Unorthodox Christmas: Die Hard (1988)

Director: John McTiernan
Based on the book "Nothing Lasts Forever" by Roderick Thorp
Composer: Michael Kamen (also worked on "Lethal Weapon")


Cast
John McClane- Bruce Willis
Allen- Reginald VelJohnson
Hans Gruber- Alan Rickman
Hollie Gennaro McClane- Bonnie Bedelia Culkin
Karl- Alexander Godunov (RIP 1995)
Deputy Police Chief Duane T. Robinson- Paul Gleason
Reporter Richard Thornburg- William Atherton
Argyle- De'voreaux White


Oscar Nominations
Best Sound
Best Sound Editing
Best Film Editing
Best Visual Effects


Write-up:


"Origin" Story
I don't remember the exact conversation, but roughly 5 years ago, we were talking about Christmas movies. My dad said "Die Hard" was his favorite Christmas movie. That gave me the idea to get him the movie for Christmas (along with "Invincible" because I enjoyed it and since it was a football movie, I thought he would too).


Previously that season at my college's animé club, we played a music video called "The Ballad of John McClane"... which showed scenes from the movie alongside an actual song, which discussed the plots of the entire "Die Hard" franchise. Worth checking it, it's a riot 8-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTyw6cq86kY
[some spoilers included]


Anyway, I guess you could say the rest is history. Since that first Christmas, we'd watched "Die Hard" pretty much every year as part of our Christmas traditions.
Something that can't really be said about my previous "Unorthodox Christmas" entries, although I could make a habit out of "Lethal Weapon"... or any other Shane Black film that takes place during Christmas time...


The Story in a Nutshell


New York cop John McClane flies into LA for a Christmas Eve party at his estranged wife's company.
At the same time, the building falls into the hands of German terrorists who hold it hostage, hoping to steal millions of dollars from their vault.


Basically, John McClane (who was freshening up after a long flight, therefore not encased in the hostage situation) turns vigilante. He fights back against the terrorists, killing at least half a dozen, and (after a couple failed attempts) gets LAPD involved. With only a stolen walkie-talkie for communication with the outside world, John McClane also develops a friendship with Allen- the cop sent to Nakatomi after a couple "false alarms".


Actors and Characters






John McClane has become such an iconic character. I hadn't seen any of the other films in the franchise, but it's my understanding that he's become less realistic with each film. The latest "Die Hard" likened him to a video-game character because he came off "super-human."
But in the original, he's just a regular cop who really rises to the occasion when Nakatomi falls under attack. His reaction time is sharp and he thinks very quickly on his feet. Not to mention he accomplishes all of this bare-foot. (Someone on the plane randomly suggests "talking off your shoes and making fists with your toes" to calm down after a flight). The part of the movie everyone remembers is when he runs over broken glass to escape gunfire. That and his "yippee-kai-yay" comeback.


Hard to believe that this was a role so many people turned down (Tom Berenger, Nick Nolte, Sam Neill, Al Pacino) and others balked at the casting of Bruce Willis.
But then, I never saw "Moonlighting," Bruce Willis's current gig... where he supposedly played a goofier character.(Funny enough, he "moonlighted" as John McClane while filming the TV series in the daylight hours).

Earlier today, I mused to myself about who I'd cast in a remake... cuz I imagined Christoph Waltz playing Hans Gruber (he always plays such a great villain)...but I was at a loss about John McClane. Nobody I know in movies today has that killer combination Bruce Willis had: a dry sense of humor, good build and major ass-kicking skills.


As for whether I'd take John McClane or Martin Riggs in a bet on who's the bigger bad-ass...
Riggs would probably win...
in the sense of humor department, McClane might have the edge.



Reginald VelJohnson, I know as the father from "Family Matters" (part of the TGIF line-up that I, ironically, didn't really watch until years later via Nick at Nite reruns)... funny enough, he wound up playing a lot of cops in his career.
Although the two characters don't meet until the last 3 minutes of the movie, the chemistry between him and Bruce Willis and the developing relationship between these characters... one of the film's many highlights. Just love it.






