Beverly Hills Cop II.

Review #1842: Beverly Hills Cop II.

Cast: 

Eddie Murphy (Detective Axel Foley), Judge Reinhold (Detective Billy Rosewood), Jürgen Prochnow (Maxwell Dent), John Ashton (Detective John Taggart), Ronny Cox (Captain Andrew Bogomil), Brigitte Nielsen (Karla Fry), Allen Garfield (Chief Harold Lutz), Brian O'Connor (Detective Biddle), Dean Stockwell (Charles Cain), Gil Hill (Inspector Douglas Todd), Gilbert Gottfried (Sidney Bernstein), Paul Reiser (Detective Jeffrey Friedman), Paul Guilfoyle (Nikos Thomopolis), Robert Ridgely (Mayor Ted Egan), and Alice Adair (Jan Bogomil) Directed by Tony Scott (#029 - Top Gun, #253 - Unstoppable, #357 - The Last Boy Scout, #1632 - True Romance)

Review: 

Admittedly, it isn't much of a surprise that this film came on the heels of a successful feature, one that  celebrates its 35th anniversary of release. Beverly Hills Cop (1984), based on a script by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr with direction by Martin Brest, was the right movie at the right time to bring its main star (Eddie Murphy rather than Sylvester Stallone, who is referenced from time to time in this movie) to widespread popularity, one that was the biggest blockbuster (and biggest overall hit) of its year. As such, the sequel features the same producers in Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer along with most of the regulars back to star; the movie was done rather than the idea of doing a television series, which is what Paramount Pictures wanted to do (Murphy said no to the idea). Of course, the writers are different, as Larry Ferguson and Warren Skaaren wrote the screenplay while Robert D. Wachs and Eddie Murphy did the story. For what it's worth, Murphy said a few years later that it was a "half-assed movie." Tony Scott, who had made a serviceable hit for Bruckheimer with Top Gun (1986), was brought in to direct the movie, which was his third ever feature as director (with his older brother Ridley, they had founded a company together in 1968 that honed directors like him and Alan Parker in making commercials).

At least "Shakedown" is a good song to start with (Bob Seger is underrated)? Honestly, it is just okay. It doesn't do well in terms of generating amusement, but Scott does well enough with staging the action and general charm of Murphy and friends to make a relatively decent experience. One gets to see Murphy paired with Reinhold and Ashton while others nearly fall by the wayside, whether that means Prochnow or with Cox. It glides around for103-minute with some of the same beats from the original while trying to not muddle the machinations of the plot, which goes from "fish out of water breaking into a crime ring by a businessman" to "not fish out of water breaking into a crime ring by a businessman" (both involving someone close to him being shot in Beverly Hills), with "alphabet crimes" being the name of the game here. Scott stated this film as a cross between Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs (1982), but it inadvertently serves as a precursor to Murphy doing second-tier work in later years such as Another 48 Hrs (1990), although at least this film doesn't strain itself too hard to explain its plot beyond what it needs to. Murphy at least makes the effort in driving the movie along with his general charm that maneuvers his way through the action/comedy beats with staid patience rather than complete "paycheck mode". Additionally, Reinhold and Ashton make for a good trio to follow along with in budding engagement, where one likes to see them around making good beats for timing with contrast between calm and hard-lined personality. Prochnow and Nielsen are moderately around the adversarial level that the first film had in general "okay" quality that can't exactly stand out too well from Murphy besides cardboard threats of inevitability (Stockwell being used as a front man rather than for actual moments of ooze is particularly vexing, I don't care how many movies Prochnow has done, you cannot tell me Stockwell isn't up to his par). Besides, Garfield is the hard-lined foil to remember for short bits anyway. There are a select number of small appearances with recognizable faces (established or not), with some of those working out fine like with Gottfried and his momentary bumbling (also, Chris Rock makes his first film appearance) while others...do not (no one, and I mean no one, needs a sequence at the Playboy Mansion). As a whole, the movie is glossier and perhaps less heightened than the original, one with all the right (cliche) moves that will please just the folks who are fine with what they have seen before, serving as a pinnacle of average. There is nothing great or terrible with it, which seems more of a description of fast-food products more than anything. With that in mind, this is one of those "take it or leave it" movies, where Murphy and company carry it far enough over the finish line to make the experience mostly worth it. In a sea of Murphy movies, being in the middle of the pack is not a bad thing to consider.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Putney Swope.

