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39 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :- Axel Foley: Eddie Murphy's best role, 5 June 2005 Author: ShadySovereign from Elm Street
Beverly Hills Cop was a big hit in the 1980's. The film was loved by many action fans, as well as comedy fans and movie buffs at the time. It is still being admired by many people as one of the funniest cop movies ever made.The thing I love about this movie is that Eddie Murphy was perfectly cast as the Axel Foley character. Originally, Sylvester Stallone was considered for the role. Thank God he wasn't! Eddie Murphy was perfect for the role, because he can be a clever cop, and can at the same time be very funny! Another great thing about Beverly Hills Cop is its smashing soundtrack. There are some great hit songs from the 1980's featured in the soundtrack, as well as an excellent musical score which can be heard throughout the movie (to me, the musical score is the Beverly Hills Cop "theme song").Perhaps the only downside of Beverly Hills Cop is that it can be pretty slow in certain scenes. Hardcore action fans would probably be disappointed by this. But let's face it: Beverly Hills Cop is not an all-out mindless action movie. It is actually a clever comedy with elements of action present within.To conclude, Beverly Hills Cop is arguably Eddie Murphy's best film since he fits the Axel Foley character perfectly. There are many funny scenes featuring Eddie Murphy that will have people laughing (even the action scenes can be cleverly funny)! P.S: Look out for cameos by Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot, and Damon Wayans!
26 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :- Ultra-Slick and Ultra-Cool., 16 March 2002 Author: tfrizzell from United States
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.
27 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :- Funniest combination of bananas and tail pipes in cinematic history...!, 11 November 2004 Author: Michael DeZubiria (miked32@hotmail.com) from Luoyang, China
Beverly Hills Cop is by far Eddie Murphy's most popular role, and the movie that officially launched his career as a genuine movie star. It was one of those movies that my dad would let my brother and I watch on weekends, after my mom made him promise not to show us any rated R movies, and over the years it's easy to forget the level of violence and profanity in it that earned it that forbidding rating. Of course, as a kid I was just excited that I was getting to see something that I shouldn't, but in retrospect I tend to think that it was this combination of clever comedy and the ingredients from harder action thrillers that ensured Beverly Hills Cop's status as a cop comedy classic. You see, Foley has a bit of a criminal past of his own, but he is clearly much more at home on the right side of the law, and he uses his experiences in crime to his advantage in working his way into the criminal underworld, where he routinely attempts to bring down major crime ring kingpins. One day an old friend comes to visit him after having been released from prison and spending some time relaxing in the California sun. The two have a great time at the bar recounting their old criminal days together, until we learn that this guy, who once took the fall for one of Axel's crimes and served prison time for him without ever mentioning his name, now has stolen bearer bonds with him worth millions. Before long the owner of the bonds shows up and is not in a reminiscent mood. Axel is knocked out as they're staggering back to his apartment for the night, and he wakes up to find his friend murdered.The movie follows one of the biggest 1980s action movie clichés to the letter. Every single line is here, 'take some time off,' 'stay away from this case,' 'if you go after this guy don't bother calling in on Monday,' etc. My eyes tend to glaze over whenever I hear this situation in a movie, probably because I work so much and in such situations can only think of how great it would be if my bosses told me to take some time off, go on vacation, don't let them catch me working or they'll fire me. But Foley's trip to Beverly Hills to perform his own investigation yields results so promising that it keeps the movie moving along at a pretty fast pace. Of course we realize the real life odds of a police officer traveling to the other side of the country and immediately stumbling across the major crime organization that he's looking for, but Murphy's quick-talking wit and street-wise charm makes it pretty easy to root for him. The movie has the perfect premise to combine with Murphy's personality – he's an urban cop from Detroit named Axel Foley who is always driving his boss insane because he doesn't wait for piddly things like authorization when he wants to do major undercover work. The movie opens with one of these undercover and under the radar missions, which culminates in the police being called and then a major car chase through city and residential streets that must have caused millions of dollars in damage. Of course, when the cops have Axel at gunpoint, he gives them a grin and they shake their heads and lower their guns. Aw shucks, it's that crazy Foley again!Judge Reinhold and John Ashton play Detectives Rosewood and Taggart, two of Beverly Hillss finest who are assigned to keep an eye on Foley and make sure he doesn't start doing police work while a dozen states or so outside his jurisdiction, from which he's suspended anyway. So Foley moves around among the Ferraris and BMWs and Mercedeses of Beverly Hills in his ancient, beat up Chevy Nova, cheerfully laughing at Taggart's and Rosewood's bumbling efforts to tail him and doing his investigation right under their noses. In the standard buddy cop movie sitcom, you have two wildly different people thrown together in a police partnership situation and forced to work together. This was a staple of the 1980s and has remained popular to this day, with classic movies like Lethal Weapon, Tango & Cash, 48 hours (one of Murphy's own earlier comedies), Red Heat, Rush Hour (could two cops ever be more different than Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan?), and possibly my favorite, Hot Fuzz. And of course I shouldn't forget Bad Boys, which may very well have so much in common with Beverly Hills Cop as to warrant suspicion of plagiarism. I'll let it go though. I'm sure Eddie Murphy doesn't mind. Anyway, Beverly Hills Cop does follow all of the basic rules of your standard buddy cop movie, but somehow manages to avoid feeling like a formula film. The combination of Axel's determination to avenge his friend's murder is juxtaposed with hilarious situations involving Taggart and Rosewood trying in vain to keep an eye on him, as well as various police organizations tearing their hair out trying to keep him under control. Picture the police chief in Last Action Hero, a bad movie for which I maintain a certain affection, and make him intelligible and add a lot of profanity and you'll get some idea of what's going on here. I don't know that Beverly Hills Cop can quite be called a comedy classic, but it is definitely an action comedy classic.Also keep your eye out for the hilarious cameo from Bronson Pinchot, who you may remember as Balki from Perfect Strangers! Eleventh best TV show ever!
