Beverly Hills Cop

Righty-ho its been a week or so since my lost post on this blog mainly because I've been busy clacking away the keys on my tennis blog due to the US Open being on just now.  So I thought I would take a break from that and get back over to my review blog and this time its another film, and I've gone back to the 1980s vault and pulled out one of the classic action comedies of the era, Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy, which was a huge commercial hit at its release.

OK so let's start with the usual stuff, plot: the film's main character, Axel Foley (Murphy) is a cocky yet talented detective with the Detroit police force.  Foley goes undercover on a sting operation involving a cigarette smuggling operation, which turns sour when a couple of cops unwittingly come across Foley trying to deal with the smugglers.  This then leads the smugglers to run off, with one of them driving the truck away (with Axel in the back hanging on for dear or cheap life!) and the driver causes alot of damage in the city, who ditches the truck then runs off.  Foley back at the station faces his boss, Inspector Todd (Gil Hill) who is angered by his operation which was unauthorised and he warns Axel if he disregards police procedure again he will be fired.  Axel later returns back to his apartment where he finds his best friend Michael Tandino (James Russo) is there who was previously serving time, but after his release went to Beverly Hills where he worked as a security guard, a job he got through a mutual friend, Jenny Summer (Lisa Eilbacher).  After they go out for a drink and head back to Axel's apartment, Axel is knocked out by two men who then question Tandino, who had stolen some bearer bonds from the factory where he worked, then they kill him.

Afterwards Axel insists on getting involved in the case but Todd refuses to let him due to his close ties with Tandino.  Axel then decides he wants to go on vacation, which he uses as an excuse to go to Beverly Hills and try and solve the crime himself.  In Beverly Hills, Axel meets up with Jenny who tells him she hired Tandino to work for Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) a wealthy local art dealer.  Axel then goes to meet Maitland at his office, by barging in, he tries to question him but then Maitland has his bodyguards throw him out a window.  Axel is then arrested by two police officers for a charge of disturbing the peace and taken to the police station where he meets Sergeant Taggart (John Ashton), Detective Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and their senior officer Lieutenant Bogomil (Ronny Cox).  Bogomil asks what Axel is doing in Beverly Hills and also that he has spoken with Inspector Todd who said if he finds out he has been investigating the Tandino murder, he will be brought up on charges and fired, but Axel simply insists he is on vacation.  Bogomil then has Taggart and Rosewood follow Axel's movements, however Axel manages to evade them using different methods.  Axel then sneaks into one of Maitland's warehouses where he snoops around and finds information that reveals most of Maitland's crates were not passed through customs. 

After this Axel joins with Taggart and Rosewood and reluctantly persuades to come along to a strip bar where Axel spots two men whom he foils from committing a robbery.  Axel is taken back to the police station where he tries to big up Taggart and Rosewood, who reclutantly tell Bogomil that Axel deserves credit for the arrest, but Bogomil then decides to take them both off the case and put two of his other staff on tagging Axel's movements.  The next day Axel manages to evade Bogomil's backup cops, and he meets with Maitland at a country club where he confronts him only to be arrested again.  Back at the police station Bogomil insists why Axel keeps bothering Maitland and Axel tells him about Tandino and how he thinks Maitland had him killed and what he has learned so far.  Bogomil while sympathetic is then ordered by his police chief to escort Axel off the building and ensure that he leaves Beverly Hills.  On leaving however Axel persuades Rosewood to take him to one of Maitland's warehouses so he can expose the evidence of Maitland's smuggling, but when he get's Maitland's men are waiting for him, and from here Axel needs to find a way to get even for his friend's murder.

Beverly Hills Cop was a big commercial hit on its release and its easy to see why as it is still a very enjoyable action comedy, and it was also one of the early buddy buddy cop films.  And its a perfect vehicle for Eddie Murphy's comedic skills as the cocky Axel Foley where he uses his improvisation in pretending to be someone in order to get what needs, and he is undoubtedly the film's star he get's plenty of comic highlights.  Some examples include the funny scene where he first arrives in Beverly hills and attempts to check into an expensive hotel but he is told they are fully booked and he pretends he is a journalist writing a story on Michael Jackson for Rolling Stone magazine.  And he angrily says to the desk clerk "I was going to call the story Michael Jackson can sit on top of the world, as long as he doesn't sit in the Beverly Palms Hotel because there are no niggers allowed in there!".  Also the moment where he walks into Maitland's country club and he pretends to be gay infront of the maitre'd and he says "Tell Victor that Ramone, the man Victor saw, tell he had a herpes simplex 10, and he said he better go and check with his physician before things start falling off on the man!".  Another funny scene is where Inspector Todd first berates Axel for his sting operation on the cigarette smuggling going wrong and Todd says how the mayor "chewed my ass off!" and Axel replies "hey chief, the mayor hasn't chewed it all off, you still got a little ass there!". 

Another one of Murphy's highlights is the "supercop" scene where he tries to tell Bogomil how great Taggart and Rosewood are and how they foiled the robbery at the strip bar and he says "I don't know what you teach these fellows, as its like a sixth sense, and all that's missing from them are capes!".  And if you watch this scene you can clearly see John Ashton as Taggart, trying not to laugh.  Murphy is also equally good at mixing in moments of seriousness aswell as comedy in certain scenes such as when he is held at gunpoint by Victor's men and he says to him regarding Jenny "If something happens to her, I'll kill you".