Review #1793: Putney Swope.

Cast: 

Arnold Johnson (Putney Swope; dubbed by Robert Downey Sr), Stan Gottlieb (Nathan), Allen Garfield (Elias, Jr), Archie Russell (Joker), Ramon Gordon (Bissinger), Bert Lawrence (Hawker), Joe Madden (Mr. Syllables), David Kirk (Elias, Sr), Don George (Mr. Cards), Buddy Butler (Putney's Bodyguard), Vincent Hamill (Man in White Suit), Tom Odachi (Wing Soney), Ching Yeh (Wing Soney, Jr.), Joe Fields (Pittburgh Willie), Norman Schreiber (Messenger), Robert Staats (Mr. War Toys), Alan Abel (Mr. Lucky) Directed by Robert Downey Sr.

Review: 

"To see how people forty years later...I think the film doesn't hold up, you know, to me, it's like, okay. But I'm pleased that people, especially young people tell me their parents made them watch it as little kids...It's the only film of mine that ever really got distribution."

You have to understand that some movies don't just pop into popularity without warning. Sometimes they just happen to hit the sweet-spot of its culture and time, regardless if they were made in the underground or in the "mainstream". It should only figure that the year that brought shocking films like The Wild Bunch and Easy Rider would bring forth a scattershot look upon the advertising industry with eyes that perhaps strike relevancy fifty years since its release. While it is the most well-known feature directed by Robert Downey Sr, he managed to cultivate a fascinating career of filmmaking that persevered far more than just being a one-hit wonder. The New York City native served in the United States Army, serving most of his time in the stockade. It was during this time where he was inspired to take up writing (as suggested by his boss in order to pass the time). He also spent time in dabbling in boxing and playwrighting. In the 1960s, he started making independent films that aligned with the Absurdist movement (of course, this was the time when the counterculture of anti-establishment was bearing fruit), which he described as having fun more than a regular job. From 1961 to 2005, he directed (and sometimes wrote) a selection of features and documentaries that had various perspectives without as much distribution as this film. Pound (1970), for example, deals with animals waiting to be euthanized...played by human actors (it also featured Downey's five-year old son Robert Jr in his first role, and he would appear in a handful of Downey Sr's features); Downey Sr would prove an influence to directors such as Jim Jarmusch and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Before he made this film, he had been hired to do commercials (experimental commercials that would try to provoke ad agencies to do stuff like that, which he did for a year), and it was a moment where he asked his boss why he was being paid more than a black colleague for the same work that inspired the film (this is present in the film, of course). The thing about the movie is this: it received attention because it caught the eye of a theater chain owner & distributor (Don Rugoff) that liked it enough to help get it seen in theaters despite the fact he didn't understand it; a notable promotional campaign (complete with a poster giving the finger) also helped; the film was made for $250,000, complete with an assortment of actors recruited from magazines. Johnson apparently could not remember his lines, so Downey Sr did the dubbing for his character, which certainly brings a curious perspective when it comes to the fact that the character of Swope is both the most interesting person in the film despite the fact that it is basically played by two people. The other castmates (for which there is plenty of to show) are decent, in the sense that one is watching an offshoot movie that could either be for a sketch troupe or an arthouse imitator. The movie has a scattershot sense of pace, moving through its 84 minute run-time with episodic pace (such as pointed commercials shot in color) that goes through a satire of the corporate structure alongside racial politics. As a whole, it mostly works as an amusing feature, particularly with its opening sequence involving a board room with (mostly white) corporate sleazeballs; if one wanted to see folks at their most craven, one could just slip into a marketing discussion, I bet. Of course, most of the commercials featured are pretty amusing, such as one involving a serenade with poetic raunchy words. The movie basically points the finger of biting amusement at everyone, where the chance to gain power and fiddle with the status quo results in something familiar. As a whole, the movie is fairly effective in biting satire in the counterculture with its collection of misfit actors and an engaging director in Downey Sr that managed to become an offbeat winner for what it did in its time that still connects now.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: El Topo.