Tag Archives: Beverly Hills Cop

Movie classic: ‘Beverly Hills Cop’

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If you weren’t around and old enough to get into an R-rated movie in 1984, I’m not sure it’s possible for me to describe to you what a game-changer “Beverly Hills Cop” was.

Eddie Murphy, then all of 23 years old, seemed to be on the brink of the hottest career in Hollywood. He’d made a name for himself as a “Saturday Night Live” cast member and appeared, to great effect, opposite Nick Nolte in the funny and violent cops-and-robbers movie “48 Hours” in 1982. “48 Hours” was profane and explosive and filled with brutal action and Murphy burst, fully-formed, on the big-screen.

“Beverly Hills Cop,” as most remember, starred Murphy as Axel Foley, a young Detroit cop – probably way too young to be believable – who goes to LA – specifically Beverly Hills – to investigate when a childhood friend is killed. He antagonizes killers and cops, although the later eventually cooperate with his unorthodox methods.

The movie’s script had been kicking around in Hollywood for years and the movie was almost made with Sylvester Stallone and, online sources now say, the role was even offered to people like Mickey Rourke and Richard Pryor. it’s hard to imagine the film with anyone else but Murphy in the lead.

If Murphy had followed this, his live in concert film, “48 Hours” and “Trading Places” with work of the same quality, he would still be among the biggest stars in the world. Instead, he ended up making substandard sequels and odd outings – “Metro?” “Holy Man?” – and is best known today for voice over work in the “Shrek” movies.

Random observations:

The movie’s $230 million-plus box office hall made it the top movie of 1984 – ahead of “Ghostbusters.”

Damon Wayans looks shockingly young as the fey young buffet line worker who gives Murphy’s character some bananas to use as sabotage tools on Judge Reinhold and John Ashton’s car.

The movie doesn’t seem as fast, funny and hard-hitting today as it did 28 years ago. Maybe that’s a consequence of the hyper filmmaking that’s become the norm since that time.

I lost track of the times characters said Murphy’s character’s name in the movie. “Axel,” “Foley,” “Axel Foley.” It’s a mark of how important a character is – and the impact that character can carry – when their name is mentioned over and over in a screenplay.

The movie’s soundtrack, including “The Heat is On” by Glenn Frey and “Axel F” by Harold Faltermeyer, was as big a hit as the movie.

Unsung actors: Jonathan Banks

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Who’s badder than Jonathan Banks? Nobody.

He’s one of the coolest yet most unsung actors in Hollywood.

Banks is enjoying a little limelight in a recurring role in the hit series “Breaking Bad” these days, but for years he was best known as the creepy henchman of the bad guy … or, infrequently, the offbeat good guy.

Amazingly, Banks’ TV resume goes back to the mid 1970s and appearances on everything from “Barnaby Jones” to “The Waltons” to “Little House on the Prairie!” In the latter, according to IMBD, he played Jed in a 1980 episode.

His career in movies really took off in 1982, however, with his role as a doomed cop in “48 Hours.” He’s a cohort of Nick Nolte’s cop character who gets killed off early.

Two years later, Banks played what I think of as his best henchman role in “Beverly Hills Cop.” He’s the guy who kills Eddie Murphy’s friend at the beginning of the movie and he’s the guy who gets tossed into a buffet table at a tony private club.

Banks brought a dead-eyed menace to the role that sticks with me 30 years later.

For four years beginning in 1987, Banks had his best TV role (sorry, but I haven’t seen him in “Breaking Bad” yet) as federal agent Frank McPike in “Wiseguy.” As McPike, Banks was gruff and no-nonsense as the “handler” for Ken Wahl’s Vinnie Terranova, a federal agent who goes deep undercover in criminal organizations.

Banks’ McPike is the guy who, with more than a little attitude, pulled Terranova’s butt out of the fire during the run of the series. When Wahl left the show, McPike shepherded his replacement.

Here’s to Jonathan Banks, tough guy first class.