Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Director:

Martin Brest

Writers:

Danilo Bach (story)
Daniel Petrie Jr. (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 December 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

In Detroit a cop learns to take the heat. In L.A. he learns to keep his cool. [Theatrical Australia]

Plot:

A freewheeling Detroit cop pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills.

Plot Keywords:

Gallery | Police | Murder | Art Gallery | Detective

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Feb. 21	2:00 PM	COMEDY
Mon. Feb. 22	10:00 AM	COMEDY

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Eddie Murphy	...	Det. Axel Foley
Judge Reinhold	...	Det. William 'Billy' Rosewood
John Ashton	...	Det. Sgt. John Taggart
Lisa Eilbacher	...	Jeannette 'Jenny' Summers
Ronny Cox	...	Lt. Andrew Bogomil
Steven Berkoff	...	Victor Maitland
James Russo	...	Mikey Tandino
Jonathan Banks	...	Zack, Maitland's Thug
Stephen Elliott	...	Police Chief Hubbard
Gilbert R. Hill	...	Insp. Douglas Todd
Art Kimbro	...	Det. Foster
Joel Bailey	...	Det. McCabe
Bronson Pinchot	...	Serge
Paul Reiser	...	Jeffrey
Michael Champion	...	Casey

Also Known As:

Beverly Drive (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Certification:

Finland:K-14 (re-rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 (1985) | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:12 | Canada:18A | Brazil:12 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:G (Quebec) | Chile:18 | Ireland:15 | Norway:16 (1985) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills Civic Center - 19606 450 Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The pistol Eddie Murphy uses in the movie is a Browning P35 (known in the USA as the Browning Hi-Power, manufactured by Fabrique Nationale in Herstal, Belgium) 9mm pistol, the same pistol the SAS (British SpecOps) use. It takes a 13 round, double stacked magazine - known as the Grande Puissance (or High Yield) in French. The P35 was one of John Moses Browning's final pistol designs - which date back to 1923 when he was designing a pistol to meet the French military's requirements based on one of his successful handgun designs - the M1911 which was adopted by the U.S. armed forces between 1911 - 1985. Sadly, Browning died in November 1926 when the pistol was in its final development stages - the P35's design was finalized by FN engineer Dieudonne Saive, who later incorporated the M1911's field-stripping procedure.

Goofs:

Continuity: Pool ball disappears from the middle of the table just before the guy makes his trick shot.

Quotes:

Axel Foley: [outside the crime scene in front of Axel's apartment building after Mike is killed] Look, I heard a rumor that you're gonna use Rand on this case, and, between the two of us, the guy doesn't know the time of day.
Inspector Douglas Todd: Don't mess with me now, Axel.
Axel Foley: It's the first time he's left his desk in 12 years!
Inspector Douglas Todd: At least he's had 12 years. Anyway, it's a homicide case and it belongs to Rand. Now go to the hospital!
Axel Foley: Well, you don't mind if I ask around a little bit, do you?
Inspector Douglas Todd: Don't do a damn thing! It's Rand's case. Your ass is skating on thin ice as it is!
Axel Foley: Hey, look, we're talking about a friend of mine, here!
Inspector Douglas Todd: Yes, we are, aren't we! Now, let's take a close look at that. One, a hoodlum friend. Two, a professional hit. Three, in a cop's apartment. This whole thing stinks to high heaven!
Axel Foley: How do you know it was a professional hit?
Inspector Douglas Todd: I didn't just walk into this town from the cotton fields! Whoever killed your friend wasn't worried about your little narrow ass. If they were, you'd be lyin' beside him in that meat wagon. Just don't do a damn thing. Stay out of this!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References The Super Cops (1974)

Soundtrack:

Don't Get Stopped In Beverly Hills

The Peak of Murphy's Career

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