While comparing "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon," as great as Gary Busey was as Mr. Joshua... Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber was an even better performance.
So I was stunned to learn that this was Alan Rickman's first film role. With the accent, he's very intimidating, but he has his unique gentlemanly charm and dry sense of humor. Probably one of the best movie villains of the 80's.


Interestingly, the bad guys are supposed to be German, yet none of the actors are from that country. (And Bruce Willis was actually born in, then, West Germany). The casting apparently focused on people with imposing on-screen presences.


A Russian Segway


And of all those people, Alexander Godunov is easily the most terrifying. Who can blame him, since his brother was the first casualty at the hands of John McClane. Yet in real life, he's the exact opposite of his character. He was a ballet dancer who trained with Mikhail Baryshnikov...


I recently encountered Baryshnikov as part of "That's Dancing," a documentary about dancing throughout the heyday of Hollywood. He was much younger back then. So I not only found him attractive, but also a very engaging host of that particular portion. And after seeing some of his dancing on YouTube, I must say I'm impressed...


Never mind that Russia (more specifically, its figure skaters) has been on my mind a lot since the Sochi Olympics... I just found this fascinating... that these two men knew each other.
Although, as I understand it, their professional relationship fractured in later years.
Alexander Godunov died at the age of 45 (according to Wikipedia) of hepatitis, brought from chronic alcoholism. And apparently his defection from the USSR (another thing he and Baryshnikov had in common) caused a diplomatic incident during the Cold War.


The Jerks


Aside from our hero, our hero's love interest, our hero's partner, our villain and his comrades, we have two groan-worthy jerk-ish presences that need to be addressed.


Coincidentally, one of them played an equally, if not more, jerk-ish entity in "Ghostbusters."
William Atherton was the EPA guy who shut down the gird where the Ghostbusters were storing the captured ghosts.
In "Die Hard," he plays a sleazy opportunist TV reporter... what kind of person threatens to report a Latina babysitter to Immigration if she doesn't let him in the house to interview the McClane kids?
The character in "Ghostbusters" may have been in the right, but there's no excuse for that... THAT should be the reason why random people pick a fight with this actor.
(But then, "Ghostbusters" fans can be very hardcore when it comes to that movie...)
Because of his newscast, Hans Gruber learns who Hollie really is and takes her as his own personal hostage.

The other jerk in question is Ellis... Hollie's co-worker who's clearly interested in becoming more than friends and therefore annoyed at John McClane's interference with the Germans for his own selfish reasons.


Both of these guys get what they deserve in the end and they're definitely worthy of celebration.


While on the subject, I could also discuss Paul Gleason for the umpteenth time. After his shenanigans in "Trading Places" and his cutthroat authoritative attitude in "The Breakfast Club"..
Here, he plays another position of power: a deputy police chief. He's only trying to do his job, maintaining control of the situation, but we automatically buffer against him because he doesn't believe John McClane is an asset. He has to be the so-called "voice of reason."


But for a refreshing change of pace, he does get knocked down a peg when the FBI shows up.


Final Comments


Like "Lethal Weapon," we have great memorable characters and a balance between comedy and drama....
While Alan Rickman brings the better villain performance (ok, not necessarily better, but more enjoyable), I like the depth in Mel Gibson's character more than John McClane... even though he was the character that launched the vigilante archetype


Both movies have a running time over two hours. Watching "Die Hard" the other day, I felt like it just dragged in places during the third act. We're slowly building to the climax where Hans takes Hollie hostage and the bad guys start making their getaway... I wouldn't necessarily take any scenes out, but things just took a little too long.
The laughs also get fewer and further between during "Die Hard"... nothing but drama and action until the bad guys are thwarted.


As for the Christmas content... the movie takes place on Christmas Eve night, we hear Christmas songs throughout... but nothing beats hearing "Let it snow" when the end credits roll.

Unorthodox Christmas: Lethal Weapon (1987)

FYI: it's completely coincidence that my first two movies here came out the same year...
as is the fact they both have a Downey connection somewhere.


I saw "Lethal Weapon" once YEARS ago, but had zero memory of it.
Mr. Downey brought it back to my attention in a video he did for MTV. He took a trip to Blockbuster (he was promoting "Gothika" at the time so it had to have been around 2004) and picked three movies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oKqN1XV2vY
For those not interested in seeing the video, this is what he said in a nutshell.

