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| A nicely painted,, in-your-face style poster for Walter Hill's 48 Hrs. with its 1980s quality radiating heavily from it |
A drunken San Francisco cop named Jack Cates hunts a lunatic cop killer on a tight deadline and gets a new partner to help him in drug convict Reggie Hammond, who himself has a standing debt with the bad guys.
Both characters in 48 Hrs. are racists, basically, but charming racists. The chemistry between debuting Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop (1984)) and Nick Nolte (Cape Fear (1991)) in this possibly the first buddy cop comedy ever is real and palpable. The many arguments they have are almost solely fueled by racial tensions and prejudice. - Now, whether major hit 48 Hrs. let gas out of a tense racial discussion in the US, or predominantly enhanced the sense of division, I can't evaluate. In any regard, it is a highly entertaining, testosterone-filled high-concept movie that works.
48 Hrs. is written by Roger Spottiswoode (The 6th Day (2000), director), Larry Gross (We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004)), Steven E. de Souza (Blast (2004)) and Californian master co-writer/director Walter Hill (Red Heat (1988)).
Related post:
Walter Hill: Another 48 Hrs. (1990) - More of the same from your buddies Murphy & Nolte
Watch a theatrical trailer for the film here
Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 78.8 mil. $ (North America only)
= Huge hit (returned more than 6.56 times its cost)
[48 Hrs. was released 8 December and runs 96 minutes. Clint Eastwood (Escape from Alcatraz (1979)) and Richard Pryor (Silver Streak (1976)) were originally contacted to star. Filming took place in California, including LA and San Francisco, from May - August 1982. Also feature-debuting with the film was producer Joel Silver (Demolition Man (1993)), who also since became a powerful Hollywood figure. Paramount execs were worried the film was not funny enough and too violent and promised Hill he would never work for them again. (He still directed the sequel for Paramount 8 years later.) The film opened #3, behind The Toy and Airplane II: The Sequel, to a 4.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for an awesome 13 more weeks, climbing to #2 for 5 of those weeks. It seems likely that its world gross neared or maybe even passed the 100 mil. $ mark, but those figures are not public. Murphy was Golden Globe-nominated as Best Acting Debut - Male. Hill returned with Streets of Fire (1984). Nolte returned in Under Fire (1983), Murphy in Trading Places (1983). 48 Hrs. is fresh at 93 % with a 7.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of 48 Hrs.?
What id your favorite buddy cop movie?
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