Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
In the mid-1970s, Don Simpson relocated to Beverly Hills for a job developing films for Paramount Pictures. A mechanic’s son from Anchorage, Alaska, Simpson felt out of place residing among the wealthy elite. After assisting filmmaker Floyd Mutrux in scripting his film, Aloha Bobby and Rose, Mutrux invited Simpson to observe his next project about street gangs. Mutrux coordinated with the Los Angeles Police Department to meet three former Mexican Mafia members who’d turned into government witnesses for research. Mutrux and Simpson met them and their police escorts for dinner at a restaurant. Simpson was struck by how the East LA cops – burly, rough-and-tumble men in t-shirts and jeans were indistinguishable from the criminals. The next morning Simpson wondered how one of these cops would fare if transferred to the cushy environs of the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Mutrux’s project, later dubbed “American Me”, soon attached Al Pacino to star and Hal Ashby to direct, though it wouldn’t get produced until 1992 by James Edward Olmos. Meanwhile, Simpson’s idea of a cop in Beverly Hills was enthusiastically endorsed by Paramount president Michael Eisner. Eisner was recently pulled over by a Hollywood cop who treated him condescendingly in his beat-up station wagon with New York plates. The cop’s car seemed fancy, its interiors decked out with computer technology. Eisner wondered why cops in a city with little crime needed so much gear. And what was it like for cops catering to the wealthy who look at them like their personal security guards? After getting questioned at restaurants and movie studios because he drove an eyesore, his treatment by the cop was the final straw. Eisner traded in his car for a Mercedes the following day.
Simpson, miffed when Eisner began taking credit for his ideas, says his cop story never happened and his only experience with the Beverly Hills police came when his wife called 911 because someone was on their new home’s roof. A slew of cops surrounded the house within minutes, guns drawn. Eisner made comments about the irony that the cops couldn’t afford to live in the area they protected. Eisner gave Simpson over three pages of notes for things he’d like to see in the movie, but none were used. Simpson’s later producing partner, Jerry Bruckheimer, called Eisner’s ideas, “Raiders of the Lost Ark in Beverly Hills”. Eisner used his ideas later at Disney for 1986’s Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
Simpson imagined Buddo, the rough-hewn half-Chicano cop covered with tattoos, like a bull in a china shop – a kick-ass cop in the pristine, crystal palace of Beverly Hills. Simpson imagined a thriller akin to Dirty Harry, with its loose cannon cop that unleashes startling violence, with plot elements of Shampoo and Chinatown. In 1977, Simpson and Eisner met with then-hot screenwriter Danilo Bach with their premise. Bach returned two weeks later with an idea. As Paramount suggested a vehicle that could star Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, or James Caan, he ignored the Chicano cop from East LA angle. Instead, his tough cop patrolled the slums of an East Coast working-class city before coming to Beverly Hills to solve a murder and take down the culprit, a wealthy person of influence running an underground criminal operation.
Eisner leaped with excitement, and Bach soon received a contract detailing the story premise that Eisner and Simpson wanted, along with its title, “The Beverly Hills Cop”. They still wanted their cop from the barrios of gangland Los Angeles, where drug trafficking and shootouts are common, who gets transferred to the suburbs of the Beverly Hills PD. This maverick quickly grows sick of these pampered cops who defer to the wealthy, powerful people they serve. As for what the case would be about, or how the tough cop would triumph, that was for Bach to decide.
Bach didn’t fully adhere to the contract instructions. He stuck with an East Coast cop, and chose the title, “Beverly Drive”. It began in Pittsburgh with the murder of a thief named Leon Schecter, a friend of tough Pittsburgh cop Elly Axel. Axel tracks clues of the murder to a wealthy Beverly Hills resident named Dalgleish. While under the strict supervision of a Beverly Hills PD captain named Bogomil, Axel connects with a distressed woman in Dalgleish’s employ named Jolie. The climax contains a shoot-out at Dalgleish’s mansion estate, with Axel taking the magnate down, earning the respect of Bogomil and Beverly Hills PD for having the guts to hold the well-connected to the law.
