How very dare you?!?! Just seeing that written down gives me agita. In my wildest dreams, the guest for this show is a Jamaican who spends the entire episode explaining how horrible Pitt’s accent is. Gah.
Flash and Shazam 2 got released. I refuse to believe it’s worse than those movies after these guys made 1 soild Bad Boy and another that’s geniunely as good as the first movie.
Also petition to force the names of 3 and 4 to be switched. I don’t even think the subtitles matter that much to their respective films.
Batgirl was set after the Flash. The Flash originally ended with the Snyderverse being merged with Keaton's world. Keaton was basically going to be a mentor figure until the crisis film adaptation. There was a Batman Beyond film being planned, too.
I mean, Hollywood seems to be playing fast and loose with the whole "the name the movie was released under is no longer the name it will known as" of late, so it's the least crazy idea. Certainly not as crazy as filming entire movies and then not only not releasing them, but spraying them with some kind of xenomorph acid so they can never ever be released ever for realsies.
I gotta imagine: A) They’ve worked through their feelings about it.
B) They were about to kick off a press tour for a surefire hit and were excited.
C) Are not gonna burn bridges and will just take it out on their Zaslav voodoo doll (equipped with giant lapels) when they aren’t on mic.
I imagine B is a big deal. As they discuss on the episode, getting the next movie is huge. I can’t imagine how scary it was for them after Batgirl got shelved and these guys suddenly had a resume gap and associations with a debacle that may have been held against them despite being totally outside their control.
there might be some NDA working background and if you want to work in that city one should just shut up and move on, and they got money from that project too
I'm glad Griffin pushed back and reiterated the point about *Trading Places* being a two-hander. I remember when BHC came out and it was very noticeable that this was the first movie where Eddie had no white co-lead. And the results speak for themselves. It never really occurred to me that it required the quasi-unicorn of a ready-made single-lead production in progress where the white lead had dropped out—i.e. it never occurred to me that the execs didn't trust Eddie more—so thank you for making that connection too. Obviously Eddie's badass (pre-family) run was not as good as we were hoping and I think it all goes to Griffin's theory about people popping when they have something to prove.
I was a bit disappointed by the general amnesia over *Best Defence* with “Strategic Guest Star” Eddie Murphy, which also preceded BHC.
Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. When we were walking out of the theatre in 1984, my best friend said “Eddie Murphy is so hot now he could even survive a movie with Dudley Moore!” and I had to remind him that it had already happened.
That's hilarious, and yes, that's the "other" movie that led up to this, it was rattling around in my brain as I wrote my post but couldn't bring it in. Never saw it but it was obviously on the cable channels back then.
I was looking at the top 50 movies of 1984 and the only other movies with black leads were Purple Rain and Breakin' and those movies had non-actors as top billed talent. So it was really just Eddie out there. And because the producers were over a barrel he got $4 million which isn't bad at all for the time.
Eddie's always been a very savvy guy and he knew this was his big shot and there probably wasn't much room for error given his situation. Maybe he recovers if Beverly Hills Cop is a disappointment but it's probably an enormous blow to his career. So he gives you every side of himself in the movie, he's extremely funny but also does great character work and is a credible action star.
What's also noticeable when you look at the top movies is there is some sort confluence of factors which made them success. Maybe there was a compelling star but there were also big effects or set pieces. Perhaps the story was high concept.
Beverly Hills Cop stands alone because the only draw was Eddie Murphy. Due respect to everyone who worked on the movie, there are a lot of talented character actors and people behind the camera, but people only came to see this for Eddie and I think he knew if he took this film as opposed to Ghostbusters, he would be seen as an unambiguous movie star and not just a talented performer in a bigger machine.
God, that and Dolemite is My Name felt like the beginning of Murphy's renaissance as an older actor. And then... pretty much nothing interesting. Coming 2 America, that Amazon Christmas movie, that Jonah Hill Netflix movie. Felt like he could've gotten anything greenlit then and we've seen nothing interesting from it.
It sounds like the dossier pulled a lot from a 2023 Martin Brest interview in Variety; I highly recommend reading the whole thing as Brest takes us through his whole filmography (thank you to whoever shared it on this sub in the last few weeks, bringing it to my attention): [https://variety.com/2023/film/features/martin-brest-director-beverly-hills-cop-gigli-1235672428/](https://variety.com/2023/film/features/martin-brest-director-beverly-hills-cop-gigli-1235672428/)
Impressed as hell with how these two have transitioned the Bad Boys franchise into the heir to Fast & Furious’ action soap opera throne. I wish more young action filmmakers would copy the “film student gone mad with power” aesthetic they give their action scenes.
I’d love an episode on Community adjacent directors because I don’t think I would’ve expected the careers of Justin Lin and the Russos.
Seemingly something was in that water
Great episode, but I kept waiting for Griffin to point out the incongruity of one the most famous and successful movies about taking down a drug smuggler being produced by Don Simpson, a man who, by the 1980s, was basically a sentient collection of 90 one kilogram bags of cocaine taped together and with clothes pulled over them.
Paul Scheer has said before on HDTGM that it’s really tough to cover new ground on movies everyone seemingly knows everything about. I think Griffin basically said the same on this podcast.
Some of the magical moments for me have been when Griffin revealed casting details on Big Fish that overlapped with Solo/Star Wars Prequels that blew Chris Gethard’s brain
Oh for sure. I mean i've probably read the imdb trivia page for the BHCs a dozen times each. And it was a fun angle to hear from The Bros about the development of BHC4. Fun ep!!!
I was just thinking, we're dangerously close to an episode that's... *gulp* ... shorter than the movie itself!
All jokes aside, have they mentioned on the pod about any kind of effort to make shorter episodes lately? Because it *does* feel noteworthy that the last two episodes have been sub-2 hours. Are there people out there who actually *don't like* when they drag on for 3 hours??
I assure you, we have MANY long ass episodes coming over the next several months. Outside circumstances just resulted in two shorter eps back to back in this case.
Sorry, this doesn’t track with the narrative that David and Ben absolutely hate anything over two hours and are furious when it goes over that so I’m not sure if I believe it
I really hope not. I think the languorous nature of the podcast is what makes it good. It’s the perfect thing for Sunday morning, being awake but not wanting to get out of bed. The shorter episodes also never seem to produce the same amount of insight or humor, in my opinion. I get that 3 hours consistently might be much for a man with a child and another full time job, but sub 2 hours has always felt too short for them.
I was listening back to the old Matrix episodes and found it shocking the last 2 of the trilogy were <2 hours. Super jarring given how much meat they left on the bone.
Agree- I love when the podcast literally exhausts every topic possible. They could’ve done so many tangents into Eddie Murphy’s career, 80s action films vs. today (although they did quite a lot already with Die Hard / McTiernan), but also recognize they probably had time constraints with a guest
I know I'm in the extreme minority, but as a more casual fan of the pod I prefer the more focused episodes. There are big exceptions still, Last Action Hero episode is a favorite and it's one of their longest afaik.
Absolutely fair! To me, though, although I love when they talk about a movie I like, the actual conversation *about the movie* is always secondary to just the conversation in general. I love all the bits (even the retired ones), I love their general chemistry as (hashtag-the-two) friends, and I love Ben chiming in every once in a while to ask them what motivates witches, or whatever the fuck lol
Hey Ben, FYI I got served an ad at the end of the ep that was advertising AI generated voice-over work. I'm sure you don't want to support that, maybe something to reach out to the ad company about.
Man, I know there are a lot of conservative '80s cop movies about one hero cop who is above the law, but this one goes out of its way to argue that all cops are above the law. This is a movie that hates bodycams.
Axel teaches the Beverly Hills cops not to be such square rule-followers, and we see that they've learned their lesson when they circle the wagons at the end of the movie, making it impossible for any of them to be charged for illegal entry and extrajudicial killings. Search warrants? Due process? Those don't get results! There's one point where Axel admits that he did a bunch of shady investigative stuff but didn't find any drugs. A boss cop tells him that it's too bad that he didn't find any drugs. I don't know why he didn't just plant some drugs. It was perfectly consistent with the rest of his MO.
