RANKING: Beverly Hills Cop

Here we are, the easiest series to rank to date.  The Beverly Hills Cop adventures were one that purely hinged on its star being golden.  And I guess the old saying "2 outta 3 ain't bad" goes to work here.  Without Murphy in these however, they become generic and forgettable.  Heck, if he doesn't show up they get that way and worse.

Beverly Hills Cop Retrospective: Beverly Hills Cop III

Beverly Hills Cop III
1994
Director: John Landis
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Saxon, Hector Elizondo, Bronson Pinchot, Timothy Carhart, Theresa Randle
Rated:  R

The third movie was so attrocious...the third Beverly Hills Cop was like "We're not doing any more of these." Axel was banished from the town.
                              ~Eddie Murphy


Seven years, and this is what they deliver?  Whoof.  I dunno where to start or what to say.  This is a bad, lackluster, generic effort if I've ever seen one.  I couldn't recall much from this movie aside from Axel Foley involved in an action scene on a ferris wheel, and after I viewed it again I can see why my brain has chosen not to remember it.  This movie isn't laughably bad, its not "Eh, its better than no Beverly Hills Cop" or just the unfortunate third best in a string of good to decent movies.  This movie is just a complete waste.

Beverly Hills Cop Retrospective: Beverly HIlls Cop II

Beverly Hills Cop II
1987
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Brigitte Nielsen, Dean Stockwell, Jurgen Prochnow, Ronny Cox, Paul Reiser
Sponsored By: Playboy
Rated: R

Fuck Rambo!
      ~Sergeant Taggart


The second Axel Foley adventure falls into that sequel trope of being "more of the same".  A lot of times back in the day, if you got a sequel, you just got the same movie repackaged.  I'm not saying its an exact remake, but all the beats are the same and very little progresses.  Its an entertaining movie no doubt, but there's nothing here that really needed to be explored.

Beverly Hills Cop Retrospective: COBRA!!!!

Cobra
1986
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Andrew Robinson, Brian Thompson, Lee Garlington
Rated: R

I don't deal with psychos.  I put 'em away.
                ~Marion Cobretti

Oh helllll yes I found a way to work Cobra into a retrospective!  I was pretty happy when i realized I could pull this off.  Cobra came out of the script Stallone was wanting to use for Beverly Hills Cop and took with him when he walked away.  We discussed it last time and I didn't go much further on it, wanted to leave it as a tease.  He used an adaption of the novel Fair Game (which was also made into another movie with that title starring Cindy Crawford and Billy Baldwin - I won't be covering that one).  Stallone may have dropped many story elements that coincided with Beverly Hills Cop, but a few characters, story elements and sequences remained the same.

By Request, Beverly Hills Cop Retrospective: Beverly Hills Cop

Beverly Hills Cop
1984
Director: Martin Brest
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, Steven Berkoff, James Russo, Jonathan Banks (!)
Rated: R

Tell Victor that Ramon - -the fella he met about a week ago? - -tell him that Ramon went to the clinic today, and I found out that I have, um, herpes simplex 10, and I think Victor should go check himself out with his physician to make sure everything is fine before things start falling off on the man. 
                                ~Axel Foley


How long did it take you to have the theme song playing in your head after you started reading this?