• it's a Joel Silver movie [he produced "Gothika"]
• Mel Gibson is on the edge, suicidal
• key selling point: Eric Clapton helped write the score

Lethal Weapon

Director: Richard Donner (of "Superman" fame)
Write: Shane Black
Composers: Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen
[key players]
Roger Murtaugh- Danny Glover
Martin Riggs- Mel Gibson
Mr. Joshua- Gary Busey


OSCAR Nomination- Best Sound
Christmas content:
The movie happens to take place between December 20-25... per my guesstimation. All of the buildings, offices and homes are decorated with wreaths and Christmas trees. We hear "Jingle Bell Rock" and a couple other Christmas songs. Some of the cops sing "Silent Night" in one scene.
And on TV, we see excerpts from a Looney Toons Christmas special and Alistair Sim's "A Christmas Carol."
Hilariously, the latter shows Scrooge asking "What day is it?" and Gary Busey kills the TV, screaming, "It's [expletive] Christmas!"


Story:
Our "Lethal Weapon" in question is Vietnam veteran and cop Martin Riggs. Since the tragic death of his wife, he'd been on the edge, even suicidal. It gets to a point where he's transferred and assigned a partner.
That partner happens to be 50-year old (as of the movie's beginning) old-school cop Roger Murtaugh.


Their case is investigating the murder of Amanda Hunsacker. Her father was an old friend of Roger's who recently tried to get back in touch with him.
As they get deeper into the case, it becomes clear there's more going on than they realize.


Amanda died because her father was backing out of a business he'd been steeped in for several years... smuggling drugs out of Asia. His bank served as a front.
This operation originated during Vietnam when it was then known as "Air America."
[Coincidentally, Mel Gibson starred in a movie called "Air America" in 1990... not one of RDJ's best movies... everyone survives, but the plot got very convoluted in the third act]


Actors:
Other than the names I listed, I don't recognize anyone else. I thought I may have seen the actress who played Murtaugh's teenage daughter in other projects, but her only credits were in this particular franchise.


I first saw two of the actors in 90's baseball movies. Gary Busey was aging Chicago Cub pitcher "Rocket" in "Rookie of the Year" and Danny Glover was the manager of the Angels of Anaheim in "Angels in the Outfield."
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2013/03/93-angels-in-outfield-1994.html[One day, I may do a "Rookie of the Year" review. Under, either, nostalgia, baseball or guilty pleasures]
For different reasons, "Lethal Weapon" was a stand-out film for them.
Mr. Joshua is easily one of the most intimidating villains in film. He was part of the U.S. Army's Special Forces division in Vietnam (as was Riggs). Not only can he handle a firearm with expertise, but he's very skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well. I'll always be a little partial to Gary Busey in "Rookie of the Year," but it's good to remember he could play a kick-ass bad guy as well.

He was also quite the scene-stealer in "Celebrity Apprentice" a few years back... he's a little out there, but when you think about it, some of his Busey-isms (I came up with that myself) make a lot of poetic sense. 


Danny Glover is really good at what he does as is his character. Too bad he's saddled with the role of the "straight man" whose running gag is "I'm too old for this shit"... compared to everyone else, he's just not as interesting.
And by everyone else, I mean Mel Gibson.


Never mind that the fact he's been fodder for rumors and tabloids for the past decade...
in 1987, he was in top form... both physically and his acting ability


In his first scene, we see him in his Winnebago home buck-naked. As I remember, the first time I saw a male butt in a movie... I guess I remembered that (and little else about the movie other than the "I'm too old for this..." line) because my mom drew attention to it.
At the moment, I'm having trouble remembering any other "butt" scenes in movies to draw comparisons, but it's probably the best looking male butt I'd ever seen in a movie.


After "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," I've become very leery about male full frontal nudity in film... but in this case, I dare say ALL of Mel Gibson would have been in peak condition in 1987.


