There’s a new sheriff in town … and his name is Reggie Hammond.
Buddy Cop movies exploded in the 1980s after the template was set by 48 Hrs. Shaking off the importance of In the Heat of the Night and replacing them with hilariously mean back-and-forth between a snarling Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in one of the great megastar-making performances. Super confident direction gave a slick coat to Don Siegel’s 70s grit, so that the film is always in delivering on action or laughs. Nolte’s character is composed entirely of maverick cop clichés, but the chemistry is incredibly strong. 30 years later, the genre boiled down to the Saturday Night parody of Unstoppable when Jay Pharaoh as Denzel Washington comments on the situation. “It seems we’re coming to a begrudging respect for one another! When we met, we focused on our differences! But now it appears that we have more in common than we thought.”
A lot of 48 Hrs. still works. Eddie Murphy shows the quickfire comedic talent that has long since evaporated. The star-making scene where he takes down the redneck bar packs solid laughs. He gets Nolte to loosen up, and the two deliver the required witty banter with believable conviction. They often don’t feel like they’re just going through the motions. Walter Hill delivers some great gun action, including the prison break opening and an exciting exchange of bullets between our heroes in a convertible and the bad guys on a city bus. James Remar is a great aggressive sleazebag and many of the supporting roles are well-cast. This even has a great 80’s action score courtesy of James Horner.
Leave A Comment