The year is 1984 and the genre leading our cinema's are action packed Stallone and Arnie movies with comedy, in a roll that was initially written for Stallone but turned down and later given to Eddie Murphy is one of the most memorable films ever to grace our screens.
The original good cop bad boy Alex Foley blesses our presence way before Will Smith came along in Bad Boys, hold onto that because a big reveal will take place in a few paragraphs.
Not only has the movie resonated with generation after generation but the popular theme song also continues to live on Angry Frog anyone?
In the 90s it was a popular Nokia ring tone, hands up if this was you 🖐
We first meet Axel Foley as a bad boy Detroit detective who has his best friend murdered and he goes on the hunt to solve the murder which leads him to Beverley Hills. The movie is full of action, mystery and laughs from begging to end and laid the path for future comedy/action detective films.
The film rated high amongst viewers and parachuted Eddie Murphies career into a global acting leader. If you want to know where and when Eddie Murphy got big time famous it's this movie right here.
Beverly Hills Cop was also nominated for the Acadamy Awards but sadly just missed out. However, it did win the peoples choice award and has ranked #9 as one of the top films of all time!
Critics further supported the film and Eddie's portrayal of the good cop bad boy Axel Foley and concurred that Eddie was the best fit for the role. I can't see Stallone playing Axel as well as Eddie but I guess big names draw viewers and you're more likely to have an economic windfall at the box office if current popular actors are cast in films.
But it's nice when the big actors of the time turn down roles which the allow other people to break into the industry and in this case it gave us Eddie Murphy who was already kicking goals on Saturday Night Live and as a comedian. Dilerious and Raw are must watch stand up gigs of Eddie's and definitely one of the greatest ever made in the history of Comedy.
Now onto the spoiler or big reveal that I promised at the start, one thing that wasn't done well in the 80s and 90s were sequels. Quite often sequels didn't even contain the same actors as the movies couldn't cover the costs to secure their actor or the actors moved onto bigger and better things.
Beverly Hills Cop went onto make another 2 sequels with each one getting worse but they're still great films and the trilogy is a great watch and I'd highly recommend them to anyone.
But announced in 2019 was a Beverly Hills Cop 4, which not only follows our OG good cop bad boy Axel Foley but includes a cross over with Bad Boys and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
The film isn't going to cinema's and will be a Netflix original movie and with awesome iconic actors teaming up for a wonderful film full of action, comedy and detective work no doubt this will be one of Netflix best movies to date.
The production was delayed due to.......... COVID but sources have released that production has recommenced and we should see the film on our screens in the next year or two.
Are you from the same vintage as I? Was Beverly Hills Cop one of your favourite movies. It gave birth to other famous films like Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker - Rush Hour, Mel Gibson's Leathal Weapon and many more fantastic films from the 80s and 90s.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.