Paramount praised Bach’s satirical skewering of Beverly Hills privilege, wealth, and status, even if these executives were also being lampooned. Bach performed additional revisions followed by more from additional writers (including Vincent Patrick) when the project continued to languish. By 1982, Simpson was ousted from Paramount due to drug abuse issues. He joined forces with producer Jerry Bruckheimer to form an independent production team, entering into a three-year exclusivity deal to develop and produce movies and TV shows with Paramount. The projects still needed Paramount’s approval, but the studio gave the producers wide latitude on the talent they hired, both on the screen and behind the camera.
Strong test scores for Flashdance gave Simpson the clout needed to push for Beverly Hills Cop again. After Bill Wittliff performed a revision they weren’t keen on, they suggested pursuing Dan Petrie Jr., whose popular script for “Windy City” (later renamed “The Big Easy”) had just sold. Petrie seemed a perfect choice. He worked from a small office in Beverly Hills and had personal experience as someone with no money in a town full of rich elites. Beverly Hills amused Petrie. He saw the most hideous art on display in art galleries and absurd clothing for sale in the boutiques, at prices so outrageous he wondered who was buying them. To an outsider, Beverly Hills screamed out comedy. He wanted to put lots of class-culture humor into his script, turning a gritty thriller into an action-comedy. Paramount actually loved Petrie’s proposed changes. Comedies were cheaper than action flicks because more screen time went to dialogue over stunts and set pieces.
Discussing potential stars, Simpson spotted Mickey Rourke’s picture in a magazine and felt he’d be perfect. Petrie’s script wasn’t ready but Simpson pitched the general idea to Rourke over lunch. Rourke was on board. After signing a $400,000 holding contract, Petrie began shaping the script with Rourke in mind. Simpson and Bruckheimer had done a film in Pittsburgh, Flashdance, so they changed locations to Detroit, where Bruckheimer was from. Petrie switched the name of the protagonist from Elly Axel from Pittsburgh to Axel Elly because it sounded more masculine. Schecter, the murdered thief, was now Axel’s childhood friend working as a security guard at a posh Beverly Hills art studio. Jolie became Jeannette, Schecter’s sister. The wealthy baddie is now an art dealer named Fleming, who kills Schecter for stealing a bronze Degas statue from him. While Paramount loved the premise, the script needed more work. Further delays resulted in Rourke’s holding contract expiring, releasing him to do The Pope of Greenwich Village instead, coincidentally written by one of the uncredited screenwriters, Vincent Patrick.
Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone signed a pay-or-play contract to co-star with Eddie Murphy in a Paramount movie about mercenary soldiers called “50-50”. After the script was reworked, turning the soldiers into CIA operatives, Stallone lost interest, souring Michael Eisner on it and it was shelved (it would get made in 1992 with Peter Weller and Robert Hays). Simpson and Bruckheimer seized on grabbing Eddie Murphy for Beverly Hills Cop, but Paramount insisted on luring Stallone to avoid paying him millions for nothing, while Paramount courted Murphy for other comedic properties. Stallone accepted, despite his uncertainty why he was offered a comedy.
Because the script’s opening featured a smuggling bust with dialogue patterned after a scene in the Martin Scorsese film, Mean Streets, Eisner and Katzenberg offered Scorsese, with whom they had a good relationship, the chance to direct. Scorsese, hoping to bounce back from the commercial failure of The King of Comedy, was bewildered by formula films Paramount offered. He needed an explanation of what the appeal was to them, before dismissing it as a retread of Don Siegel’s Coogan’s Bluff. Scorsese also declined their offer for the crime drama Witness for similar reasons, plus he flat out refused The Golden Child and the never-made Flashdance 2. David Cronenberg, a favorite of Simpson and Bruckheimer, also turned it down, as he did their offer of Flashdance before and Top Gun later.
