#741) Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

#741) Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

OR “Murphy’s Law”

Directed by Martin Brest

Written by Daniel Petrie Jr. Story by Petrie and Danilo Bach.

Class of 2024

The Plot: Det. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is often at odds with the rest of the Detroit Police Department for his reckless behavior and unauthorized investigations. When Axel’s friend Mikey Tandino (James Russo) is murdered, Axel is barred from taking on the case himself. Remembering a conversation with Mikey about his recent work in Beverly Hills with their childhood friend Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher), Axel loads up the car and he drives to Beverly (Hills, that is). Axel’s investigation leads to an art gallery where Jenny works for the instantly suspicious Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff), but Maitland’s clout in the Beverly Hills art scene thwarts Axel’s plans, as does the interference of local police led by Sgt. John Taggart and Det. Billy Rosewood (John Ashton and Judge Reinhold). That’s enough plot for now; please enjoy Eddie Murphy’s natural star power and that kick-ass synth score.

Why It Matters: Not a lot of superlatives from the NFR, other than calling it “a film that keeps viewers laughing” and praising the “legendary” theme music by Harold Faltermeyer.

But Does It Really?: As an NFR entry, “Beverly Hills Cop” works as representation for both Eddie Murphy and Martin Brest (otherwise represented by, respectively, “Shrek” and “Hot Dogs for Gauguin”). As a film, “Beverly Hills Cop” is still laugh-out-loud funny all these years later, thanks to its evergreen underdog stance and Eddie’s winning performance. And, come on, that score? Forget about it; that alone should have gotten the movie on this list years ago. “Beverly Hills Cop” is still a winner and highlights the best qualities of the ‘80s blockbuster, so no argument for its NFR inclusion from me.

Shout Out: Billy compares the showdown with the bad guys to the final shootout in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (Taggart’s response: “Billy, I’m gonna make you pay for this.”)

Wow, That’s Dated: Much like “Die Hard”, this movie uses bearer bonds as a plot device. While bearer bonds still exist, they have been essentially banned in the U.S. since 1988 due to their frequent use in illegal activities, such as drug trafficking as seen in this film.

Seriously, Oscars?: The 1984 Oscars were dominated by more serious fare like “Amadeus”, but “Beverly Hills Cop” managed a nomination for its screenplay, losing to Best Picture nominee/more conventional Oscar bait “Places in the Heart”.

Other notes

Most sources cite the initial concept for “Beverly Hills Cop” originating with producer Don Simpson in the late ‘70s (though then-head of Paramount Michael Eisner swears it was his idea). Danilo Bach’s drafts of the screenplay were more dramatic, and Daniel Petrie Jr. was brought in to emphasize the “fish out of water” comedy elements. After a few delays in production, first choice Mickey Rourke left the project and was replaced by Sylvester Stallone, who re-wrote the script again as an action-oriented movie akin to “Rambo”. It was during this point that Martin Brest, freshly fired from “WarGames”, was brought on to direct after the likes of Martin Scorsese and David Cronenberg passed. Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were unhappy with Stallone’s revisions, and the star left “Beverly Hills Cop” two weeks before production began. Eddie Murphy, already a breakout “SNL” star with “48 Hrs.” and “Trading Places” under his belt, signed on to star as Axel Foley, and the entire script was once again re-written to suit his comic sensibilities. The script was finished the day filming started, with many more day-of re-writes to come (in fact, when Stephen Elliott arrives as Chief Hubbard, the papers he is holding in his hands are his freshly revised script pages!).
In his first top-billed starring role, Eddie Murphy’s star power is undeniable. He is so natural on screen, exuding an unparalleled level of confidence. And of course, the man is hilarious; always skewering the scene in a fun Bugs Bunny kinda way, aided by his trademark laugh that is so unique it must be authentic. Also, a reminder that Eddie Murphy was 23 years old when he filmed this! Take that, Orson Welles!
Our first big action piece is the Detroit police chasing a truck barreling through a residential neighborhood with Axel hanging out of the truck’s opened rear door. It’s a fun sequence, setting up Axel’s character while delivering an exciting chase scene. Additionally, any scene in any movie is greatly improved by playing “The Neutron Dance” in the background.

Axel’s no-nonsense boss, Inspector Todd, is played by Gilbert Hill, a real-life Inspector for the Detroit Police Department during production. Despite having never acted before, Hill more than holds his own against Murphy, though it doesn’t help that he’s saddled with every cop movie cliché in the book (he actually says, “Your ass is skating on thin ice as it is!”). Oh, and Paul Reiser is in these scenes too for some reason.
As one of Maitland’s henchmen, it’s nice to see Jonathan Banks make a second NFR appearance (he has one of my favorite lines in “Airplane!”). It’s also nice seeing Jonathan Banks with hair!
The contrast between Detroit and Beverly Hills in conveyed immediately in a quick montage highlighting Axel as a stranger in a strange land. This is followed by a meta-reference to “Eddie Murphy Delirious” that somehow keeps the film’s fourth wall securely intact.