25 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :- Murphy's best role - a unique fish-out-of-water comedy!, 12 November 2004 Author: MovieAddict2009 from UK
Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is in Beverly Hills for a few days to investigate the murder of an old acquaintance. Axel assumes the suspect is a local tycoon, but no one seems to believe him – including the police force, being semi-run by Ronny Cox (in one of his rare good-guy roles).Axel comes into trouble with the law his first day on the job after getting thrown through a glass window by some thugs. He is arrested, and when released finds himself hounded by a pair of inept police officers around the town for a few days. After outsmarting them (in one of cinema's most delightful moments – ever) Axel gets hooked up with an old friend and manages to roam the streets looking for clues – which, of course, he finds very easily.Before this film Eddie Murphy had starred in one film that had launched his name into Hollywood: "48 HRS." But by all reasonable comparisons this is a much, much better film, and it's also much, much funnier, too. What's most refreshing is that it doesn't fall back upon the stereotypes of African-Americans inherent in so many mainstream motion pictures – the role of Axel Foley was originally written for Sylvester Stallone (who was actually attached to star early on in pre-production before dropping out of the project) and it's quite clear that Foley was intended as a white character. Although massive rewrites were employed only two weeks before shooting, script flaws can still be spotted – the heroine of the story is a white businesswoman, for example, and we expect some sort of sexual tension between them but there is none. We begin to question the very presence of the female lead because in essence it leads nowhere. We can imagine how it might have developed into a love story, but Murphy works against the flow, awkwardly treating her as nothing more than a friend.These sorts of things sometimes bring out the occasional odd touches in the film – ironically they unintentionally set the film apart from other such movies of the genre because it's not typical in any sense. Sure, it has the routine shoot-outs but there is no romance subplot, no pointless racial comparisons (more of which would be seen in the two sequels), etc. The movie greatly benefits from this because it seems so fresh, and far more believable – after all, rarely are romances developed in two days. The action genre always seems to end with the hero sending off the crooks to jail, and finally getting a long-awaited kiss from the leading lady. "Beverly Hills Cop," to its credit, manages to avoid this and the result is a far more enjoyable film, even if most of its sequences are far from being 100% realistic.The film's director, Martin Brest, has a clear handle on the buddy genre and would go on to direct the immensely successful Robert De Niro / Charles Grodin road-buddies-comedy "Midnight Run," one of the most popular (and best) of the genre. Beverly Hills Cop works just as well – it's funny when it needs to be, thrilling when it wants to be, and features a stellar lead performance by Murphy in his most unusual role.Murphy is the driving force behind the film, presenting us with a truly likable character – the most likable character he's ever played, as a matter of fact. Axel is unorthodox but a generally good guy – Murphy is sometimes typecast into playing roles similar to that of which he played in "48 HRS." (being the loud, obnoxious racist who's got it all together), but here he plays someone we actually want to root for. At one point in the film he manages to get a couple of police officers in trouble with their superior – but he takes all the blame, and actually fabricates a lie wherein they were heroes doing their job, despite the fact that they were all actually hanging out at a strip club. Axel is tough, cool, quick-witted, nice, sarcastic, and likable – one of cinema's most enduring characters, and proof that African-American cinema heroes don't always have to be loudmouths in order to succeed as characters (pay attention, Chris Rock and Chris Tucker).The now-famous soundtrack (including 'Axel F' by Harold Faltermeyer) is a great blend of techno-pop and electronic rock – the movie's theme is bouncy, rambunctious and fun: a good parallel to Axel himself.Overall "Beverly Hills Cop" exceeds exceptionally well, even if a great deal of the film's success itself derives from pure accident and chance. I don't think anyone can say that those involved in the production knew exactly what they were doing at the time (DVD supplements include anecdotes about hectic filming and the project almost falling through at one point) -- but as luck would have it everything turned out fine. "Beverly Hills Cop" is an immensely enjoyable film, and one of the best examples of the cop-comedy genre executed properly.