It's all kinda coming from a place of playful insubordination I think. This movie has one million bosses, and nearly every character in this movie is pulled aside at some point and given a stern talking-to, like Greg Davies dressing down James Acaster. Axel even exploits fear of bosses when he yells at the customs guys. The movie wants to teach you to chill out and cross the boss! But it's one thing for a cool civilian hotel worker to make sure the boss isn't watching as he slips Axel a couple of free bananas. Encouraging this attitude among cops is really something else.
Oof. This is such a solid take, but one that bums me out. The very likely prospect that cops are out there thinking they are Axel Foley (although more likely John McClane)
Side note - “hard city” cops coming to California to teach how to be police is a more common plot than I remember. Ridiculous given how awful the LAPD were/still are
Most every 80's or 90's cop movie was like that too. I think it's just an unfortunate consequence of the American style of storytelling where the hero is the lone wolf who doesn't play by the rules. That's fine in a, say, high school movie, but there are some awful implications for cop movies, and now I don't think it's unreasonable to say we have too many real world cops who think they're Axel or John McClane. And that doesn't work out too well, unlike the 80's movies.
This is why I simply do not understand the supremacy of the cop over the private detective in 80s film. The private dick can buck all the authority they want and stick it to the man, but for some reason Dirty Harry and the Cold War and the War of Drugs voltroned into a really sick but undeniably fun fascination with the Loner with a State-Issued Gun.
I don't disagree but it's pretty clear that the people behind creating this style of 80s action movie weren't attempting to create any kind of coherent, consistent politics or ideology for law enforcement beyond: whatever allows characters to act cool and be cinematic in the moment. Obviously no art is created in a vacuum and it's without question that actual real world police were influenced by American action movies (though probably more Dirty Harry than Axel Foley) but I'm not sure how much of a direct line you can draw.
I find the 1970s cop stuff like Dirty Harry, Death Wish, or French Connection to be much more problematic, as it's not as heightened or comedic as it became in the 80s era.
Yes but all of it draws on the great American notion of a heroic sheriff with a gun who doesn't need rules because he knows right from wrong. Then all of that context - the movies you cite are terrific examples - feeds into the real guys who carry the real guns.
This was a first watch for me...I had always assumed the contrast here was "Detroit cop who does actual police work goes to a place with no crime where the cops are spoiled by serving the rich and famous" and was very surprised to learn it was, well, what you're describing.
I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but still think that By the Book vs. Above the Law isn't really cashing in on its fish out of water premise as well as some other things would have.
Falling In Love (1984) came up at the end. I recently watched that because I quit Rebel Moon pt 2 20 minutes in and wanted to see if the movie with the most 'mature' description/title kept my attention better.
It is about 2 successful professional adults, Deniro & Streep, who run into each other a couple of times, develop feelings for one another and are honest with their spouses. Neither is all that charming, funny, quirky or interesting. They love their families and act mature throughout. It reminded me of Harris Wittels and Adam Scott giving NOTHING as improv characters in Farts & Procreation on Comedy Bang Bang. A young Jane Kaczmarek is great and affecting, Keitel is kind of sleazy leaving his wife for a 20something but thats entirely off screen, everything is played low key and realistic and everything looks brown the way that the 80s did.
I probably held on because i kept waiting for the twist. So if buttered noodles are an exotic treat to you and you love the look of wood paneling, Falling In Love might just be for you. 5 stars.
If it had been around at the time, this would have cleaned up at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. It's a noteworthy cast, so I might actually check it out sometime. But Christ, what a lousy title. I can see why it didn't take off.
Yeah, that's just kinda the 80s action movie thing. They have a lot of conservative power fantasy stuff that you gotta just look past. 80s comics are like that too.
Ive never seen the sequels, does Axel just move to Beverly Hills somehow or does each movie have to find a new reason to put him back in that position like the Trek movies having to figure out how to get Kirk/crew back in their positions.
The second one has a lot of Paul Reiser on the phone, covering for him. I was actually surprised in this one that his Detroit commander is immediately informed that he got arrested, which does ratchet up the drama because he needs to solve this case or he's not a cop anymore.
Haven’t listened yet but I’m surprised with how many times Griffin has brought this movie up and how they’ve never done Eddie before, that we got a sub-2 hour episode
It’s funny though cause it just shows how spoiled we’ve been that we would feel like a 107 minute long podcast is “short,” plus I’m sure these guests are probably a little too busy for a three hour pod
I had never seen any of the *Beverly Hills Cop* films before watching the first one for the pod. Pretty fun! Fun action! Fun soundtrack! Lisa Eilbacher is cute as heck! Eddie Murphy is still at the phase where he's fun and a little vulnerable rather than his current phase: Extremely Rich and Pretty Annoying! It's fun to see the room that Brest wanted to make for *Wargames* but as the...Beverly Hill Police Department for some reason! Also, any time I see him in a film, my brain just immediately says "My name is Judge" !
"who's name is Judge?"
"my name is - "
"ok."
"that's a silly name!"
"judge...my name"
"yes I am judging your name. it am silly."
"is."
"please stop."
"oh, now you're correcting my grammar?"
"Gob...not gonna put Franklin on the stand... and your lips are moving, just a little bit."
"Judge."
"He's right, his name is Judge now."
My personal favorite Reinhold moment is this fabulous line delivery from *Fast Times*: "Mister, if you don't shut up I'm gonna kick one hundred percent of your ass!"
I'm always pimping the Kevin Pollak Chat Show on here lately but for those who are curious John Landis was on it and talked about directing Eddie in *BHC3*. I actually can't remember if he said anything about *Trading Places* or *Coming to America*. In any case the Eddie who was on set for *BHC3* was "not in a happy place" or some such and also, according to Landis, just absolutely refused to be funny on camera because he's a big manly action guy or something. I was very much reminded of Renny Harlin trying to wring any comedy out of Bruce Willis in *Die Hard 2,* which came up recently (the DH2 Patreon episode is fantastic BTW).
The Landis/Murphy feud is so funny to me. The guy who dropped that helicopter vs. a star with a massively overinflated ego. Neither of them has a leg to stand on and yet both are so right about each other.
Damn, looks like the Kevin Pollak show is still behind the Stitcher paywall? Hoping that situation gets resolved soon. I miss dipping into the HDTGM and DWITGAOATP backlogs.
I think almost all of them are on YouTube, voluntarily.
[https://youtu.be/txMJUr4\_06s?si=aDzXgG8er2AuuhyT](https://youtu.be/txMJUr4_06s?si=aDzXgG8er2AuuhyT)
2:52 — yeah!
Just by clicking around, I happened to find the BHC3 bit. Scroll to 1:13 if you want that (he's a good storyteller and I like listening to the other stuff too, but YMMV).
Love A&B - really dig the work they've been doing and some great Bruckheimer/Murphy insights. BHC is one of my favourite movies, so I was a bit disappointed there are a lot of moments they didn't dig into - it literally has one of the most iconic collection of SONGS ever used in a movie and it barely got a passing mention. I don't think they even said "the heat is on" or "saxophone" in the entire episode. Wild.
Great pod. I like the different energy the guests bring and I don't hate it being short. A few brief points.
1. Frontloading the movie with TWO soon-to-be-pop-mega-hits "The Heat is On" and "The Neutron Dance" is pretty bold and an unmistakable statement about the fun the audience is in for.
2. I like what Griffin was saying about Serge not being a dick to Axel. It's a bold interpretation of the situation on Pinchot's part but I don't agree that Serge agrees that his entire life is bullshit exactly. I think it's more that Serge is secure in his status and is immersed in his life and doesn't perceive Axel to be a threat so why not be nice to him?
3. To borrow from the Ringer, Stephen Elliott gives one of the great thermostat performances, I was shocked at how much the tone changed when he entered the movie.
