Beverly Hills Cop - Where everything is by the book until it's not.

Beverly Hills Cop wasn't Eddie Murphy's first movie. It wasn't even his first action/cop/buddy movie. It certainly isn't his funniest movie, but it's probably my favorite. The film doesn't have many holes: the supporting cast (led by Judge Reinhold) is superb, the villain is irredeemably evil in that perfect 1980s way, Murphy's character is funny and always right without being smug or condescending. Even the theme song is great and probably one of the best of any movie ever. And unlike 48 Hrs., when the characters find themselves in conflict, there's never any doubt that they respect and want to help each other. It's not awkward or stuck in its time, even 30 years later.

Axel Foley is a Detroit police officer who has a tendency to play by his own rules. (Most 1980s movie police officers did this. In fact I can't think of a single 1980s cop movie where the cop played by the actual rules. Even RoboCop, who isn't even a man, played by his own rules to bring down the corruption in the Detroit Police Department. But I digress.) After his old friend is murdered outside Foley's apartment, Foley takes time off and drives to Beverly Hills, where Mikey had been working and had stolen some counterfeit bonds.



Foley immediately gets in trouble after visiting Victor Maitland, for whom Mikey had worked. After asking a few questions, Maitland has him literally thrown from the building - through the window on the first floor, too. The Beverly Hills PD pick him up on charges of disturbing the peace. "Disturbing the peace? I got thrown out a window! What's the charge for being thrown out of a moving car? Jaywalking?"

The BHPD tell him to leave Maitland alone. "In Beverly Hills we go strictly by the book." So we know nothing will go by the book. Two cops, Sgt. Taggert and Det. Billy Rosewood (Reinhold), are charged with following Foley and making sure he stays out of trouble. Foley manages to elude them (he orders them room service from his hotel and while they are being served, stuffs a few bananas in the tailpipe) and continue his investigation with the help of a mutual friend, Jenny, in pure 80s womanhood.

Taggert and Rosewood, very much in trouble for losing Foley the previous night, try again the following night. Foley takes the direct route and rides with them to a "bar I know," which turns out to be a strip club. Foley senses something bad is about to go down and enlists the help of Taggert and Rosewood to capture the two would-be thieves. He even tries to give them full credit for the arrest, endearing himself to both of them and their boss, but they come clean because they play by the book, not their own rules. (At least not yet.)

Foley finds out that Maitland is smuggling drugs - among other things - and bribing US Customs officials to get his stuff into the country. Unfortunately, he and Jenny are captured in the warehouse. Rosewood saves Foley and follows Rosewood, who has kidnapped Jenny, to his home. Taggert meets him there and they break onto the grounds. A nice series of gun battles erupt until Lt. Bogoman shows up to shoot Maitland and save Foley's life.

The Chief of Police shows up and Bogoman invents a story to protect Foley. Taggert and Rosewood follow his lead, and pretty soon, the book is out the window. Everyone lives happily ever after! At least until the sequels. (And apparently they're making a fourth one now ... yikes.)

Beverly Hills Cop is just a fun, buddy-cop film, in stark contrast to 48 Hrs. In this one, while the good guys don't always get along, they at least know they want the same thing. They treat each other with respect, sprinkled with healthy, good-natured ribbing. Everyone on the BHPD is likeable and not just a stereotype or one-note character. Moreover, you absolutely believe that Foley would be able to convince these people he's known for only a few days to trust him enough to break the rules to bring down a villain they don't really know much about. It's fun, it has some good action scenes, and Murphy is eminently enjoyable. This one gets a strong Ab rating:

Extra abs

• While Foley first gets to Beverly Hills and walks around town, there are 2 dudes wearing leather jump suits very similar to the one Murphy wore in his stand-up movie, Delirious. Foley laughs at them.

• That's a pretty graphic murder of Mikey. It's a long shot from down the hall, as the henchman holds him down and shoots him in the back of the head. It's striking in that it is so different from the tone of the rest of the movie, making the killing all the more shocking. I think it helps make Foley's determination to solve the case and bring his killer to justice easier to understand.
• Hey look! It's Breaking Bad's Mike again! This time he's bad, but he meets the same fate as his character in 48 Hrs.

• $235/night for the hotel? And it's one of the cheaper hotels in town? Remind me not to go there.
• "Foul-mouthed? F*** you!"
• This movie is everything I love about the 8os. That hair, the poofy, pushed up jacket sleeves and shoulder pads. And the soundtrack is awesome.