Now for the acting... Mel Gibson plays a really good psycho in this. Until it's too late, you usually don't know what to expect with Riggs. You don't know if he'll pull a gun, shoot first and ask questions later, or jump off a building handcuffed by a would-be jumper. He's also really good expressing the emotional turmoil of this character. Some of the credit does go to the intense film score, but the scene where he points a loaded gun to his head... it's heart-wrenching. Anyone not holding their breath is clearly already dead.


Despite the fact he can be a loose cannon from time to time, Riggs proves to be a valuable partner to Roger. Great chemistry between these two actors. That's probably what this film is about at its heart. Going by their first encounter with one another, you never would have guessed they'd get along as great as they do.

As for the sequels: I should get around to seeing them at some point.
I vaguely remember the second one where Joe Pesci is a source of comic relief.... I also feel my chest tighten up, recollecting a scene when the bad guys break into Roger's house and threaten him and his family... nothing scarier than the bad guys finding out where you live.

with one small exception...

cut again to Gary Busey killing the TV

"It's [expletive] Christmas!"

Theatrical Review: Let's Be Cops

Date: Friday August 22, 2014
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 12:10 pm
Party: me, myself & I

Cast:
Ryan O'Malley- Jake Johnson
Justin Miller- Damon Wayans Jr.
Josie- Nina Dobrev
Officer Segars- Rob Riggle
Mossi- James D'Arcy
Brolin- Andy Garcia
Pupa [dreadlocks guy]- Keegan-Michael Key

Running Time: 104 minutes (+3 trailers)

Write-up:

Intro

As a fan of "New Girl," the moment this movie was announced... I knew I had to see it. Then when the trailers debuted, that hadn't changed. I also figured out another thing: in all likelihood, I'd be going solo to see this. So many R-rated comedies come out, most of which aren't worth much, so unless they have word-of-mouth going their way or they star good people, it's a tough sell.

This being the second week this is out, I also figured it'd be a small crowd. I just didn't predict I'd have the whole theater to myself :P
Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. [I'll explain why later.]

On a side-note, I saw a couple adults and kids in front of the box office before I got my ticket, so I could only guess they were there to see "The Giver" or the new Ninja Turtles movie. The latter turned out to be true.

Previews

I gotta say... these guys know their audience. All three of the trailers were R-rated comedies. Two of which were sequels to moderate successes.

I saw "Horrible Bosses" on HBO, wasn't a huge fan, but it had moments. Just not really enough to warrant this sequel. In one scene, it got me thinking they were trying to promote it as the next "Hangover" movie... probably not the best idea, considering how the sequels didn't get as much love as the original. At least they're not taking themselves too seriously.

"Hot Tub Time Machine," I'd heard was actually good, but I didn't expect it to be good enough to get picked up for a sequel. This time, they wind up going to the future. Something really idiotic, though, when Craig Robinson's character went back in time previously, he took it upon himself to take credit for writing certain songs. "Let's Get Started" was one thing, speaking as a not-so-big Black-Eyed Peas fan. But Lisa Loeb's "Stay"... that I cannot abide.

Then we have probably the most controversial movie of the year... so controversial they recently pushed back the release date to December. Clearly this trailer for "The Interview" was done before this announcement. Yep, it is so idiotic and insane, if North Korea declares war on us over it, God help us.

The Main Attraction

I first heard about this movie's existence a year ago around this time. I don't know if that was when Nick Miller was my new TV crush or I was so busy shipping Nick & Jess that I was dreaming about it... no matter what the story is, Jake Johnson was enough incentive for me to go.

Let's get one thing straight:
This isn't the world's best movie by any means. So anyone throwing shade in its general direction, they need to lighten up because they knew what they were getting coming into it.

Aside from being unrealistic, my only other negative was a lull in the 3rd act where I was wondering when this thing would be over. Almost like waiting through a comic's story waiting for a punch line.
To their credit, though, they did have a damn good punch line. No way would it work out so well in real life, but really, who cares.

Storyline

These two 30-year old guys, Ryan and Justin, are getting nowhere in life.

Ryan was the quarterback at Purdue with a lot of NFL promise until he had a "career ending injury." Now, all he does with himself is play little-league football with a bunch of neighborhood kids... might I add they don't even want him there to begin with. Only one kid, Joey, seems to like him.