4. The Ulu Grosbard movie *Falling in Love* (mentioned in the Box Office Game). Every bit as bad as it sounds (Streep and DeNiro fall in love, no chemistry, bad movie), Griffin and David might be amused to learn that it is considered a stealthy remake of the David Lean classic *Brief Encounter.*
I thought the same thing with the point about Serge. I think if anything he's all in on the art scene and Beverly Hills aesthetic, he's just cool BSing with Axel.
I think the deepest you might be able to go--if you really wanted to disect it--is that at one time as a foreigner, he was the fish out of water, so he understands the confusion and slow acclimation to the insane over-the-top-ness of Beverly Hills.
As a millennial, watching this for the first time a couple years ago, I had a legitimate revelation about Eddie Murphy's star persona. As someone who primarily knew him as the voice of Donkey, it wasn't just realizing that he used to be the most successful standup in the world, it was that he was young and HOT when he hit it big!
I felt like a fool having such a a cultural blindspot, but I had to keep bringing it up in casual conversation. "Did you know that Eddie Murphy was kind of a sex symbol?!" And anyone who was alive in the 80s would be like "Yeah, no shit. He was a superstar for a reason! He was hilarious and charismatic, but he was also super handsome!"
Anyway, my primary takeaway from this action masterpiece is that Axel Foley can get it.
As a millennial, watching this for the first time a couple years ago, I had a legitimate revelation about Judge Reinhold's star persona. As someone who primarily knew him as the sweater guy from The Santa Clause, it wasn't just realizing that he used to be the most lovable cornball in the world, it was that he was young and HOT when he hit it big!
I felt like a fool having such a a cultural blindspot, but I had to keep bringing it up in casual conversation. "Did you know that Judge Reinhold was kind of a sex symbol?!" And anyone who was alive in the 80s would be like "Yeah, no shit. He was a superstar for a reason! He was hilarious and charismatic, but he was also super handsome!"
Anyway, my primary takeaway from this action masterpiece is that Billy Rosewood can get it.
ADIL & BILALL! I really enjoyed their Bad Boy movies, so they are perfect guests for a Bad Boys precursor.
I love how half of the runtime is Eddie Murphy doing bits, pranking other cops as Axel F plays
> ADIL & BILALL! I really enjoyed their Bad Boy movies, so they are perfect guests for a Bad Boys precursor.
they also were attached to Beverly Hills Cop 4 at some point while it was in development hell and that's how they got the Bad Boys gig.
Here’s hoping this episode dedicates some time to examining the municipal nightmare of Los Angeles, which is also a county that contains the city of Beverly Hills, which is separate from the city of Los Angeles and has its own police force despite essentially being a neighborhood in size.
I literally just walked out of seeing Bad Boy 4 (Fun movie!), and saw them as guest. Also saw it was a relatively short episode, which I’m sure David was thankful for.
Surprised to see Mike Ehrmantraut as a young man in this movie.
https://preview.redd.it/4ms31mh2717d1.png?width=2224&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7f28bce37d6e85f8ac9fab37c24d4f14794c2f4
I think as I've grown older, I've drifted away from this one a bit in favor of some of the other films in its genre that carry a rougher edge and sour taste. But rewatching it, it's still a pure pop delight powered by one of the most incandescent performers to ever live.
Thanks to Crazy Frog and growing up with Limewire, I always assumed the theme song for this movie was some obscure, beloved Europop techno song akin to "Popcorn" or "99 Red Balloons", and now because of this podcast, I now know where it actually comes from. Almost as mind-blowing a thing to learn as was just seeing Jonathan Banks with hair.
Has anyone ever read Stallone's version of the script? This site claims to sell a version where the character was named "Axel Elly" and presumes that the script was the one that Stallone had a hand in: [https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Beverly-Hills-Cop-Screenplay-Circa-1984/22718133089/bd](https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Beverly-Hills-Cop-Screenplay-Circa-1984/22718133089/bd)
I have a copy but haven't read the whole thing. The character's name is Axel Cobretti and is introduced as "very good looking." Like damn, Sly, tone down the ego.
Read somewhere that Brest was let go from WarGames not just for his controlling style, but he was also insisting on a more intense tone and had a tough time with Sheedy and Broderick. Makes sense - in the final movie the kids have a light, natural rapport.
This episode was the best. Never appreciated Eddie’s performance in this movie so much.
Did anyone else get an ad for Audiostack AI generated ad read services? I can't imagine the boys would want that kind of ad associated with the pod.(I'm sure they don't pick and choose and it's just a general ad company that played it.)
It's nice to see some fellow Belgians on the pod, I wonder if that's a first? They were a fun hang for a genre movie like this.
There isn't a ton of meat on the bone (this movie), it's a pretty light watch. It's my least favorite of the hits Eddie Murphy had in the '80s. He's electric but I'm not sure the movie surrounding him is. I've seen 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Coming to America many more times than Beverly Hills Cop tbh. I like all the jokes but I think the straight action scenes are kind of boring, Brest really did better with those in Midnight Run.
Yeah, I only listened for 20 minutes and am waiting for mindless chores but David/Griffin don't have the vibes I would like for talking about this movie. Feels a little like the Kevin Smith episodes, where they have to be nice.
At least Kevin’s a good storyteller with perspective on things. He gets something out of Griffin and David. These guys seem nice, but they’re not exactly a value add. Always the danger with these more industry type of guests. The best one’s are the Kevin Smiths, Oswalts, Urbaniaks who either have a pre-established relationship with the guys or are known for their views and opinions (Ziegler is another great one, but she doesn’t fall into either category). Maybe the episode gets better, but it’s a bit of a slog at this point.
As a follow-up… the episode did get better. The directors were still reticent to say anything that could be at all viewed as critical (as understandable as that is, doesn’t make the most compelling listen) but they did add some interesting insight from time to time. I’ll give credit where credits due. Again, seem like nice chaps. Genuinely happy for their success. Always like seeing seemingly nice people have success, especially in this industry. Kudos to them.
This whole episode read like a plug for Bad Boys 3, these two directors constantly hyping Bruckheimer reminds me of the Woody Harrelson AMA. The weakest episode so far IMO, too bad since Beverly Hills Cop is a great movie.
https://preview.redd.it/xk6t5vld317d1.jpeg?width=330&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89c484b3aed2e4b5a92656cd05ebda2b023edb43
I just found out that Gil Hill, who was Axel Foley's boss in the films was an actual Detroit Police Officer who rose to become Detective and even President of the [Detroit City Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_City_Council). [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil\_Hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Hill)
I don't know why but I always catch on the small thing of "I have to drop everything and go to Beverly Hills right now to solve this murder so what I'll do is drive there from Detroit."
I just want to know if he took I-40 or I-70 so I can properly picture those 3 days of his life.
Blank Check with Griffin and David is a podcast where they dissect the careers of directors. They do miniseries where they pick a director and devote a long form conversational episode to each of their feature films.
Currently, they’re covering Martin Brest and in this episode they go over the development of Beverly Hills Cop, Brest’s involvement, Eddie Murphy’s career, and much more!
Griffin describes the premise at the start of each episode “filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce”
Rather than focus on single movies, Griffin and David discuss the rise and fall of directors in the context of their careers along with plenty of tangents into the production of the movie, actors careers (Eddie Murphy here), and random other topics. This episode seems a bit more subdued since the guests are directors of the new Bad Boys but are super relevant since they were slated for BHC4.
Black check is podcast about filmographies of directors who have massive success in their early careers. And are given a series of blank checks to make what ever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear, sometimes they bounce bay-beee
Pretty hot take: Sat through this movie and I don’t think I get a huge swath of 80s blockbuster movies. Eddie is obviously a star and there are a couple good laughs but the editing scene to scene is so slack, the story is boilerplate and takes forever to actually get going, most of the screenplay seemed to be standard cop movie dialogue with [Eddie riffs] written in over and over.
I say it’s a general 80s thing because there are so many 80s classics that I’m left cold by in a similar way: light on written jokes, action scenes are squibs and dive rolls.
