Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

The second film in our pairing of police comedies, also from 1984, is an example of just how well law enforcement, action, and comedy can be combined! Directed by Martin Brest, "Beverly Hills Cop" follows the story of Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy), a young and newly-minted Detroit Police detective, who is out to make a name for himself, regulations be damned! After an unapproved sting operation goes sideways, and after he gets reamed out by his supervisor, Inspector Todd (Gilbert R. Hill), he finds an old friend at his apartment. Mikey Tandino (James Russo) and Axel used to break a few laws together back in the day, but Mikey is now back in town with a stack of stolen German bearer bonds. Unfortunately, the people he stole them from come calling, knock Axel out, and kill Mikey. This leads Foley to take some vacation days and head out to Beverly Hills, California, where Mikey was working. There he reconnects with an old friend, Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher) and make a new one in her employee Serge (Bronson Pinchot). Jenny tells Axel that Mikey was working for her boss, Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff). When Axel goes to visit Victor, he ends up being thrown out of his office (literally, through a window), and is summarily arrested by officers from the Beverly Hills police department. When he's brought in, he meets Detective Seargent Taggart (John Ashton) and his partner Detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), and their boss Lt. Bogomil (Ronny Cox). With those connections made, the scene is set for Foley, Taggard, and Rosewood to ultimately combine forces and bring Mikey's murderer to justice! Also starring Jonathan Banks, Stephen Elliott, and Paul Reiser). Plus, the trio announce which recently-deceased actor spurred them to put together another "In Memorium" pairing for the next two episodes!