Justin works for a company that makes video-games. When we first see him in his element... let's be honest, he really isn't. We see him at a boardroom trying to pitch his game and this other jerk takes over the entire thing. Ultimately, Justin is shut out, and the new idea winds up being firefighters versus zombies because they're "original."

The cop uniforms were originally part of Justin's pitch for "Patrollman L.A.," and they decide to wear them to a Purdue alum costume party. Only, Ryan misconstrues that masquerade and costume parties are synonyms and they stick out like sore thumbs. On their way back, they come to the realization that people respect the uniform and Ryan says... wait for it...

"Let's Be Cops!"

For the first part of the movie, you get a lot of idiocy. The guys use the uniforms to get away with things and goof around. [Some of this footage comes during the credits for some last minute laughs]. Ryan actually takes it upon himself to get police training from YouTube videos and customize an old cop car he bought on eBay.
We also get some shenanigans where they try to settle a domestic disturbance and wind up going with a couple of actual cops to a robbery at Ace hardware.
All goes well for a while until they mess with the wrong people.

Before this "transformation," the guys first encounter our villains at a valet space. Their car stalls and, impatient, the villains' Mercedes SUV goes around them and basically does a hit-and-run.
The next time, they find them while in uniform and BS their way through the situation until they convince the bad guys to leave the scene. They were threatening a small restaurant owner to sell to them and is the same place where Justin's crush Josie works.

While maintaining this façade, the guys decide to help Officer Segars take down this notorious gangster Mossi, whom the department has chased for years but unable to pin because the evidence always disappears before they can make the arrest.

Not only does this become dangerous, but it gets complicated really quickly when they find out who the real head of the operation is.
All I will say: he's played by Andy Garcia in a really great role and you do not want to mess with him.

To their credit, however silly and unbelievable the movie gets at times, how everything resolves in the end... it worked out really well and for Ryan and Justin, the light at the end of the tunnel of their lives is very bright.

Acting and Comedy

It was a good thing I was alone in the theater because I could not get myself to shut up. There were lots of laughs to be had for sure with one real Laugh Out Loud moment that temporarily escapes me but it's towards the end of the movie. There are a few points where the gags run a little long... but things pick up quickly afterwards. I was also making remarks periodically about how stupid it is, this will never work, etc, etc. A real good time :P

I'd recommend this movie, but only to a few select groups of people.

Like I said, people who don't expect to come into something hits-you-over-the-head amazing.

Also for people who like R-rated comedies.

Most of the R-rating is cursing, but we have some sexual references and one instance of nudity. After being blindsided by "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," I made sure to research what I was coming into. In this case, the male nudity occurred at Ace hardware. For whatever reason, one of the perps is this sumo wrestling dude that had no clothes on... [exasperated sigh] I don't know why. I guess they just wanted this moment where he falls on top of Justin and he desperately wanted to get away from his... yeah, the guy was overweight so we didn't really see anything offensive until this point.
Speaking of offensive, Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" came on during this scene. I haven't been the biggest Miley Cyrus fan since last year's VMA's, but I like that song. Probably one of the worst uses of a song in the context of a movie I'd ever witnessed.

Oh well... at least "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys was used in good taste 8-) I know it was meant as a joke, but I appreciated its incorporation.

Most importantly, I would absolutely recommend this movie to "New Girl" fans. Heck, other than the R-rated comedy route, that's probably its key demographic.
Going into the series, I thought for sure Schmidt would get all the fangirls because he was more outgoing and funny and Nick was just a wet blanket. I don't know, I guess when Nick started to lighten up and have some genuinely good moments, I was crushin'.

Damon Wayans Jr. was in the show's pilot and disappeared after he chose the now-cancelled ABC comedy "Happy Endings" instead. Only recently did he return to the show as a reoccurring character and this upcoming season, he's back to being a regular.
At first, I thought Coach made the main cast feel overcrowded, that he didn't really add anything to the plot... but I'm starting to come around a bit.

If you take the different backstories and names out of the equation, you would think this was just Nick and Coach in another life. At least that's the case at first. Nick and Ryan have in common that they're both slackers, not doing much with themselves. Where they vary: Ryan is more optimistic than Nick ever was. Either way, I just find Jake Johnson a very engaging person on screen so watching this felt like home.
Coach is more eager, sometimes a little too intense with his take-no-prisoners attitude. Justin is the pessimist and realistic to Ryan's optimist, which makes for great comic relief and tons of great chemistry.