Part of it may be that I have some contempt for the 80s as a nostalgic concept. The politics of this movie have been commented on here already and while I don’t mind a reactionary cop movie it just feels like the worst people on earth were green lighting these movies.
Internal monologue:
"This is a huge movie, how is the episode only two hours?!"
(Sees guests)
"Oh, they booked people who actually have hard stops and more important things to do than listen to Becker tangents."
As cool as this one is, I can’t help but love the Tony Scott sequel even more. Stylistically, Tony Scott cooked at a level unseen before in action, so cool looking it basically influences the next decade of action filmmaking.
I miss the old guests. Not into the newish *insert famous people here* model. Started listening to this show for The Two Friends and Ben shooting the shit with their buddies, don’t really want yet another episode with basically no Ben and Griffin and David sychophanting around bang average filmmakers/actors with stuff to plug for a couple hours before a hard out.
I would quibble with your characterization, but has there been many of these episodes lately? Scanning through the last year or two or episodes I don’t see many the insert famous people here thing. They’ve definitely happened before, but I don’t think there’s any trend towards this model.
Detective Pikachu aside I think this is only the second time they had a guest on while they were promoting a movie, no? Just these guys and Lulu Wang on Miyazaki? In any case, having guys on who have first-hand experience working with Eddie Murphy and Bruckheimer is incredibly cool.
Yeah I would agree with you. There haven’t been too many of these to indicate a trend and the guest they have brought in are quite relevant to the series
For the most part, the top “gets” I loved were Rachel Ziegler and Lin-Manuel Miranda. In both cases, the guests clearly came with a passion for musicals and where Fosse’s work fit into the genre/history, even though there was a bit of Griffin interviewing them.
This episode did go down some interesting natural rabbit holes like where this fit into 80s action movies that clearly influenced Adil and Bilall. With (I assume) time constraints Griff and David did their best to cover both the movie and the guests’ perspectives.
You will be downvoted. You may even be insulted. But I for one couldn’t agree with you more. Thank you for putting the words all together. It’s a minor shame
I personally find it fun to listen to very successful filmmakers/actors sit down and talk about other people's work in the Blank Check format. They bring different insights and perspectives than the usual coterie of guests.
It's a nice change of pace from the usual format. And these episodes aren't nearly as frequent as you're imagining (out of 25 episodes this year, and this is maybe the 5th of this kind? And that's counting returning guests like Kevin Smith and Bowen Yang, as well as the bonus Amy Irving interview)
I would agree with you in theory but in practice, with this episode, the guests really didn't bring anything to the table in terms of interesting or perceptive observations that are distinct from what the audience might think of themselves
I think they provided an interesting perspective on the industry, which felt especially relevant this episode since they actually have experience working on this particular franchise. I enjoyed hearing them talking about their own experiences, and relating it back to the film.
I wish they had been able to spend a little more time and dig a little deeper. But considering this is their first time on the show, I think they did an admirable job, especially as the episode goes on and they get more involved in the conversation
No, there’s not a huge amount of these guests. There is hardly any Ben on many, many episodes these days and for a while, however. I have to imagine that’s his choice, and that he has his reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing from a consumer’s point of view. I don’t enjoy the episodes Griffin in particular feels he has to impress the guest. Totally different vibe to the show.
i always cringe a little when they get these guests and Griffin goes so hard stopping the show in its tracks to question them about their current project so they can get their promo in
\*The amazing thing about Eddie Murphy in this film isn't how funny and charismatic he is, it's how funny and charismatic he is while also looking believable throwing a punch, firing a gun, and coldly telling the bad guy that he's going to kill him.
\*You can see that smash cut to the strip club coming a mile away, but it's still timed so well that it works fantastically. The song being used is icky as hell, but it's a Prince joint so...
\*I recently saw the (terrible) BHC 2, and in that film Foley's motormouthed improvised lying is treated as a superpower that he can uses whenever he wants something. It's much better employed here, where he (almost) only uses it as a kind of desperate last resort to get out of trouble.
I mean, it looks gorgeous, but Murphy is on auto pilot and in an attempt to flesh out the super basic plot of the first film it loses itself in a weirdly complicated story that only intermittently matters.
I played “Axel F” for my children and got these responses:
Kid 1 “Isn’t it pronounced ALEX”
Kid 2 “Crazy Frog!”
My elder millennial heart slightly broke.
Hearing the name "Joey Pants" in a Belgian accent is delightful.
truly made my day
love when a guest gets a Box Office Game answer in
I like to imagine we get tight and focused episodes for Going In Style and this as build-up for a four hour screed on Meet Joe Black.
Don’t worry about the short run times on these first couple eps. When we get to Meet Joe Black, everyting gwan be irie.
How very dare you?!?! Just seeing that written down gives me agita. In my wildest dreams, the guest for this show is a Jamaican who spends the entire episode explaining how horrible Pitt’s accent is. Gah.
Blame them for getting bigger-name guests who have other places to be.
Everyday, I get progressively angrier about Batgirl
Flash and Shazam 2 got released. I refuse to believe it’s worse than those movies after these guys made 1 soild Bad Boy and another that’s geniunely as good as the first movie. Also petition to force the names of 3 and 4 to be switched. I don’t even think the subtitles matter that much to their respective films.
It's absolutely that they just wanted to save Keaton's return for the Flash and its marketing push, but they can't admit that.
Batgirl was set after the Flash. The Flash originally ended with the Snyderverse being merged with Keaton's world. Keaton was basically going to be a mentor figure until the crisis film adaptation. There was a Batman Beyond film being planned, too.
I mean, Hollywood seems to be playing fast and loose with the whole "the name the movie was released under is no longer the name it will known as" of late, so it's the least crazy idea. Certainly not as crazy as filming entire movies and then not only not releasing them, but spraying them with some kind of xenomorph acid so they can never ever be released ever for realsies.
Ah yes the “Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow” logic. I would accept it in this case and so would the directors
Can’t believe just how chill they are about the whole Batgirl situation. They seem like cool guys
I gotta imagine: A) They’ve worked through their feelings about it. B) They were about to kick off a press tour for a surefire hit and were excited. C) Are not gonna burn bridges and will just take it out on their Zaslav voodoo doll (equipped with giant lapels) when they aren’t on mic.
I imagine B is a big deal. As they discuss on the episode, getting the next movie is huge. I can’t imagine how scary it was for them after Batgirl got shelved and these guys suddenly had a resume gap and associations with a debacle that may have been held against them despite being totally outside their control.
Absolutely!
I would watch the hell out of their heist movie about stealing the Batgirl print.
there might be some NDA working background and if you want to work in that city one should just shut up and move on, and they got money from that project too
I'm glad Griffin pushed back and reiterated the point about *Trading Places* being a two-hander. I remember when BHC came out and it was very noticeable that this was the first movie where Eddie had no white co-lead. And the results speak for themselves. It never really occurred to me that it required the quasi-unicorn of a ready-made single-lead production in progress where the white lead had dropped out—i.e. it never occurred to me that the execs didn't trust Eddie more—so thank you for making that connection too. Obviously Eddie's badass (pre-family) run was not as good as we were hoping and I think it all goes to Griffin's theory about people popping when they have something to prove.
I was a bit disappointed by the general amnesia over *Best Defence* with “Strategic Guest Star” Eddie Murphy, which also preceded BHC. Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. When we were walking out of the theatre in 1984, my best friend said “Eddie Murphy is so hot now he could even survive a movie with Dudley Moore!” and I had to remind him that it had already happened.
That's hilarious, and yes, that's the "other" movie that led up to this, it was rattling around in my brain as I wrote my post but couldn't bring it in. Never saw it but it was obviously on the cable channels back then.
\[after the Golden Globes discussion\] Just imagine if Eddie had been cast in *Mickey and Maude*. They could have made some proper money.
Insert shots of Eddie Murphy mugging inside a malfunctioning tank would have worked just as well in *Micki & Maude*
Oh yeah. "Micki."
