1984 was a year of explosive success at the theatrical box office, with a number of huge blockbuster hits that would remain beloved decades later. When the final results were tallied at the end of the year, no movie was bigger than Beverly Hills Cop. The action-comedy outgrossed the likes of The Karate Kid, Gremlins, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and even Ghostbusters to reign as the year’s box office champ. That victory rests entirely on Eddie Murphy’s shoulders. Just two years following his feature film debut, the comedian had rocketed to superstar status, and Beverly Hills Cop was a vehicle perfectly tailored to exploit his talents.
I was ten-years-old in the summer of 1984, and probably too young to see an R-rated movie in the theater, much less one with so much profanity and violence (including an early scene with a seemingly major character getting point-blank shot in the head). Nevertheless, my mother wanted to see it, and didn’t feel like paying for a babysitter, so I found myself tagging along with her. Also, it was the early ’80s, and nobody much gave a crap about policing children from watching inappropriate movies. I’m sure I could’ve walked into that theater even without an adult at my side. Times have changed a bit since then.
| Title: | Beverly Hills Cop |
| Year of Release: | 1984 |
| Director: | Martin Brest |
| Watched On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray |
| Available On: | Blu-ray Netflix Paramount+ FuboTV Various VOD purchase and rental platforms |
Rewatching it now for the first time in a few years, it strikes me as interesting just how low-key and understated Beverly Hills Cop actually is for something that would become such a cultural phenomenon. Even with the production team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Flashdance, later Top Gun, Bad Boys, The Rock, and so forth) working behind-the-scenes, this movie isn’t an overblown action spectacle. Although it opens with a notable truck chase and stunt sequence, and climaxes with a bunch of shooting, action content in the film is generally mild even by 1984 standards. Filmmaker Martin Brest (on only his second feature after the George Burns/Art Carney caper Going in Style) was a comedy director, not an action director, and sets a mostly laid-back tone for the comedian star to slip into.
The story is based around a fairly simple culture-clash premise: After his friend is murdered, wiseass Detroit cop Axel Foley (Murphy) disobeys his captain’s orders and takes vacation time to travel to Beverly Hills, in order to investigate the victim’s ties to a shady art dealer (Steven Berkoff) who’s been using his upscale business as cover to smuggle drugs and bearer bonds – the cryptocurrency of its day favored by many devious 1980s movie criminals. Local authorities (primarily Ronny Cox, John Ashton, and Judge Reinhold) don’t have a lot of patience for Axel’s hijinks and get in his way a fair amount, but ultimately come to realize they’re on the same side and should be working together to take down the bad guy.
The path to getting to that conclusion is filled with many fish-out-of-water gags, as the down-to-earth, blue-collar Axel finds great amusement in the ostentation and pretentiousness of America’s wealthiest community, and repeatedly uses his Detroit street smarts to upstage the by-the-book real Beverly Hills police. Despite the occasional hard violence, the film somehow manages to sustain a relaxed vibe. Director Brest allows the cast to develop great rapport among the characters, and Eddie Murphy looks to be enjoying himself from start to finish, which goes a long way toward winning over the audience.
The whole thing breezes along to the beat of Harold Faltermeyer’s instantly-iconic “Axel F.” theme and a bangin’ soundtrack of pop hits by the likes of Glenn Frey, Patti LaBelle, the Pointer Sisters, and more. In addition to those already mentioned, Paul Reiser briefly appears as another Detroit cop, and yes, that’s future Breaking Bad star Jonathan Banks (also featured in Murphy’s 48 Hrs.) as the villain’s main henchman. A young Damon Wayans also has a bit part as the hotel clerk who gives Axel some bananas he needs in a key scene.
Unfortunately, that Wayans cameo, as well as a more prominent supporting role for Bronson Pinchot as an art gallery attendant named Serge (who would recur in later sequels), are one aspect of the film that hasn’t aged well. Both characters are played as effeminate gay stereotypes for cheap laughs, and another critical scene in the movie has Axel launch into a similar routine more or less straight out of Eddie Murphy’s stand-up act. A vintage promotional interview on the Blu-ray finds the director lauding praise onto the star for improvising that bit and saving the scene, but watching it today is pure cringe. The homophobic content in Murphy’s comedy of the era is something that modern viewers will need to reckon with, but at least in this case, it may be debated whether any of these instances goes too far over the line into offensiveness (as opposed to, say, major portions of the prior year’s Eddie Murphy: Delirious concert film).
If not for that, Beverly Hills Cop still holds up as terrific entertainment. While not necessarily as high-concept or inventive as Ghostbusters (which would eventually overtake it monetarily after a couple theatrical re-releases), the movie is equally successful at landing a difficult blend of comedy and action. That both films would still be spawning sequels forty years later hardly seems surprising at all.
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Paramount released Beverly Hills Cop multiple times on Blu-ray starting in 2011, with an upgrade to 4K Ultra HD in 2020. The latter is available either on its own, or as part of a 3 Movie Collection. Like many fans, I only care for the first two films and have no interest in owning the third, so I opted to buy the standalone copies of just those rather than the trilogy set.
The 4K Ultra HD disc is presented in full-screen 16:9, which points to this being old older video master, as Paramount has generally done a better job of transferring 1.85:1 movies in their correct aspect ratio in more recent years. Image quality looks quite dated, with a heavily-grainy, drab appearance. Some of that might be blamed on the film stocks of the early 1980s, but I’m not entirely convinced that this transfer was sourced from the film’s camera negative (or even scanned at 4K resolution, frankly). The picture is only modestly sharp, and often has a dupey appearance. Things get brighter and more colorful when the action moves to California, but the disc remains underwhelming on the whole.
On the other hand, as an older master, this one seems to have mostly escaped the heavy hand of aggressive noise reduction and other digital tinkering that Paramount so often likes to mess with these days. While watching the 4K disc, I questioned whether any HDR had been applied. However, the accompanying Blu-ray in the case is decidedly over-bright and washed-out in comparison, suggesting that at least some attempt was made to normalize the contrast for the 4K copy.
Music takes priority in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. The Harold Faltermeyer synth score has nice breadth and stereo separation, and the pop songs are delivered with fun throbbing bass beats. Beyond that, unfortunately, audio quality is frustratingly bland. Dialogue is clear enough, but gunfire sounds canned and other effects are muted. Without another copy of the movie to compare against, I’m inclined to blame that on the original sound design rather than a disc mastering issue.
Weirdly, the 4K disc contains about half the bonus features that are also found on corresponding Blu-ray. (Why bother putting any on this disc if they wouldn’t all fit?) These include an audio commentary by director Martin Brest, a pair of deleted scenes sourced from VHS, a handful of brief vintage 1984 promotional interviews, a trailer, and something called the “BHC Mixtape ’84” that amounts to a selection of six clips from the movie notable for songs on the soundtrack.
The remaining items are only found on the Blu-ray. Presented in standard-definition resolution and all recycled from older video editions are a half-hour retrospective documentary, shorter featurettes about casting and music, and an interactive Location Map with more short interviews.
Related
- Beverly Hills Cop franchise
- Eddie Murphy (star)
- Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer (producers)
Note: All screenshots on this page were taken from the standard Blu-ray edition of the film and are used for illustration purposes only.
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