What's so great about this film? Of course there's Eddie's comic genius, but there's so much more: The great "Axel F" instrumental by Harold Faltermeyer; the way the movie expertly meshes serious drama/action with excellent comedic elements; Mikey's surprising and potent expression of love for his friend; Axel's loyalty at all costs spirit; the theme of being different in a world that demands conformity; trying to understand how your colleagues think or work in order to solve a case; the great camaraderie that develops amongst the protagonists; Axel's acceptance once he proves he's the real deal; looking beyond outer gruffness to see inner greatness; Lisa's perky cuteness; the warmth the viewer feels for the protagonists as the story progresses; and more.The film runs 105 minutes and was shot in Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan; and Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Los Angeles, California.GRADE: A