The first time I saw this back in the 80's I thought that it was hilarious. Since then the passage of time has dimmed the luster a little but I still think that this is one of the best Murphy vehicles ever. His wisecracks was totally uninhibited and it shows.
Since then there has been some good and very bad Murphy movies but when this first came out, his humour was enormously fresh. His sheep-like laugh was the clincher and has since been imitated, but never duplicated.
The plot is not much to speak off and you could only wonder what a disaster it could have been if Sylvester Stallone had been cast, as was originally intended. The idea of a black man rubbing the very white people in Beverly Hills the wrong way is of course brilliantly thought out and I can't think of other actors who could portray the white cops better than the people chosen here.
The one thing I will always remember about this was of course the theme song by Harold Faltermayer. It had some kind of inexplicably hold on you that you nearly whistled the tune out loud every time you heard it. While not in the league of Martin Brests next film, "Midnight Run" it will always be a fond memory of the time Murphy could do no wrong until "Best Defense" was released.
Since then there has been some good and very bad Murphy movies but when this first came out, his humour was enormously fresh. His sheep-like laugh was the clincher and has since been imitated, but never duplicated.
The plot is not much to speak off and you could only wonder what a disaster it could have been if Sylvester Stallone had been cast, as was originally intended. The idea of a black man rubbing the very white people in Beverly Hills the wrong way is of course brilliantly thought out and I can't think of other actors who could portray the white cops better than the people chosen here.
The one thing I will always remember about this was of course the theme song by Harold Faltermayer. It had some kind of inexplicably hold on you that you nearly whistled the tune out loud every time you heard it. While not in the league of Martin Brests next film, "Midnight Run" it will always be a fond memory of the time Murphy could do no wrong until "Best Defense" was released.