British director Ferdinand Fairfax was offered to direct but he felt he wasn’t a good fit. Simpson and Bruckheimer pursued Martin Brest after he’d been fired from WarGames. Brest declined several times. Another failure could be his last. His next effort had to be brilliant and Beverly Hills Cop didn’t seem a guaranteed hit. It had promise, but major changes needed to be made without much time. Simpson and Bruckheimer were tenacious; Brest was smart and funny, the best they could get on short order. Once Brest took his phone off the hook, Simpson stopped, but Bruckheimer wouldn’t relent. During one lengthy conversation, Brest secretly flipped a coin – heads he’d do it, tails he wouldn’t. It was heads.
Many supporting actors were cast when Stallone was attached. Judge Reinhold was recommended by Amy Heckerling, who directed him in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, when asked if he knew any straight-laced actors. Reinhold liked the Rosewood character’s fantasies of becoming like a cop as depicted in the movies. John Ashton used his experience serving cops as a South Central L.A. bartender to play Taggart. Brest matched candidates with different partners looking for chemistry. Reinhold and Ashton struck a perfect match during their riffing, exuding a vibe as longtime partners with a dynamic like a married couple. While improvising, Reinhold flipped open a magazine and read from an article about how red meat affects the bowels, which was put into the film. Taggart and Rosewood proved so popular with Brest, who viewed them as a reincarnation of Laurel and Hardy or Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton from TV’s “The Honeymooners”, that their roles were expanded and a scene where Taggart asks Bogomil for a new partner was removed.
The script, featuring shootouts in Beverly Hills, didn’t seem especially funny to Stallone, who began performing an unsolicited script revision, feeling his fast-talking character didn’t work well for his style. As he adapted, he removed comedy bits and added violent action in its place. Stallone devised a massive opening with a high body count and an explosive finale where he played chicken in a stolen Lamborghini with a speeding freight train controlled by the villain. He changed the protagonist’s name to Frank “the Cobra” Cobretti.
Paramount was opposed to Stallone’s revision, which forced major production delays and would raise the budget by $3 million. Simpson appeased Stallone, calling his revision amazing but Paramount was sold on making a fish-out-of-water class-driven comedy, and not an ultraviolent, blood-revenge aactioner. Stallone insisted that his script would work better for him. He didn’t think he could pull off a parody of his own image; his version was what his audience would rather see. Stallone continued revising, intending to compromise (his protagonist would be called Axel Cobretti) but the estimated budget climbed again, likely past $20 million.
Petrie returned to revise Stallone’s revision, replacing the costly climax with a shootout in a Neiman Marcus store. When Petrie’s take failed to satisfy Stallone, screenwriter Chip Proser tried to balance Stallone’s desires with Paramount’s but suffered a similar fate. Finding themselves at an impasse, Paramount drew a line: either Stallone went with the approved Petrie script, or he could amicably depart, taking his new script ideas with him to make a different movie elsewhere, so long as his film wasn’t about a tough cop coming to Beverly Hills. Stallone waived his pay-or-play fee for story rights, leaving the project in April 1984 citing creative differences. Stallone consented and wrote a new script called “Motor City Cobra”, retitled later as his 1986 film, Cobra.
Sensing things might be falling apart before the impasse, Simpson had wisely kept in touch with Eddie Murphy for about a month on the possibility of him taking the role. Paramount execs were concerned because Murphy had only been a “second banana” in films and they weren’t 100% sold that he could carry a major action vehicle. After Harrison Ford declined because he didn’t want to play such a tough cop, Brest backed up Simpson, agreeing that Murphy’s instinctsin the bar scene in 48 Hrs. where Murphy pretends to be a cop, was proof enough of what he could handle. Brest showed Paramount execs snippets from his videotape of 48 Hrs. and told them Beverly Hills Cop could be that scene expanded to a whole movie, with Murphy using his wit and street smarts to get him in places where he didn’t belong and out of trouble when he was caught. Simpson further argued that Murphy worked better because a black man in Beverly Hills helped his fish-out-of-water appeal. Plus, 48 Hrs. proved that Murphy was talented enough to spin his own dialogue in a way that was even funnier than scripted.
