Beverly Hills Cop (R)
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I think of this first and foremost as a comedy movie, but also an action movie. So I thought I might include links to the review in both of those sections, but then awhile before watching the movie, I made a new subsection of comedy for "action comedy", and I was going to put my review there. Then I made a section for "law enforcement" movies, and decided to put the review there even though in my mind that's secondary to "action comedy", just because I have fewer reviews in the "law enforcement" directory. But I'm still making the background color yellow, the color of comedy. Anyway... the movie came out in 1984, and I must have seen it on VHS a number of times in my youth (when I was really too young to be watching a R-rated movie, but it didn't do me any harm). So it's somewhat nostalgic to me. And re-watching it on DVD in 2024, I was not at all surprised by how much of the film was still familiar to me. Like, practically the whole thing. And I think it holds up pretty well. Also, I think the movie's soundtrack is very possibly the first album I ever owned (on cassette tape), and I'm sure I listened to it many times, so most of the music in the movie was familiar to me, too. It's a really good soundtrack. (I'll have to look for it and give it a listen so I can write a review of that, too.)

So, Eddie Murphy plays Axel Foley, a Detroit cop who apparently has a penchant for acting like a bit of a loose cannon, and getting in trouble. The movie starts with his going undercover without authorization, failing to bust the guys he was going after, and letting them do a ton of damage during a chase scene. This leads to a coworker named Jeffrey (Paul Reiser) trying to give him some advice that Axel doesn't want to listen to. And then his boss, Inspector Todd, chews him out and warns him not to let anything like this happen again. That night, Axel's old friend Mikey Tandino shows up at his apartment, having gotten out of prison some time ago. He says he's been working as a security guard in Beverly Hills, having gotten the job upon the recommendation of a third old friend of theirs, Jenny Summers, who works in an upscale art gallery. But Mikey had stolen some German bearer bonds from the warehouse where he worked, and when he and Axel get back from hanging out in a bar, two guys jump them, knock Axel unconscious, and kill Mikey, taking back the bonds.

Later, Inspector Todd tells Axel to stay away from the case of Mikey's murder, and Axel agrees, saying he wants to take some vacation time he had coming. He goes to Beverly Hills, where he meets up with Jenny, who tells him Mikey had been working for her boss, an art dealer named Victor Maitland. Axel goes to ask Maitland some questions, and ends up getting thrown out and arrested. (It seemed really weird to me that Maitland's security guys threw him through a large window [or maybe it was a glass wall, I forget] of the building, doing serious damage that's surely going to be costly to repair, when they just as easily could have thrown him out the door.) It's also weird that a cop car showed up like two seconds after it happened. But whatever. At the police station, Axel is questioned by Sgt. John Taggart and detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold). After he is released, Lt. Bogomil assigns Taggart and Rosewood to follow Axel. But he manages to lose them, and goes about his investigation of Maitland, whom he suspects of having had Mikey killed. He gets some help from Jenny, who doubts her boss would have been involved in murder, but is eager to help solve the case. Well, lots of other stuff happens that I don't want to spoil the details of. Suffice to say, Axel keeps getting into trouble with the police, though in the end Taggart and Rosewood help him take down Maitland. And even the strictly by-the-book Bogomil lies to his boss, Chief Hubbard, about what happened, to keep all the good guys out of trouble.

Anyway, it's a really fun and funny movie, a good story with good characters. It's always fun seeing Axel bullshit his way into and out of various situations. And I really like how believable Axel and Mikey, as well as Axel and Jenny, were as old friends. And I do want to mention one thing I've always remembered about the movie was Bronson Pinchot playing Serge, who worked at the gallery with Jenny. There were also some familiar faces I didn't remember, including Paul Reiser (I remembered his scene, once I saw it, but not that he had been the actor in it), and Jonathan Banks as Maitland's main bodyguard, and Damon Wayans, in a very brief scene. And I've always remembered Axel saying to Maitland that if anything happened to Jenny, he'd kill him, and Maitland responding "That would be a neat trick". But I'm not going to list all the things that are memorable about the movie. There are just too many. Um... I suppose I could mention that Judge Reinhold later voiced himself as a judge in an episode of the animated series Clerks, in which he has a dream about the good old days, hanging out with Axel. And... I feel like there's so much more I should say about the movie. But I don't know what.

Followed by Beverly Hills Cop II