The $235 per night rate at the Beverly Palms Hotel is about $713 in today’s money. Fortunately, the Biltmore Los Angeles (filling in for the fictional Beverly Palms Hotel) currently has room rates much closer to the film’s unadjusted number.
Today on “No such thing as a small part”: Bronson Pinchot as Serge. An overly-effeminate, vaguely European art gallery curator should not mesh with the rest of this movie, but Pinchot makes a meal out of the role, not to mention an eight-season series.

Another ‘80s action staple: the European bad guy. Steven Berkoff was born in England, is of Russian and Romanian descent, and has one of those faces that automatically reads as villainous, leading to a career where he has played everything from a Bond villain to Hitler! Side Note: Berkoff allegedly hates this movie.
What surprised me most about “Beverly Hills Cop” is how leisurely it is compared to other action comedies. The action set pieces are few and far between, and the comedy is much more character driven, with the laughs coming from the interactions and contrasts between the characters rather than a bunch of one-liners.
The dynamic between Axel, Taggart, and Rosewood is a lot of fun, with Reinhold and Ashton playing their part of the scenes perfectly; knowing when to play straight man to Eddie Murphy and when to be funny. In fact, I really appreciated that Axel isn’t the only character allowed to be funny in this movie. Taggart and Rosewood have some great interactions, and even Jenny gets in a few good lines, despite being underutilized for most of the movie.
I only knew Ronny Cox as one of the dueling banjos in “Deliverance”, so I enjoyed seeing him here as Taggart and Rosewood’s boss Lt. Bogomil. “Beverly Hills Cop” kicked off a second phase in Cox’s acting career as various authority figures in such action movies as “RoboCop” and “Total Recall”.
If this film has one iconic moment, it’s Axel thwarting Taggart and Rosewood on their stakeout by putting a banana in their tailpipe. This is the sequence for which Harold Faltermeyer composed “Axel F”, which has become the iconic theme music for the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise. And that’s Damon Wayans making his film debut as the hotel employee who offers Axel the banana, doing what I believe is the “Mr. Monopoly” voice that will one day get him fired from “SNL”.

My biggest LOL in this movie comes when Axel is having the country club valet park his beat-up 1970 Chevrolet Nova: “Can you put this in a good spot? All that shit happened the last time I parked here.”
As we start wrapping up the plot and heading towards the finale, the film loses some of its momentum and becomes a more typical action movie. It’s all a little too “ba-dow ba-dow” for my taste, but there’s still a few funny moments (especially from Judge Reinhold), and Ronny Cox gets an entertaining reprise of Axel’s “Supercop” monologue from earlier. And because it’s a Simpson/Bruckheimer production, we end on a freeze frame. Ah, the ‘80s.

Do we know if opera singer Beverly Sills ever saw this movie? The “Beverly Sills Cop” parody writes itself: “I’m your worst fucking nightmare; I’m a soprano with a badge.” (Yes, I know that’s from “48 Hrs.” not “Beverly Hills Cop”, but whatever, I thought it was funny.)

Legacy

“Beverly Hills Cop” opened in December 1984, and just edged out “Ghostbusters” as the highest-grossing movie of the year (though “Ghostbusters” reclaimed the title following a re-release in 1985). “Beverly” held its #1 weekly box office spot for 13 consecutive weeks, and adjusted for inflation is still one of the highest-grossing R rated movies of all time.
If “48 Hrs.” and “Trading Places” made Eddie Murphy a star, “Beverly Hills Cop” made him a supernova. With follow-ups like “Eddie Murphy Raw” and “Coming to America”, Eddie Murphy was unstoppable in the ‘80s.

Martin Brest’s follow-up to “Beverly Hills Cop” was 1988’s “Midnight Run”, which maintains a strong cult following to this day. As for the rest of Brest’s filmography…don’t worry about it.

Harold Faltermeyer’s “Beverly Hills Cop” theme has become synonymous with the ‘80s and has endured in pop culture. I’ve had it stuck in my head during this entire writing process, specifically the “Family Guy” version with Peter singing along.

Plans for a “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel began before the first film was even released. Directed by the more action-oriented Tony Scott, 1987’s “Beverly Hills Cop II” was also a hit, but not as well received as the original. 1994’s “Beverly Hills Cop III” was a major letdown (even Eddie Murphy admitted he did it just for the money), but 2024’s revival “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.” fared better as a serviceable if not remarkable return to form. Also, despite proposed sequels that would have taken Axel to other countries like England or France, every sequel has him coming back to Beverly Hills for some reason.

A 2013 pilot for a potential “Beverly Hills Cop” TV series centered around Axel’s hereto unmentioned son, Aaron. Eddie Murphy returned as Axel for a cameo, which led CBS to think he would be a recurring character. When Murphy said that this would not be the case, the network did not pick up the pilot for series.
And finally, because I have nowhere else to put this: while Eddie Murphy was promoting “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.” in 2024, he mentioned his plans to star in a remake of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” with Martin Lawrence. All the more reason to induct the original film into the NFR if you ask me.