Murphy was no stranger to taking roles meant for others. He replaced Richard Pryor for both 48 Hrs. and Trading Places. Murphy loved the Beverly Hills Cop concept and was chagrined it wasn’t offered sooner. They sent Murphy Petrie’s pre-Stallone script, then flew to New York to discuss it, further enticing him with a $4.2 million guaranteed salary, plus a $15 million, five-picture acting/co-producing deal with Paramount. Murphy answered, “Enough of this. Are we going to make this movie or not?”
After a month’s postponement for Petrie to adjust the script for Murphy, including changing the character’s name again, this time to Foley, paying homage to Emil Foley, Luis Gossett Jr.’s character in An Officer and a Gentleman (also produced by Simpson.) Revisions continued to change daily using a variety of additional writers (including Sam Simon and Ken Estin) during the production and post-production. Brest viewed the script as a fluid entity, believing that Murphy was a comic genius who’d make any scene funny through improvisation. When stuck on how to proceed, Brest asked Murphy for help. Murphy closed his eyes for a few seconds, brainstorming a solution every time. Brest compared the set environment of Beverly Hills Cop to “Your Show of Shows”, every scripted scene a comic scenario to improvise through. The writers struggled to update the scripted dialogue Murphy improvised on the fly; a stenographer was eventually hired to capture it all. Brest ran several takes for each, and even printed the ones the flubs. With dialogue changing with each take, the editors were challenged to narrow it all down while maintaining cohesion.
The script didn’t mention Axel’s race; Murphy incorporated it through improvisation. Simpson wanted Axel to look young and athletic. Murphy rejected the initially stylized wardrobe as “too slick”. Axel wears a Mumford Phys Ed Dept sweatshirt because the producers, touring locations with real-life Detroit detectives, happened by Samuel C. Mumford High School, Jerry Bruckheimer’s alma mater. At lunch, Brest spotted a rusty blue Chevy Nova and thought it was perfect for Axel’s car. When the owner of the car refused to sell it, they found another Chevy Nova and roughed it up. Detroit homicide detective Gilbert Hill plays Axel’s Detroit police captain. Murphy adopted Hill’s habit of tucking his gun in the back of his pants. Hill also assisted with some dialogue changes because he told the producers that some of it wasn’t what any cops he knew would say. Murphy often didn’t leave his trailer at the last second when shooting, feeling he could improvise through any scene without preparation. Murphy was energized by experimentation; practicing lines or repeating takes drained his performance.
Stephen Berkoff was selected from a newspaper picture depicting his theater work; Brest liked his intense gaze and admored villainous turn in the James Bond flick, Octopussy. Berkoff was told by Brest to downplay his performance. Maitland has total power and control; he’s not worried by Foley. Berkoff’s riffs with Murphy were edited out to keep his character menacing.
Bronson Pinchot’s small but memorable role was written as a snobbish American named Jacques, a stereotypically gay art assistant. The casting director asked Pinchot to audition after seeing him imrovising as a background extra in The Flamingo Kid. Waiting in Brest’s office for hours, Pinchot formulated his performance. He’d parody people of indistinguishable origin often found working in Beverly Hills boutiques. Pinchot channeled the rude Israeli makeup artist from his prior film, Hot Resort, mimicking how she pronounced things slightly garbled. When Brest arrived, Pinchot delivered his inspired comic performance he called “Serge”, recalling a diva-esque Swiss caterer he knew who always correct people’s pronunciation of his name. Pinchot could improvise Serge through full conversations; Brest called Pinchot an American Peter Sellers. Brest was on the floor laughing, then stayed on his knees begging Pinchot, saying he wasn’t sure where he got this character but he needed it for the movie. Pinchot was so taken by a director begging for him that he accepted. It took several weeks for Pinchot to hear back, he ended up declining because he and his girlfriend were set for a Florence vacation. Brest bumped up Pinchot’s scenes immediately, taking lines from the scripted second art studio salesperson as Pinchot improvised with Murphy for two days. Pinchot appeara as an usher in the music video for the Pointer Sisters’ soundtrack song, “Neutron Dance”, though not as Serge, the producers preferring to keep his character a surprise.