Again, Andy Garcia is a great intimidating bad guy. His screentime is short compared to some of the other characters and I don't want to give away too much about his character, but he does give this movie some credibility.

Nina Dobrev plays Josie, an aspiring make-up artist who waits tables to get by. I watched the first few seasons of "Vampire Diaries" (left just after they introduced werewolves and got WAY too complicated) and it was nice to see another familiar face. It could be argued that none of the characters in this movie are deep, but at least with the two leads I have something to add. With Josie, I don't really have much to add. She takes more interest in Justin when she believes he's a cop including one scene where she's dying to have sex with him. On the plus side, they didn't go all cliché and make her a kidnap victim.

Rob Riggle is a comedian I'd seen countless times in a number of movies. For whatever reason, I can't remember ANY of them, but that's all right. He's not someone you can take seriously, but he proves to be a good character and a valuable asset to this movie... if only to keep our leads from getting killed.

One scene-stealer worthy of note:
While trying to get enough evidence for an arrest, Ryan and Justin kidnap the driver of the van transporting the goods and torture him for answers.
They wind up hitting it off and come up with the idea to disguise Justin as him so he can sneak into a party to gather evidence. He was pretty funny and even returns in the final scene.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, this movie probably won't do well enough in the box office to get a sequel. Rotten Tomatoes was particularly harsh.
I can certainly see where a sequel could be made, with the dreadlocks dude making our dynamic duo a trio. But knowing how this industry works, it might not be the best idea. Who's to say that we'll get the same cast for a sequel or that the script won't get lazy.

I might not get this on DVD, but if it makes HBO, I can see myself watching it a couple more times if only to chill out and have a good time.


Grade: B+ (for "New Girl" fans), B (everyone else)

15. Beverly Hills Cops (1984)

Code-name: Red Meat

(the quote in question will come later on, no worries)

Director: Martin Brest (other credits includes Al Pacino's Oscar winning "Scent of a Woman" and the ill-fated Bennifer flick "Gigli")

Composer: Harold Faltermeyer

Type: cop film, dramedy, 80's classic

Cast:
Detective Axel Foley- Eddie Murphy
Inspector Todd- Gilbert R. Hill
Detective Billy Rosewood- Judge Reinhold
Sgt. Taggart- John Ashton
Victor Maitland- Steven Berkoff
Lt. Bogomil- Ronny Cox
Jeffrey- Paul Reiser
Jenny Summers-Lisa Eilbacher
Serge- Bronson Pinchot

Notable Win and Nominations:
Grammy- Best Album of Original TV/Movie score
nomination- OSCAR- Best Original Screenplay (Daniel Petrie Jr and Danilo Bach)
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Picture (comedy/musical)
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Actor in comedy/musical- Eddie Murphy

Write-up:

First ImpressionAgain, I don't know just how this movie came to my attention. I just remember picking it up at Blockbuster, interested in seeing a good comedy.
Eddie Murphy was always good for a few laughs and he did not disappoint. If I had to guess, this was after "Mulan" and one of the "Doctor Dolittle" movies... so the early 2000's for sure.
The only other thing that stood out to me was Billy Rosewood. The dude was just hilarious to me... still is, actually.

PlotEddie Murphy plays Axel Foley, a brash talented young detective in Detroit. After the opening credits, we catch up with him as he pulls off a drug bust... he succeeds, but in the process, a lot of public property was damaged. One of many things going array in his career.
The latest thing: one of Axel's friends is murdered outside his apartment after they had a night of drinking and gallivanting and his superior, Inspector Todd, forbids him from going near the case.

So what does Axel do? :-P he interprets the orders as "I don't want you doing this case in Detroit"... so he goes out to Beverly Hills to investigate on what little his friend Mikey told him about the latest job he got hooked up with. He sees their old friend Jenny Summers, asking about the guy who hired Mickey, and he winds up marching to his office. Only to get arrested by the authorities after he makes somewhat of a scene.