Damn what's wrong with Dudley Moore? Was he shit
He was really hot for a few years. Then he wasn’t, but all these movies kept coming out.
I was looking at the top 50 movies of 1984 and the only other movies with black leads were Purple Rain and Breakin' and those movies had non-actors as top billed talent. So it was really just Eddie out there. And because the producers were over a barrel he got $4 million which isn't bad at all for the time. Eddie's always been a very savvy guy and he knew this was his big shot and there probably wasn't much room for error given his situation. Maybe he recovers if Beverly Hills Cop is a disappointment but it's probably an enormous blow to his career. So he gives you every side of himself in the movie, he's extremely funny but also does great character work and is a credible action star. What's also noticeable when you look at the top movies is there is some sort confluence of factors which made them success. Maybe there was a compelling star but there were also big effects or set pieces. Perhaps the story was high concept. Beverly Hills Cop stands alone because the only draw was Eddie Murphy. Due respect to everyone who worked on the movie, there are a lot of talented character actors and people behind the camera, but people only came to see this for Eddie and I think he knew if he took this film as opposed to Ghostbusters, he would be seen as an unambiguous movie star and not just a talented performer in a bigger machine.
BLANK CHECK FOR LIFE!!!
We ride together. We die together. Podcasts for life.
Eddie is just raw charisma. And he can still do it when he feels like it (snl hosting in 2019)- I wish he felt like it more
God, that and Dolemite is My Name felt like the beginning of Murphy's renaissance as an older actor. And then... pretty much nothing interesting. Coming 2 America, that Amazon Christmas movie, that Jonah Hill Netflix movie. Felt like he could've gotten anything greenlit then and we've seen nothing interesting from it.
Coming 2 America wasn’t as bad as people make it out to be.
He should have been nominated and won for “Dolemite Is My Name.” Probably the comedic performance of the decade.
The movie that led to the hosting I mentioned! Great movie and performance!
It sounds like the dossier pulled a lot from a 2023 Martin Brest interview in Variety; I highly recommend reading the whole thing as Brest takes us through his whole filmography (thank you to whoever shared it on this sub in the last few weeks, bringing it to my attention): [https://variety.com/2023/film/features/martin-brest-director-beverly-hills-cop-gigli-1235672428/](https://variety.com/2023/film/features/martin-brest-director-beverly-hills-cop-gigli-1235672428/)
Great stuff, thank you.
Thank you Griffin for the subtle “hello” when Michael Eisner was mentioned.
Genuinely a shame there's not a version of this movie which starts with the Eisner "Hello". I would love a faux-WWoD wrap-around.
[https://youtu.be/9eIUg35c2xs?si=-5tcG5OW-s1GZG1i](https://youtu.be/9eIUg35c2xs?si=-5tcG5OW-s1GZG1i)
Impressed as hell with how these two have transitioned the Bad Boys franchise into the heir to Fast & Furious’ action soap opera throne. I wish more young action filmmakers would copy the “film student gone mad with power” aesthetic they give their action scenes.
I love that we have a Michael Bay / Christopher McQuarrie / Justin Lin equivalent who will go on Blank Check.
I’d love an episode on Community adjacent directors because I don’t think I would’ve expected the careers of Justin Lin and the Russos. Seemingly something was in that water
Great episode, but I kept waiting for Griffin to point out the incongruity of one the most famous and successful movies about taking down a drug smuggler being produced by Don Simpson, a man who, by the 1980s, was basically a sentient collection of 90 one kilogram bags of cocaine taped together and with clothes pulled over them.
[удалено]
Seriously. Insane guest pull.
Look im a little disappointed by one of the best movies ever having a podcast run time of less than 4 hours but holy cow what a get(s)
Paul Scheer has said before on HDTGM that it’s really tough to cover new ground on movies everyone seemingly knows everything about. I think Griffin basically said the same on this podcast. Some of the magical moments for me have been when Griffin revealed casting details on Big Fish that overlapped with Solo/Star Wars Prequels that blew Chris Gethard’s brain
Oh for sure. I mean i've probably read the imdb trivia page for the BHCs a dozen times each. And it was a fun angle to hear from The Bros about the development of BHC4. Fun ep!!!
It's a shame because the panic room episode is my favorite studio 60 podcast
I was just thinking, we're dangerously close to an episode that's... *gulp* ... shorter than the movie itself! All jokes aside, have they mentioned on the pod about any kind of effort to make shorter episodes lately? Because it *does* feel noteworthy that the last two episodes have been sub-2 hours. Are there people out there who actually *don't like* when they drag on for 3 hours??
I assure you, we have MANY long ass episodes coming over the next several months. Outside circumstances just resulted in two shorter eps back to back in this case.
WOOO, thank you sir! I for one *love* the longer episodes! And honestly, the less on-topic the better sometimes lol
8 hour Twin Peaks ep confirmed?
Sorry, this doesn’t track with the narrative that David and Ben absolutely hate anything over two hours and are furious when it goes over that so I’m not sure if I believe it
I think Ben and David aren’t big fans of longer ones haha
What about BenDavid?
Well yeah, but I doubt they listen anyhow.
My only guess (in regards to this week) is that maybe Adil and Bilall are quite busy at this time and might be hard to lock in for three-four hours.
I really hope not. I think the languorous nature of the podcast is what makes it good. It’s the perfect thing for Sunday morning, being awake but not wanting to get out of bed. The shorter episodes also never seem to produce the same amount of insight or humor, in my opinion. I get that 3 hours consistently might be much for a man with a child and another full time job, but sub 2 hours has always felt too short for them.
I was listening back to the old Matrix episodes and found it shocking the last 2 of the trilogy were <2 hours. Super jarring given how much meat they left on the bone. Agree- I love when the podcast literally exhausts every topic possible. They could’ve done so many tangents into Eddie Murphy’s career, 80s action films vs. today (although they did quite a lot already with Die Hard / McTiernan), but also recognize they probably had time constraints with a guest
I know I'm in the extreme minority, but as a more casual fan of the pod I prefer the more focused episodes. There are big exceptions still, Last Action Hero episode is a favorite and it's one of their longest afaik.
Absolutely fair! To me, though, although I love when they talk about a movie I like, the actual conversation *about the movie* is always secondary to just the conversation in general. I love all the bits (even the retired ones), I love their general chemistry as (hashtag-the-two) friends, and I love Ben chiming in every once in a while to ask them what motivates witches, or whatever the fuck lol
They need to save some Beverly Hills Cop talk for the Tony Scott series
Hey Ben, FYI I got served an ad at the end of the ep that was advertising AI generated voice-over work. I'm sure you don't want to support that, maybe something to reach out to the ad company about.
Ok. What are you listening with?
pocket casts
Absolutely got the same thing listening with Apple’s Podcasts app.
I got that relistening to Fury Road ep. And the AI voices were very very bad.
Man, I know there are a lot of conservative '80s cop movies about one hero cop who is above the law, but this one goes out of its way to argue that all cops are above the law. This is a movie that hates bodycams. Axel teaches the Beverly Hills cops not to be such square rule-followers, and we see that they've learned their lesson when they circle the wagons at the end of the movie, making it impossible for any of them to be charged for illegal entry and extrajudicial killings. Search warrants? Due process? Those don't get results! There's one point where Axel admits that he did a bunch of shady investigative stuff but didn't find any drugs. A boss cop tells him that it's too bad that he didn't find any drugs. I don't know why he didn't just plant some drugs. It was perfectly consistent with the rest of his MO. It's all kinda coming from a place of playful insubordination I think. This movie has one million bosses, and nearly every character in this movie is pulled aside at some point and given a stern talking-to, like Greg Davies dressing down James Acaster. Axel even exploits fear of bosses when he yells at the customs guys. The movie wants to teach you to chill out and cross the boss! But it's one thing for a cool civilian hotel worker to make sure the boss isn't watching as he slips Axel a couple of free bananas. Encouraging this attitude among cops is really something else.
