48 Hours (Darthmerj edition)
Release date: December 8, 1982
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, James Remar
I hadn’t seen 48 Hours in at least 4 months, so I figured I would refresh my memory and watch it again to prepare for my review. It still holds up as one of the better Eddie Murphy movies. It also further bolsters the Darthmerj Corollary. I would guess this is my 15th viewing of this 80′s Classic. This was the perfect launch pad for Eddie Murphy’s film career. He already had a pretty good career going as a stand-up comedian and television star (Saturday Night Live). He then decided to cement his status as Supreme Ruler of the 80′s by beginning a decade long domination of the silver screen. Hyperbole? According to Wikapedia his movies (career) have grossed enough total money to have averaged $104 million per film.
48 hours is the birth of the Buddy Cop genre. We already touched on this subject with Lethal Weapon, but LW was just polishing the product that 48 Hours started. We once again have two characters that are near polar opposites. Nick Nolte plays Jack Cates. Jack Cates’ job is to throw as many lit cigarettes as he can down in the largest variety of locales. He throws cigarettes down on the streets, in prison hallways, in bars, the police station, hotels- you name it, Jack Cates can toss a half lit cigarette down on it. It says so right on his business card. Also, he sometimes engages police work. While on the job he drinks and drives his car in ways that would scare rally car drivers. Jack generally gets his way through brute force and intimidation and has little regard for personal hygiene or rules of any kind.
Eddie Murphy plays Reggie Hammond. Reggie is a convict at San Quentin prison. He is a wisecracking street wise ladies man. This role showcases Eddie’s many talents, from singing along to The Police song “Roxanne” to taking on a honky-tonk hillbilly bar by himself on a bet with Cates.
When Cates gets mixed up with an escaped convict turned cop killer named Ganz it leads him to Reggie. It seems that Reggie was once in the same criminal gang as Ganz and he may have inside knowledge of his plans. Cates gets Reggie a short term parole. Can you guess the length of time of this parole? Here’s a hint: it is 6 times the square root of 64. The two buddies criss-cross San Francisco trying to track down Ganz while also protecting a large sum of money that Reggie happens to have stashed in the trunk of his vintage Porsche. Along the way they forge a grudging freindship.
Random Thoughts
There are some really nice looking shots of San Francisco. It appears that they spent some time plotting the camera angles to show off the unusual landscape that makes up the city. The villain Ganz is in the running to be the worst shot in the history of cinema. He takes 5-20 shots at very close ranges and misses wildly. Of course most of these shots are taken at Cates, and he seems to be the type of movie cop that doesn’t wear a bullet proof vest. Someone in the music department loved kettle drums. Brion James, one of the great “that guy” character actors of the 80′s, has a small role- minus the horrible fake accent he displayed in Tango and Cash. There is a TON of racism on this movie. It is interesting to see how the attitude on that sort of thing has changed in 27 years. There is also a lot of police brutality, mainly via Jack Cates. After the escape and shooting that gets the movie rolling, one of the fastest police investigations in history occurs. In less than a day they have ballistics reports, coroner’s reports, and dossiers on all involved parties. CSI isn’t even this fast. I wonder if the script called for the police captain to scream all his lines AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS?
Rating: Solid 8- Eddie starts to hone the fine edge of hilarity that he perfects in the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop. Nolte does his best Nolte impression.
