When it was released in 1984, not only did Beverly Hills Cop launch star Eddie Murphy into the global stratosphere, it also ushered in the era of the action comedy in Hollwyood — one of the most profitable film genres ever. Over 30 years later and the movie remains one of the decade’s best, as hilarious, exciting, and dare we say, revolutionary, as ever. Even though the franchise was dulled a little bit by the lesser Beverly Hills Cop II and Beverly Hills Cop III (the latter of which is pretty much unwatchable), the original remains perfect. Still, there may be some things that you don’t know about Beverly Hills Cop, which is where this post comes in. We know it’s getting chilly outside, but keep reading, because the heat is on!
– This movie was almost a vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, and while he obviously wasn’t involved in the finished project he did utilize some of his original vision for the flick into his 1986 straight-up action epic Cobra. (Fun fact: That movie rules too).
– Hollywood legend has it that a catering dispute allegedly involving Sylvester Stallone not getting his favorite brand of orange juice led to his leaving the project. Personally, I don’t believe there’s an ounce of truth to this.
– A lot of the film was improvised, most notoriously Axel Foley’s “these guys aren’t cops, they’re super cops” speech.
– Keyboard great Harold Faltermeyer’s theme for the film, “Axel F,” was a smash hit, and its video was placed in heavy rotation on MTV — a feat that was somewhat rare in the 1980s. (See also, Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”). A 2005 remake of the song by Crazy Frog became an Internet sensation and one of the most popular ringtones ever. But really, the less said about that the better.
– Damon Wayans makes his film debut as the employee who gives Axel the banana he sticks in the tailpipe of Taggart and Rosemont’s car.
– The film spawned a home computer game for a number of systems, including the Commodore 64. Apart from doing a decent job replicating the “Axel F” theme it was largely terrible. However, just imagine how amazing a Grand Theft Auto-style game based on the Beverly Hills Cop franchise and featuring the voices of Eddie Murphy, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox could be. Game developers, make this happen.
– That wasn’t the only oddball piece of merchandise from the film either. In Hungary, there was a comic book based on the film released. (Interestingly enough, a comic adaptation of Cobra was also available in that country).
– Bronson Pinchot later found success on the small screen doing a variation on his Serge character for the hit ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers.
– While the “satellite tracking system” mentioned in the film was a work of screenwriting magic at the time, nowadays the concept is quite real, and known as GPS.
– Character actor Jonathan Banks later went on to find great success in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.