Oof. This is such a solid take, but one that bums me out. The very likely prospect that cops are out there thinking they are Axel Foley (although more likely John McClane) Side note - “hard city” cops coming to California to teach how to be police is a more common plot than I remember. Ridiculous given how awful the LAPD were/still are
Most every 80's or 90's cop movie was like that too. I think it's just an unfortunate consequence of the American style of storytelling where the hero is the lone wolf who doesn't play by the rules. That's fine in a, say, high school movie, but there are some awful implications for cop movies, and now I don't think it's unreasonable to say we have too many real world cops who think they're Axel or John McClane. And that doesn't work out too well, unlike the 80's movies.
This is why I simply do not understand the supremacy of the cop over the private detective in 80s film. The private dick can buck all the authority they want and stick it to the man, but for some reason Dirty Harry and the Cold War and the War of Drugs voltroned into a really sick but undeniably fun fascination with the Loner with a State-Issued Gun.
I don't disagree but it's pretty clear that the people behind creating this style of 80s action movie weren't attempting to create any kind of coherent, consistent politics or ideology for law enforcement beyond: whatever allows characters to act cool and be cinematic in the moment. Obviously no art is created in a vacuum and it's without question that actual real world police were influenced by American action movies (though probably more Dirty Harry than Axel Foley) but I'm not sure how much of a direct line you can draw. I find the 1970s cop stuff like Dirty Harry, Death Wish, or French Connection to be much more problematic, as it's not as heightened or comedic as it became in the 80s era.
Yes but all of it draws on the great American notion of a heroic sheriff with a gun who doesn't need rules because he knows right from wrong. Then all of that context - the movies you cite are terrific examples - feeds into the real guys who carry the real guns.
I thought of leaving a review on letterboxd and all that kept coming to mind was "Axel got away with a lot"
Moral of the story: Cops lying and drinking on the job is cool.
This was a first watch for me...I had always assumed the contrast here was "Detroit cop who does actual police work goes to a place with no crime where the cops are spoiled by serving the rich and famous" and was very surprised to learn it was, well, what you're describing. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, but still think that By the Book vs. Above the Law isn't really cashing in on its fish out of water premise as well as some other things would have.
Falling In Love (1984) came up at the end. I recently watched that because I quit Rebel Moon pt 2 20 minutes in and wanted to see if the movie with the most 'mature' description/title kept my attention better. It is about 2 successful professional adults, Deniro & Streep, who run into each other a couple of times, develop feelings for one another and are honest with their spouses. Neither is all that charming, funny, quirky or interesting. They love their families and act mature throughout. It reminded me of Harris Wittels and Adam Scott giving NOTHING as improv characters in Farts & Procreation on Comedy Bang Bang. A young Jane Kaczmarek is great and affecting, Keitel is kind of sleazy leaving his wife for a 20something but thats entirely off screen, everything is played low key and realistic and everything looks brown the way that the 80s did. I probably held on because i kept waiting for the twist. So if buttered noodles are an exotic treat to you and you love the look of wood paneling, Falling In Love might just be for you. 5 stars.
If it had been around at the time, this would have cleaned up at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. It's a noteworthy cast, so I might actually check it out sometime. But Christ, what a lousy title. I can see why it didn't take off.
This movie is so fucking fun that I don’t mind how weirdly conservative the explicit themes of the film are.
Yeah, that's just kinda the 80s action movie thing. They have a lot of conservative power fantasy stuff that you gotta just look past. 80s comics are like that too.
Me during a Brad Bird film lol
Three Friends For Life.
Just going off the accents https://preview.redd.it/ossjloihjv6d1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f826a193fb82eb0074cfa7b7010b8b3288946162
Couldn’t help but think of JCVD mostly because of Ben Rogers’ impression from Action Boyz
Adil and Bilall should direct a JCVD movie!
a beautiful bad boy for mama
The bad boy is slicked back hair
Even though their names are Adil and Bilall?
I had the ep on in the background and wasn't paying close enough attention 🤷♂️
They dropped a few hearty “inshallahs.”
Ive never seen the sequels, does Axel just move to Beverly Hills somehow or does each movie have to find a new reason to put him back in that position like the Trek movies having to figure out how to get Kirk/crew back in their positions.
He stays a Detroit* cop the whole time, he's only ever there "on vacation" to solve a crime. This includes the upcoming fourth one ha
The second one has a lot of Paul Reiser on the phone, covering for him. I was actually surprised in this one that his Detroit commander is immediately informed that he got arrested, which does ratchet up the drama because he needs to solve this case or he's not a cop anymore.
As if Detroit doesn’t get enough disrespect already. They have two things: robocop and axel foley. Don’t take those from them.
The big "D" on his jacket is for Da Bears
Daaaaa Bears
I thought it was for Da crumbling auto industry. Huh, the more you know.
Dammit you're right lol
They also have a good chunk of "Out of Sight."
Yes!!!! https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/MoDz8GlNZt
Haven’t listened yet but I’m surprised with how many times Griffin has brought this movie up and how they’ve never done Eddie before, that we got a sub-2 hour episode It’s funny though cause it just shows how spoiled we’ve been that we would feel like a 107 minute long podcast is “short,” plus I’m sure these guests are probably a little too busy for a three hour pod
Yeah, its like when Griffin and David called this sub out for complaining during the David Fincher series that the Zodiac episode was under 3 hours.
I had never seen any of the *Beverly Hills Cop* films before watching the first one for the pod. Pretty fun! Fun action! Fun soundtrack! Lisa Eilbacher is cute as heck! Eddie Murphy is still at the phase where he's fun and a little vulnerable rather than his current phase: Extremely Rich and Pretty Annoying! It's fun to see the room that Brest wanted to make for *Wargames* but as the...Beverly Hill Police Department for some reason! Also, any time I see him in a film, my brain just immediately says "My name is Judge" !
🎶Mock Trial with J. Reinhold!🎶
Judge. My name
ALL RISE FOR ACTING’S HIGHEST HONOR, [JUDGE REINHOLD](https://youtu.be/CaK_FgrIlYY?feature=shared)
"who's name is Judge?" "my name is - " "ok." "that's a silly name!" "judge...my name" "yes I am judging your name. it am silly." "is." "please stop." "oh, now you're correcting my grammar?" "Gob...not gonna put Franklin on the stand... and your lips are moving, just a little bit." "Judge." "He's right, his name is Judge now."
My personal favorite Reinhold moment is this fabulous line delivery from *Fast Times*: "Mister, if you don't shut up I'm gonna kick one hundred percent of your ass!"
I'm always pimping the Kevin Pollak Chat Show on here lately but for those who are curious John Landis was on it and talked about directing Eddie in *BHC3*. I actually can't remember if he said anything about *Trading Places* or *Coming to America*. In any case the Eddie who was on set for *BHC3* was "not in a happy place" or some such and also, according to Landis, just absolutely refused to be funny on camera because he's a big manly action guy or something. I was very much reminded of Renny Harlin trying to wring any comedy out of Bruce Willis in *Die Hard 2,* which came up recently (the DH2 Patreon episode is fantastic BTW).
The Landis/Murphy feud is so funny to me. The guy who dropped that helicopter vs. a star with a massively overinflated ego. Neither of them has a leg to stand on and yet both are so right about each other.
Damn, looks like the Kevin Pollak show is still behind the Stitcher paywall? Hoping that situation gets resolved soon. I miss dipping into the HDTGM and DWITGAOATP backlogs.
I think almost all of them are on YouTube, voluntarily. [https://youtu.be/txMJUr4\_06s?si=aDzXgG8er2AuuhyT](https://youtu.be/txMJUr4_06s?si=aDzXgG8er2AuuhyT) 2:52 — yeah!
Just by clicking around, I happened to find the BHC3 bit. Scroll to 1:13 if you want that (he's a good storyteller and I like listening to the other stuff too, but YMMV).
Awesome, thanks!
