Although it was released 40 years ago in 1984, Beverly Hills Cop is one of the most important movies of the ‘80s — thanks to its wide appeal, quick wit, heart-thumping action, and genre defining notes. While it didn’t invent the action comedy, the movie gave the genre a shot in the arm and a winning formula that’s replicated throughout the decades. In fact, 40 years later, there’s a new entry in the franchise with the straight-to-streaming release of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Eddie Murphy, now 61 years old, has even returned to the franchise — reprising the titular role. But does the original hold up? In this current era of intellectual properties, sequels, and reboots, does the first Beverly Hills Cop movie still have some bite, or is it a relic of a bygone era of Hollywood? Let’s find out.

Written by Daniel Petrie Jr. (The Big Easy, Turner & Hooch), in his screenwriting debut, with a story credit for Petrie Jr. and Danilo Bach (April Fool’s Day) and directed by Martin Brest (Midnight Run, Scent of a Woman), Beverly Hills Cop follows Axel Foley, played by Murphy (Coming To America, The Nutty Professor), a police officer from Detroit, Michigan who travels to Beverly Hills, California to investigate the murder of one of his childhood friends who got caught up with the sinister Victor Maitland, an art dealer who moonlights as a cocaine trafficker and  German bearer bonds thief.

Once in Beverly Hills, Foley is arrested by local law enforcement for disturbing the peace after he reunites with another childhood friend, Jenny Summers, played by Lisa Eilbacher (Never Say Die, Leviathan), who works for Maitland’s swanky art gallery. After processing, he’s on the Beverly Hills Police Department watch list by order of Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil, played by the great Ronny Cox (RoboCop, Total Recall), while two of the department’s police officers, Sergeant John Taggart, played by John Ashton (Some Kind of Wonderful, She’s Having a Baby) and Detective Billy Rosewood, played by Judge Reinhold (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Vice Versa), reluctantly help him solve the case.

The movie is 40 years old, but it holds up surprisingly well. Brest sets the tone pretty quickly with the first scene introducing Murphy’s Axel Foley. He’s a loudmouth fast-talker, but he’s just so damn charming. We first meet Foley, as an undercover cop trying to sell a stolen truck of cigarettes to low-level mobsters, only to be foiled by the police, which starts a thrilling chase scene through the mean streets of Detroit. It’s really refreshing to watch a chase scene with actual cars getting into actual collisions.

After he gets in trouble and properly chewed out by Inspector Douglas Todd, played by actual police officer-turned-actor Gil Hill (Beverly Hills Cop II, Beverly Hills Cop III), Foley goes to his apartment where an old childhood friend Mikey is back in town from California. Mikey wants Foley to return to a life of crime, only to be murdered by shady tough guys moments later. This brings Foley to go on “vacation” to California to investigate his friend’s death. All of this story beats happen within the first 15 minutes of the movie. In about 15 minutes, we get a thrilling chase scene, we meet Axel Foley and know his personality and character, and is in Beverly Hills with a purpose.

If Beverly Hills Cop was made in 2024, it would take 45 minutes before Foley gets to California. The storytelling and the way it unfolds is so economical that it’s surprising that filmmakers don’t make movies like this nowadays, considering our shorter attention spans. Instead we get six-hour long BS like Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon that is very painful to watch. Brest does more in 15 minutes than what Snyder can do in six hours.

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