Beverly Hills Cop

Paramount. Director Martin Brest; Producer Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer; Screenplay Daniel Petrie Jr.; Camera Bruce Surtees; Editor Billy Weber, Arthur Coburn; Music Harold Faltermeyer; Art Director Angelo Graham

Eddie Murphy
Judge Reinhold
Lisa Eilbacher
John Ashton
Ronny Cox
Steven Berkoff

Beverly Hills Cop is more cop show than comedy riot. Expectations that Eddie Murphy's street brand of rebelliousness would devastate staid and glittery Beverly Hills are not entirely met in a film that grows increasingly dramatic as Murphy's recalcitrant cop from Detroit runs down the killers of his best friend.

Film was originally tagged for Sylvester Stallone and the finished product still carries the melodramatic residue of a hard, violent property, pre-Murphy.

Strong assists come from a deceptively likable performance from Judge Reinhold as a naive Beverly Hills detective, from by-the-book chief Ronny Cox, and from the serpentine villainy of Steven Berkoff, who plays an art dealer involved in nefarious endeavors.

Best moments arrive early when Murphy, bouncy, determined and vengeful, arrives in Beverly Hills in what old Detroit friend turned Beverly Hills art dealer Lisa Eilbacher correctly calls his 'crappy blue Chevy Nova'.

1984: Nomination: Best Original Screenplay

(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1984. Running time: 105 MIN.

Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.