Love A&B - really dig the work they've been doing and some great Bruckheimer/Murphy insights. BHC is one of my favourite movies, so I was a bit disappointed there are a lot of moments they didn't dig into - it literally has one of the most iconic collection of SONGS ever used in a movie and it barely got a passing mention. I don't think they even said "the heat is on" or "saxophone" in the entire episode. Wild.
Great. Now the heat is on will be stuck in my head all day. The heat is on o-o-o-on
The soundtrack was a huge deal. I recall my dad got a copy because he test drove a car. He was a hero when he handed over that big old record.
Great pod. I like the different energy the guests bring and I don't hate it being short. A few brief points. 1. Frontloading the movie with TWO soon-to-be-pop-mega-hits "The Heat is On" and "The Neutron Dance" is pretty bold and an unmistakable statement about the fun the audience is in for. 2. I like what Griffin was saying about Serge not being a dick to Axel. It's a bold interpretation of the situation on Pinchot's part but I don't agree that Serge agrees that his entire life is bullshit exactly. I think it's more that Serge is secure in his status and is immersed in his life and doesn't perceive Axel to be a threat so why not be nice to him? 3. To borrow from the Ringer, Stephen Elliott gives one of the great thermostat performances, I was shocked at how much the tone changed when he entered the movie. 4. The Ulu Grosbard movie *Falling in Love* (mentioned in the Box Office Game). Every bit as bad as it sounds (Streep and DeNiro fall in love, no chemistry, bad movie), Griffin and David might be amused to learn that it is considered a stealthy remake of the David Lean classic *Brief Encounter.*
I thought the same thing with the point about Serge. I think if anything he's all in on the art scene and Beverly Hills aesthetic, he's just cool BSing with Axel. I think the deepest you might be able to go--if you really wanted to disect it--is that at one time as a foreigner, he was the fish out of water, so he understands the confusion and slow acclimation to the insane over-the-top-ness of Beverly Hills.
As a millennial, watching this for the first time a couple years ago, I had a legitimate revelation about Eddie Murphy's star persona. As someone who primarily knew him as the voice of Donkey, it wasn't just realizing that he used to be the most successful standup in the world, it was that he was young and HOT when he hit it big! I felt like a fool having such a a cultural blindspot, but I had to keep bringing it up in casual conversation. "Did you know that Eddie Murphy was kind of a sex symbol?!" And anyone who was alive in the 80s would be like "Yeah, no shit. He was a superstar for a reason! He was hilarious and charismatic, but he was also super handsome!" Anyway, my primary takeaway from this action masterpiece is that Axel Foley can get it.
As a millennial, watching this for the first time a couple years ago, I had a legitimate revelation about Judge Reinhold's star persona. As someone who primarily knew him as the sweater guy from The Santa Clause, it wasn't just realizing that he used to be the most lovable cornball in the world, it was that he was young and HOT when he hit it big! I felt like a fool having such a a cultural blindspot, but I had to keep bringing it up in casual conversation. "Did you know that Judge Reinhold was kind of a sex symbol?!" And anyone who was alive in the 80s would be like "Yeah, no shit. He was a superstar for a reason! He was hilarious and charismatic, but he was also super handsome!" Anyway, my primary takeaway from this action masterpiece is that Billy Rosewood can get it.
He’s at his hottest in Raw and Delirious.
Wait until you see “Boomerang.”
Was waiting for Griffin to say “CHARRRRRMING”
ADIL & BILALL! I really enjoyed their Bad Boy movies, so they are perfect guests for a Bad Boys precursor. I love how half of the runtime is Eddie Murphy doing bits, pranking other cops as Axel F plays
> ADIL & BILALL! I really enjoyed their Bad Boy movies, so they are perfect guests for a Bad Boys precursor. they also were attached to Beverly Hills Cop 4 at some point while it was in development hell and that's how they got the Bad Boys gig.
I didn’t know that until I started listening to the episode. All the better!
I really gotta see the new Bad Boys
Here’s hoping this episode dedicates some time to examining the municipal nightmare of Los Angeles, which is also a county that contains the city of Beverly Hills, which is separate from the city of Los Angeles and has its own police force despite essentially being a neighborhood in size.
Not sure you’re getting that here.
City of Beverly Hills being the biggest pain in the ass when it comes to extending the purple line.
Naturally
What a great ep… i really really wanna see Batgirl after hearing this i bet it’s actually fuckin good!
I literally just walked out of seeing Bad Boy 4 (Fun movie!), and saw them as guest. Also saw it was a relatively short episode, which I’m sure David was thankful for.
I love how A&B shoot action. Not sure anyone else does it quite like them.
Surprised to see Mike Ehrmantraut as a young man in this movie. https://preview.redd.it/4ms31mh2717d1.png?width=2224&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7f28bce37d6e85f8ac9fab37c24d4f14794c2f4
Man, cool guests but they are boring as hell
I think as I've grown older, I've drifted away from this one a bit in favor of some of the other films in its genre that carry a rougher edge and sour taste. But rewatching it, it's still a pure pop delight powered by one of the most incandescent performers to ever live.
Truly insane he was 23 in this and 22 in Trading Places. I can’t even comprehend that
I definitely prefer 48 Hrs as a cop movie, as an action comedy, and as an Eddie Murphy vehicle
All the bad boys and bruckheimer talk has convinced me that they need to do a Michael Bay mini.
One day us Bayheads will be vindicated when the two friends finally unpack his filmography and give us the pod's greatest ever series.
No, they need to do Tony Scott and do a 4 hour episode with Gabrus on BHC2 to make up for this.
Thanks to Crazy Frog and growing up with Limewire, I always assumed the theme song for this movie was some obscure, beloved Europop techno song akin to "Popcorn" or "99 Red Balloons", and now because of this podcast, I now know where it actually comes from. Almost as mind-blowing a thing to learn as was just seeing Jonathan Banks with hair.
Bev Bev Beverly Hills Cop /Bev Bev Beverly Hills Cop/ Axle Foley’s gonna find those drugs!
https://youtu.be/CGbgAisf6_c?si=RqUKrs3DpG1AJGwA Good bit
Has anyone ever read Stallone's version of the script? This site claims to sell a version where the character was named "Axel Elly" and presumes that the script was the one that Stallone had a hand in: [https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Beverly-Hills-Cop-Screenplay-Circa-1984/22718133089/bd](https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Beverly-Hills-Cop-Screenplay-Circa-1984/22718133089/bd)
I have a copy but haven't read the whole thing. The character's name is Axel Cobretti and is introduced as "very good looking." Like damn, Sly, tone down the ego.
Read somewhere that Brest was let go from WarGames not just for his controlling style, but he was also insisting on a more intense tone and had a tough time with Sheedy and Broderick. Makes sense - in the final movie the kids have a light, natural rapport. This episode was the best. Never appreciated Eddie’s performance in this movie so much.
Apex Mountain for Plymouth Reliants.
Did anyone else get an ad for Audiostack AI generated ad read services? I can't imagine the boys would want that kind of ad associated with the pod.(I'm sure they don't pick and choose and it's just a general ad company that played it.)
It's nice to see some fellow Belgians on the pod, I wonder if that's a first? They were a fun hang for a genre movie like this. There isn't a ton of meat on the bone (this movie), it's a pretty light watch. It's my least favorite of the hits Eddie Murphy had in the '80s. He's electric but I'm not sure the movie surrounding him is. I've seen 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Coming to America many more times than Beverly Hills Cop tbh. I like all the jokes but I think the straight action scenes are kind of boring, Brest really did better with those in Midnight Run.
90 minutes of four guys blowing Jerry Bruckheimer, did not expect that
Yeah, I only listened for 20 minutes and am waiting for mindless chores but David/Griffin don't have the vibes I would like for talking about this movie. Feels a little like the Kevin Smith episodes, where they have to be nice.
At least Kevin’s a good storyteller with perspective on things. He gets something out of Griffin and David. These guys seem nice, but they’re not exactly a value add. Always the danger with these more industry type of guests. The best one’s are the Kevin Smiths, Oswalts, Urbaniaks who either have a pre-established relationship with the guys or are known for their views and opinions (Ziegler is another great one, but she doesn’t fall into either category). Maybe the episode gets better, but it’s a bit of a slog at this point.
