48 Hours 1982
This was a pretty big movie when it came out. Eddie Murphy had hit it big on Saturday Night Live and this was his first movie. With Nick Nolte as the other main character, it gave hi a lot of screen time and room to get in a lot of funny jokes and also be tough and smart. It is a neat idea that this slovenly, bullying, and kind of racist cop would get Eddie Murphy's character out of prison for 48 hours to help go after a bad guy that Murphy knew. It's an automatic mismatch, which is great, but they both have reasons to work together despite everything. As a cops and robbers movie it has scary bad guys, some good chases, but mostly it is about putting these two together and letting that play out. It isn't a great film, but audiences loved it, and it was one of the top grossing movies that year. Although they are a little loose with the n-word, it still mostly holds up. Reading about the movie, it took a long time to get it started while they tried to get different actors, including Clint Eastwood and Richard Pryor. But Nolte is perfect and Eddie Murphy strikes a great balance between comedy and action, a little more serious than in Beverly Hills Cop.
Written: 12 Mar 2024
Owned on: Digital