Cynthia Sykes from TV’s “St. Elsewhere” was considered for Stallone’s love interest, later recast to younger Lisa Eilbacher for 23-year-old Murphy’s friend, Jenny. James Russo was cast as Axel’s friend Michael Tandino in a part originally meant to be Axel’s brother. Brest discovered Russo in an NYU student film and wanted an unknown actor.
Beverly Hills’ ordinances made shooting there cumbersome. All crew and equipment had to be off the streets by 10 p.m., leaving a narrow window for night scenes. Busy streets like Rodeo Drive could only be blocked off on Sundays, which meant filming among pedestrians and vehicles other days. Passers-by consistently recognized Murphy, shouting, “Hey Eddie!” while he tried to act. A scene was scripted for Axel to grab a potato from the hotel kitchen and stick it in Taggart and Rosewood’s tailpipe, but they lacked rights to film in the kitchen. Axel instead takes a banana from the complimentary buffet. They received no cooperation from the real Beverly Hills police department, so their representation of their police station were patterned on conceptual designs Brest had developed for the NORAD scenes in Wargames.
In the first screening for Paramount’s top execs, they felt they had a surefire megahit that would rival Ghostbusters take, they immediately began talking about a sequel.
Among the most entertaining movies of its era, Beverly Hills Cop features a perfect mix of action and comedy, delivering laughs and thrills in equal measure. The casting is solid, and actor’s director Martin Brest keeps the tempo loose and fun. The camaraderie felt among the performers shows on screen. Eddie Murphy is a revelation, bringing a fantastic improvisational style, blending street-smarts and core intelligence, and a good physical presence worth watching for what he’ll do next.
Bolstered by a killer soundtrack and a masterful synth score by Harold Faltermeyer, Beverly Hills Cop has everything you could want in an action-comedy — great stunts, fun characters, inventive situations, and infectious energy. It’s a rare comedic action flick where laughs don’t cease during the violent climax. It became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever, eclipsed 20 years later by The Matrix Reloaded.
Amazingly, Murphy was plugged in just two weeks before shooting, as it is a perfect vehicle for him. Brest wisely allowed Murphy to improvise while also keeping him focused on progressing the story. It would set the trend for all future projects to cater to Murphy’s enormous appeal, while also changing the landscape of the action movies of the 1980s by injecting more comedy and music than in the hardboiled 1970s. Often imitated, Beverly Hills Cop was never adequately replicated, even by its inevitable sequels.
Reviews were generally good, highlighting Murphy’s performance and Brest’s direction that overcame its formula plot.
Cop debuted at number one and remained there for over three months. It earned $235 million in the US and another $130 million internationally in its initial theatrical run, on a meager $14 million budget, making it the most successful comedy ever made (until 1990’s Home Alone). Though the script went through 37 drafts from 11 different writers before it hit the screen, and was largely improvised to boot, it garnered an improbable Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination.
Qwipster’s rating: A
MPAA Rated: R for violence, brief nudity, drug content, and language
Running Time: 105 min.
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, Steven Berkoff, James Russo, Jonathan Banks, Stephen Elliott, Bronson Pinchot, Gilbert Hill, James Russo
Director: Martin Brest
Screenplay: Daniel Petrie Jr.