As a follow-up… the episode did get better. The directors were still reticent to say anything that could be at all viewed as critical (as understandable as that is, doesn’t make the most compelling listen) but they did add some interesting insight from time to time. I’ll give credit where credits due. Again, seem like nice chaps. Genuinely happy for their success. Always like seeing seemingly nice people have success, especially in this industry. Kudos to them.
This whole episode read like a plug for Bad Boys 3, these two directors constantly hyping Bruckheimer reminds me of the Woody Harrelson AMA. The weakest episode so far IMO, too bad since Beverly Hills Cop is a great movie.
1984 Box Office sans Temple of Doom? Mola Ram, shakti de, you fools!
https://preview.redd.it/xk6t5vld317d1.jpeg?width=330&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89c484b3aed2e4b5a92656cd05ebda2b023edb43 I just found out that Gil Hill, who was Axel Foley's boss in the films was an actual Detroit Police Officer who rose to become Detective and even President of the [Detroit City Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_City_Council). [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil\_Hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Hill)
They discuss! He ran for Mayor and almost won.
I don't know why but I always catch on the small thing of "I have to drop everything and go to Beverly Hills right now to solve this murder so what I'll do is drive there from Detroit." I just want to know if he took I-40 or I-70 so I can properly picture those 3 days of his life.
This sub has been popping up in my feed and Beverly Hills Cop is one of my all time favorites. What’s the scope of discussion in the podcast?
Blank Check with Griffin and David is a podcast where they dissect the careers of directors. They do miniseries where they pick a director and devote a long form conversational episode to each of their feature films. Currently, they’re covering Martin Brest and in this episode they go over the development of Beverly Hills Cop, Brest’s involvement, Eddie Murphy’s career, and much more!
Movie-by-movie dissections of directors' careers. Cameron, Burton, Fincher, Buster Keaton etc. Currently Martin Brest. Everything always in context.
Griffin describes the premise at the start of each episode “filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce” Rather than focus on single movies, Griffin and David discuss the rise and fall of directors in the context of their careers along with plenty of tangents into the production of the movie, actors careers (Eddie Murphy here), and random other topics. This episode seems a bit more subdued since the guests are directors of the new Bad Boys but are super relevant since they were slated for BHC4.
Black check is podcast about filmographies of directors who have massive success in their early careers. And are given a series of blank checks to make what ever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear, sometimes they bounce bay-beee
Don't what to say or to expect. All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check.
Pretty hot take: Sat through this movie and I don’t think I get a huge swath of 80s blockbuster movies. Eddie is obviously a star and there are a couple good laughs but the editing scene to scene is so slack, the story is boilerplate and takes forever to actually get going, most of the screenplay seemed to be standard cop movie dialogue with [Eddie riffs] written in over and over. I say it’s a general 80s thing because there are so many 80s classics that I’m left cold by in a similar way: light on written jokes, action scenes are squibs and dive rolls. Part of it may be that I have some contempt for the 80s as a nostalgic concept. The politics of this movie have been commented on here already and while I don’t mind a reactionary cop movie it just feels like the worst people on earth were green lighting these movies.
I agree with you about this, it's a pretty conventional and uninspired movie
Can't wait to hear Sepinwall cook on midnight run tonight! One of my and freaking everyone fav buddy Comedies🙌🙌🙌
Internal monologue: "This is a huge movie, how is the episode only two hours?!" (Sees guests) "Oh, they booked people who actually have hard stops and more important things to do than listen to Becker tangents."
As cool as this one is, I can’t help but love the Tony Scott sequel even more. Stylistically, Tony Scott cooked at a level unseen before in action, so cool looking it basically influences the next decade of action filmmaking.
I miss the old guests. Not into the newish *insert famous people here* model. Started listening to this show for The Two Friends and Ben shooting the shit with their buddies, don’t really want yet another episode with basically no Ben and Griffin and David sychophanting around bang average filmmakers/actors with stuff to plug for a couple hours before a hard out.
I would quibble with your characterization, but has there been many of these episodes lately? Scanning through the last year or two or episodes I don’t see many the insert famous people here thing. They’ve definitely happened before, but I don’t think there’s any trend towards this model.
Detective Pikachu aside I think this is only the second time they had a guest on while they were promoting a movie, no? Just these guys and Lulu Wang on Miyazaki? In any case, having guys on who have first-hand experience working with Eddie Murphy and Bruckheimer is incredibly cool.
Yeah I would agree with you. There haven’t been too many of these to indicate a trend and the guest they have brought in are quite relevant to the series For the most part, the top “gets” I loved were Rachel Ziegler and Lin-Manuel Miranda. In both cases, the guests clearly came with a passion for musicals and where Fosse’s work fit into the genre/history, even though there was a bit of Griffin interviewing them. This episode did go down some interesting natural rabbit holes like where this fit into 80s action movies that clearly influenced Adil and Bilall. With (I assume) time constraints Griff and David did their best to cover both the movie and the guests’ perspectives.
You will be downvoted. You may even be insulted. But I for one couldn’t agree with you more. Thank you for putting the words all together. It’s a minor shame
I personally find it fun to listen to very successful filmmakers/actors sit down and talk about other people's work in the Blank Check format. They bring different insights and perspectives than the usual coterie of guests. It's a nice change of pace from the usual format. And these episodes aren't nearly as frequent as you're imagining (out of 25 episodes this year, and this is maybe the 5th of this kind? And that's counting returning guests like Kevin Smith and Bowen Yang, as well as the bonus Amy Irving interview)
I would agree with you in theory but in practice, with this episode, the guests really didn't bring anything to the table in terms of interesting or perceptive observations that are distinct from what the audience might think of themselves
I think they provided an interesting perspective on the industry, which felt especially relevant this episode since they actually have experience working on this particular franchise. I enjoyed hearing them talking about their own experiences, and relating it back to the film. I wish they had been able to spend a little more time and dig a little deeper. But considering this is their first time on the show, I think they did an admirable job, especially as the episode goes on and they get more involved in the conversation
No, there’s not a huge amount of these guests. There is hardly any Ben on many, many episodes these days and for a while, however. I have to imagine that’s his choice, and that he has his reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing from a consumer’s point of view. I don’t enjoy the episodes Griffin in particular feels he has to impress the guest. Totally different vibe to the show.
i always cringe a little when they get these guests and Griffin goes so hard stopping the show in its tracks to question them about their current project so they can get their promo in
Get them on again but in person and longer! Good ep
\*The amazing thing about Eddie Murphy in this film isn't how funny and charismatic he is, it's how funny and charismatic he is while also looking believable throwing a punch, firing a gun, and coldly telling the bad guy that he's going to kill him. \*You can see that smash cut to the strip club coming a mile away, but it's still timed so well that it works fantastically. The song being used is icky as hell, but it's a Prince joint so... \*I recently saw the (terrible) BHC 2, and in that film Foley's motormouthed improvised lying is treated as a superpower that he can uses whenever he wants something. It's much better employed here, where he (almost) only uses it as a kind of desperate last resort to get out of trouble.
>the (terrible) BHC 2 You shut your whore mouth. A Tony Scott joint is never terrible!
I've seen all of his movies and I wish this were true but there are some definite stinkers.
This is a very pro-Scott sub but I agree. I just don't vibe with him at all.
I entirely disagree
I mean, it looks gorgeous, but Murphy is on auto pilot and in an attempt to flesh out the super basic plot of the first film it loses itself in a weirdly complicated story that only intermittently matters.
Never imagines BC would have belgian guests. How neat! They’re usually NYC people or inhabitants of the Trolls universe..
I played “Axel F” for my children and got these responses: Kid 1 “Isn’t it pronounced ALEX” Kid 2 “Crazy Frog!” My elder millennial heart slightly broke.
No mention of Crazy Frog brings a single tear to my eye