The Beverly Hills police decide to keep an eye on him to make sure he stays away from this case. While they fail at THAT, Axel cracks the case open and winds up getting help from the first team sent to "watch" him: the duo of Rosewood & Taggart.

If loving this movie wasn't enough incentive, hearing that those two guys would be back in the sequel did it for me. Whether the sequel is better, I'm not sure. I haven't seen either in a while, but both have great points worth a revisit.

Casting

Obviously the biggest part of this movie's success was Eddie Murphy. Not just because he made Axel Foley one cool cat, but he could improvise like nobody's business. In a way, I guess you could say he was an uncredited writer on this movie because they sometimes used his ideas when they were stuck on how to proceed on a given scene.
The most notable bit of improvisation: the "super cops" scene where Axel tells this story about how Rosewood/Taggart apprehended two thugs at a strip club. Eddie Murphy had this regiment of not doing any drugs, including coffee, while working on this movie. But after working long hours on this, he relented and started drinking coffee. The state he's in during the "super cops"  scene is the result of his first caffeine buzz on set.

It's hard for me to believe that Sylvester Stallone was originally cast for the lead and people like Scott Caan, Richard Pryor, Al Pacino and Mickey Rouke were also considered... for me, that just wouldn't work. It might not have been Eddie Murphy's first role, but it was certainly a "break-out" role for his career.
Part of the reason I wanted to see "Trading Places" and later on, "48 hours," which to me was a gross disappointment. The character he played there was no Axel Foley :P he didn't even get his own theme music (more on that later).

As for everyone else, I think I watched the 3rd Beethoven movie because Judge Reinhold was in it, but I have no memory of it, so it probably wasn't all that great. I think his first role was "Fast Times at Ridgemont HIgh," which again, I have no memory of, but I'm willing to go in for a rewatch because it IS a classic.
Maybe I was just expecting another brat pack-type 80's music, which it really wasn't.

Bronson Pinchot, who plays one of the art gallery employees Serge was in some TGIF sitcom... maybe it was "Step by Step," but again, it wasn't memorable to me. He's a good looking guy and this small role was memorable.

Steven Berkoff played Victor Maitland, a gentleman with quiet confidence and dastardliness, almost in the style of Alan Rickman in "Die Hard."
I didn't think of him much more than just another good movie villain. Then I saw him in "Under the Cherry Moon," a movie Prince starred in and directed in 1986. He and Jerome Benton (Morris Day's partner-in-crime in "Purple Rain") played gigalos that got rich by sleeping with wealthy divorced women. Then Christopher Tracy (Prince's character) falls in love with Mary Sharon (Kristen Scott Thomas's first role), initially after going after her for her $50M trust fund. She falls in love with him too, her daddy (Berkoff) gets angry (he wants her to marry another guy so their families can combine their fortunes) and *SPOILER ALERT* has him killed.

Sure, it's not the best written or directed movie, but killing him off was just senseless to me. But unlike "Less than Zero," I have yet to rewrite a more satisfying ending.
So yeah, I have a small vendetta against Steven Berkoff because of that movie (despite the fact he didn't pull the trigger himself... but then again James Spader only supplied Julian with the drugs that killed him at the end of "Less than Zero" and I have yet to get over that).... the fact "Beverly Hills Cop" came out before "Under the Cherry Moon" doesn't make me feel better about this... Steven Berkoff getting killed at the end of this movie only to come back to life as another character who kills Prince playing a role other than himself.

...all the more reason for me to prep myself with spoilers before seeing the next Avengers movie. If Ultron kills Tony Stark, there's no way I'm getting over that.

Anyway... back to business...


Music
I'll get the "small fries" out the way first.
A lot of great music in this movie, first of all.

The biggest stand-outs are the use of The Pointer Sisters and Patti LaBelle tracks. They feel like part of this movie's identity especially since they're used during the scenes with Axel Foley is in Beverly Hills.
As a little side-note, it was kinda cool on the part of the crew to show a lot of extras and scenery from Detroit and Beverly Hills, giving us a scene of the place Axel Foley is from and the dramatic difference between that and Beverly Hills. I guess you could say it's a "fish out of water" story, but Axel adapts better than anyone else I'd seen in that motif. He certainly stands out with how he looks and dresses, but gets along just fine.

