Beverly Hills Cop

I must be honest, I was never interested in watching 'Beverly Hills Cop', as I was under the impression it was a slapstick comedy. Whatever made me decide to watch this, I don't know, but on the spur of the moment I opted for this movie, and I'm glad I did.

I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it actually funny (and not slapstick), it was an entertaining action movie with great stunts, good action sequences - especially the opening scene! - and darn good acting from Eddie Murphy. He was just hilarious. I loved the characters and the somewhat unusual circumstances they often found themselves in. Not only was Eddie Murphy's character, Axel Foley, funny, but his practical jokes on colleagues were also funny.

To add to this, it was a really good story. I found it interesting and fun to watch all the way. I also loved the soundtrack. You gotta love those 80s action movies! 'Beverly Hills Cop' was indeed a nice surprise.

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a brash young Detroit cop. His childhood friend Mikey returns from LA having crossed the wrong people. Mikey is executed while out with Axel. Axel doesn't get the murder case. So instead he takes his vacation time in Beverly Hills to investigate. There he runs into cops who do things a little differently.

It's a simple formula of action and Eddie Murphy hijinx. Eddie Murphy makes jokes, do the action thing, and create havoc. Young Judge Reinhold, grisly John Ashton, and by-the-books Ronny Cox play the Beverly Hills cops. There is the clash of culture, and Murphy's hilarious laugh. This is a star vehicle for Eddie Murphy, and he drives it with style.

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.

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.

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.