The supporting cast are also excellent, especially the John Ashton and Judge Reinhold as Taggart and Rosewood and they make for a very amusing comic double act as the two bumbling cops.  One of their funniest scenes is where Rosewood and Taggart stakeout waiting for Axel in their car and Rosewood reads aloud from a newspaper article "by the time the average man is 50, he will five pounds of undigested meat in his bowels" and Taggart angrily says "Why are you telling me this?  What makes you think I have any interest in that at all?" and Rosewood replies "well you eat alot of red meat!".  Also later on during the climactic fight scene at Maitland's house, Rosewood holds up his badge to Maitland's guards and shouts "Police you're all under arrest!!" and they open fire at him.  In another funny moment Rosewood and Taggart at Maitland's house hide behind some plants from the gunfire and Rosewood says this reminds him of the climax of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Taggart looks at him wearliy saying "Billy, I'm gonna make you pay for this!".

Steven Berkoff is also very good as Victor Maitland, the film's main antagonist (or bad guy) and he plays Maitland with a smarmy and transparent deviousness and its clear from the get go that he is dirty.  Berkoff's best moment comes in the scene when Axel confronts him at Maitland's country club and he says to Axel "I don't know from under which stone you crawled, but it seems painfully obvious to me you don't have the slightest fucking idea who you are dealing with!  Now here's my advice to you, go back to your little rock in Detroit before you get sqaushed, OK?".  Elsa Eilbacher does a fine job in her role as Jenny, Axel's friend, who works for Maitland and she shares a nice scene with Murphy when he she drives him back to his hotel and she says how she remembers that he used to drive "a crappy blue Chevy nova" and she asks what he drives now and he replies "the same crappy blue Chevy nova!".  Bronson Pinchott also makes a noteworthy debut as the camp art gallery employee, Serge, whom Axel shares a famous scene with when he asks him how much a vase went for in the gallery and on telling him the price Axel yells "get the fuck out of here!".  Pinchott's best line is of course when Axel and Rosewood later arrive at the gallery and Axel asks Serge if he will make Rosewood some tea, and Serge asks "do you want it with a little lemon twist" and Rosewood says "sure if it isn't too much trouble" with Serge replying "no don't be stupid!".   

Other performances in the film worthy of note are of course Ronny Cox who is great as Lt Bogomil, who he plays as a decent cop who is very straight down the line and does everything by the book.  Cox has a great moment where after they foil the crime and take down Maitland he hesitantly tries to explain to his police chief what went on as he arrives at the scene, and the chief seems to accept it after Taggart backs up his story, with Axel replying "you were lying your ass off!".  Gil Hill, who was a real life police detective, does a fine job as Inspector Todd and he is given some great dialogue, especially in his first scene when he confronts Axel and says to him "the deputy called the chief, the chief called the mayor, and the mayor has just chewed my ass off!  You see I don't have any bit of it left don't you?!".  And finally Jonathan Banks is pretty good at Maitland's main henchman Zack, who kills Axel's friend Tandino.  Banks had a fine line in playing baddies in 80s films at that time, and he does a good job at playing the brutal (and let's face it rather pug ugly faced looking) bad guy.  His best moment in the film comes when he confronts Axel in the warehouse and says to him "Well cuz!" and Axel says "Are you still pissed at me" (as Axel threw him over a buffet table earlier in the film) and he replies "Oh no, but I should have taken care of you in Detroit.  When I popped your little buddy!".

Moving onto the direction, the director Martin Brest does a good job here in keeping the comedy and action moving along nicely at a good pace and the film never really lags as its quite taut time wise in just over 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Brest interestingly enough was previously hired to direct the film WarGames (but he was fired after nearly two weeks due to a personal dispute on the production) and the sets used for the Beverly Hills police department were actually the sets designed for the NORAD base in WarGames and you can see how similar they look.  Getting onto the film's music score by Harold Faltermeyer it remains one of the most memorable synthesized scores from the 80s and Axel's theme is instantly recgonisible and overall its a pretty good one, and has plenty of light hearted and atmospheric passages that compliment the comedy and action of the film.    

Moving onto the film's niggles and flaws, again I won't nitpick a great deal, although you could argue at times Axel's character while he is likeable, he does become a bit grating and childish, especially when he takes the mickey out of Bogomil's black police officer for how he says "we're not gonna fall for a banana in the tailpipe".  You just think at that point that you wish Axel would grow up a bit, but perhaps it also highlights his youthful naivety.  The film naturally as it is an 80s flick also looks quite dated to its period and the fashions are blatantly outrageous, and most of all the cheesy 80s music tracks are pretty duff and cringeworthy to listen to, particularly the track used in the strip bar called, Vanity 6's "Nasty girl" and "Stir it up" by Patty LeBelle.  Although one of the better songs in the film is of course "The heat is on" by Glenn Frey which is also instantly recognisible and one of the catchiest songs you'll find from the 80s.

Right so that's it for my look at Beverly Hills Cop, which I always enjoyed as an action comedy which has a great mix of humour, action, drama and basically good fun.

So on that note I will leave ye there.