One bit of music I want to draw attention to is at the strip club. The first couple times I watched this movie, I felt like it gave the strip club its own unique vibe and considering how the lyrics kept using the word "nasty" in a provocative way, it was perfect.
Years later, I found out that Prince wrote it for his girl group, Vanity 6. Once I watched the behind-the-scenes on the DVD to see if they mentioned him (I know Eddie Murphy's a big fan because he was at the red carpet for the premiere of "Purple Rain"), but they only said one of the strippers on set recommended it.

Of course, the most notable piece of music is the score. I'd mentioned Harold Faltermeyer briefly in my "Top Gun" review, but this is where he really shines. Watching the movie again just a few hours ago, I was marveling at the genius of how the music was used. Axel Foley has his own unique theme movie that's actually called "Axel F."
Critics of the 80's can nitpick all they want how cheesy it is to have this score carousing in the background, it pulls everything together. Throughout this, I took notice how it was used to paint the tone of the picture. How it explodes right off the bat and then quiets down to build the tension. Notably in one of the earlier scenes where Axel sees his apartment had been broken into, only to find it was his friend.
Then there are times where there's no music at all and it comes back to let us know that "the plot" has resumed.

And for the record, I had pieced together the main part and a few other pieces of "Axel F" on keyboard. It's just a matter of finding the right setting to get the same sound. Haven't found it yet, but then again, I only have a Yamaha.

Other Comments

Another thing I found fascinating, though somewhat disturbing: in the original script, Billy Rosewood dies in a massive chase/explosion scene. It was something Sylvester Stallone wrote but was later deemed too expensive a scene to shoot. Ultimately what saved Billy (Judge Reinhold): his chemistry with Taggart (John Ashton).
The two of them play off each other like an old married couple.

The "red meat" line; funny enough that was a scene improvised at the audition that got both of these guys their designated roles, and made it into the movie.
The set-up: Rosewood and Taggart are waiting in front of the Beverly Hills Palm Hotel for Axel to return (he was checking out a warehouse, following a lead about Mikey's murder). While killing time, we see a couple scenes of them where Billy makes a comment and we laugh at Taggart's reaction.
My favorite:
Billy (reading a magazine): Wow. You know, it says here that by the time the average American is fifty, he's got five pounds of undigested red meat in his bowels.
Taggart: Why are you telling me this? What makes you think I have any interest in that at all?
Billy: Well, you eat a lot of red meat.

GREAT chemistry between these two. Billy's the happy-go-lucky yet responsible young guy and Taggart is the stoic, by the rules, professional.

Lots of random scenes in general where things seemed so outlandish but they worked for the comedic aspects.
One priceless bit of pop culture from this movie: the banana in the tail pipe scene. Never mind that, I was bugging about the fact Axel had room service serve the cops in their stake-out unmarked car. That just blew my mind that he got away with that.
Pretty much, Axel can talk his way into anything, but getting out often proves to be the tricky part of the deal.

I also love how he starts to grow on the other cops. One of the big payoffs of the "super cops" dialogue: after Taggart blows up Axel's story with the truth, Axel explains how his story was working and they messed up; we get a smile from their boss, Lieutenant Bogomil.

A lesson that Taggart made sure NOT to forget at the end of the movie after this big shoot-out scene.
Speaking of which, Billy has some great comedic moments in these final moments. Firstly when he barely gets to run the Miranda rights past the gunmen at Victor Maitland's estate and then he tells Taggart how their predicament is reminding him of the end of "Butch Cassidy"... one of two reasons I wound up watching that movie ;)

As for the sequels: I'd seen both of them. I have next to no memory of the third, only that Billy returns but not Taggart and Serge gets a little extra scene time.
As for the 2nd one, it's like with the "Karate Kid," it stands up to the original really well, but I wouldn't necessary say it surpasses it. What I found hilarious about it: they reveal how Billy is a bit of a gun enthusiast with Axel and Taggart worrying that he might have issues with the amount of firepower he possesses.

"Billy, we gotta talk" is the running gag throughout the 2nd half of the movie.