17 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :- This is my favorite Eddie Murphy movie., 4 September 2003 Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada
Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a sassy, streetwise Detroit detective who travels to Beverly Hills to track down the men who murdered his old friend (James Russo).That's the simple setup for the most entertaining movie Eddie has ever done (in my opinion). This is a rather easy picture to review because it's so successful it would be hard to find its flaws. It works in many areas: laughs, action, casting, chemistry between the actors, music, and execution.Axel Foley was truly one of the best roles Eddie's ever had, and the comic is at the top of his game, indulging in a little improvisation as Axel manufactures scams in order to manipulate the people around him and get what he needs. It truly is a pleasure to watch these performers work together. Harold Faltermeyer's electronic pop score is instantly catchy, and the songs are good too. Some bits, notably the 'bananas in the tailpipe', and the 'supercops' story, are inspired.It's also worth it to see future comedy stars like Paul Reiser (as an amusingly annoying colleague of Axel's), Bronson Pinchot (stealing his two scenes as the art gallery employee Serge), and Damon Wayans (with hair!) as the young guy who gives Axel the bananas.Why can't Eddie make movies like this nowadays? For every good movie that he does (the "Dr. Dolittle" movies, "Daddy Day Care"), his failures ("Showtime", "Pluto Nash", "I Spy") set him back. To date, his first three movies ("48 HRS.", "Trading Places", and this one) remain his best.Now that I've seen the special edition version of the videotape, I've learned that for a while the movie was intended to be a serious, non-jokey cop movie starring Sylvester Stallone! How fortunate that it ended up the way that it did.If you want to see Eddie Murphy at his best, watch this and the other two movies that I mentioned. They are SO worth it.10/10
17 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :- The Peak of Murphy's Career, 10 July 2003 Author: Brian Washington (Sargebri@att.net) from Los Angeles, California
This film came out, Eddie Murphy's star was still rising and this pretty much was the pinnacle of his career. This film is a funny, fast paced, action filled fun ride and Murphy really made the film an enjoyable experience. Thank God that Sylvester Stallone backed out because I feel the film would have been a very dark intense film. At least Murphy made Axel into a smart aleck who helped to lighten the mood of the film. Also, the one underrated performance has to have been Judge Reinhold. Reinhold makes an art of playing slightly goofy out of it characters and his portrayal of Detective Billy Rosewood was a perfect example of that and John Ashton was the perfect foil as Taggart. This is definitely one of the top films of the 1980's
15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :- Another brilliant 80s movie, 18 July 1999 Author: Bill McGuire from Sydney, Australia
Without a doubt this film sums up the 80s; a feel-good movie with a great soundtrack and jaw-dropping stunts -- like that shot in the opening chase sequence with the bus doing a powerslide. And of course, Eddie Murphy's hilariously funny one-liners serve as a comic contrast to the violence and profanity. Why can't they make movies like this anymore?
16 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :- Murphy at his best!, 27 February 2003 Author: george.schmidt (george.schmidt@hbo.com) from fairview, nj
BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984) ***1/2 Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot. Murphy, hot off his debut in `48 HRS' wisely continued to ride his rising star in this his first starring vehicle, tailor-made for his fast-talking, fun-loving, street-smart persona as Detroit undercover cop Axel Foley in this blockbuster hit who heads to posh Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of a good friend mixed up in a drug smuggler's art dealer front headed by equally good friend Eilbacher, and faster than you can say fish-out-of-water he's rousted by Beverly Hills finest, Ashton and Reihold – a modern day Laurel and Hardy if you will, only to continue to fluster as he tries to unearth the muck in the richest city in America. Pinchot steals the show as the effete, espresso hawiking art shop clerk Serge. Lots of laughs and a good blend of action (this was once earmarked for Sylvester Stallone!) and sprinkled with pop tunes that led to an even bigger soundtrack goldmine. Waycool instrumental theme music via Harold Faltemeyer.
12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :- One of my all-time favorites: witty, warm, and very funny!, 20 October 1999 Author: EdKoh from Waltham, MA
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.
24 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :- The best cop movie ever made!, 1 August 2004 Author: jellyneckr
In the past thirty years, there have been more movies made in the cop genre than any other genre. Out of all of the cop movies made, BEVERLY HILLS COP still stands out as the best very best one. Twenty years after it was released into theaters in December of 1984, the movie remains to be one of the most popular and highest grossing action comedies of all time, making $234 million in the U.S. and $316 million worldwide.When his friend Mikey Tandino is murdered, Detroit police officer Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) travels to Beverly Hills to investigate and find Mikey's killer. Lots of gunfire, laughs, and memorable quotes ensue. Highlights include Bronson Pinchot's cameo, the banana scene, and Eddie Murphy's "supercop" speech. ****
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