After a relatively unsuccessful second feature film (Trading Places) -- relative in comparison to his 48 Hours debut, that is, and saved primarily due to John Landis' direction -- Eddie Murphy returned to the "buddy cop"-like story of his first film with what became his signature role, that of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. With Murphy perfecting the street-smart characterizations of his previous films (a type he would play in endless successive films), and boosted by a soundtrack that spawned several hits, Beverly Hills Cop became the biggest-box-office comedy on record and cemented Murphy as one of the few Saturday Night Live alumni to pursue succesful post-SNL careers.

The film began life back in 1977, with an original unpromising story by Don Simpson of an East LA cop getting transferred to Beverly Hills, that he describe as somehow mixing the elements of "Dirty Harry" and "Chinatown." Describing this to Danilo Bloch, a studio screenwriter, the lead was morphed into "Beverly Drive," with a more streetwise cop from Pittsburgh (Elly Axel), which would add in some fish-out-of-water dynamic. The story went through several changes at the advice of then-Paramount boss Michael Eisner, but after a time the story fell out of active development.

A new writer, Daniel Petrei, Jr., then took a stab at the screenplay, and added the crucial element -- comedy. The lead character was now named "Axel Elly," and came from co-producer Jerry Bruckheimer's home town: Detroit. Mickey Rourke briefly signed on as Axel, then after a time gave up on the project and moved on -- and was replaced by (shudder) Sylvester Stallone.

Stallone rewrote the script yet again, removing the comedy elements and playing the part straight, and then -- thankfully -- abandoned it (although he would revisit many of the elements in his rewritten script later on in Cobra). At this point a new writer was attached (Chip Proser), the comedy was reinserted, and Eddie Murphy signed onto the project that was now known as Beverly Hills Cop.

The film worked so well that during the first private preview screening, Paramount executives immediately committed to a sequel, although it would take three years for the sequel to make it to the screen. In the meantime, Beverly Hills Cop earned over $15 million in its opening weekend (doubly surprising considering that the total was reached on only 1,500 screens). The film was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen," and eventually earned $235 million at the box office.

Probably, the less said about the sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II , the better. Perhaps as a nod to the originally-planned Axel Elly, Stallone's wife -- the cartoonlike Brigitte Nielsen (have there ever been two people more suited for each other?) plays the evil Amazonian female crook. It was misguided from the first scene on, and earned a Razzie award for "Worst Original Song" ("I Want Your Sex"). Inconsistencies abound -- Foley is inexplicably friends with Taggart, Rosewood and Bogomil, the very same people who were ready to put him in jail in the original -- and their is a strong sexist undercurrent throughout the entire film which is embarrassing at best. Still, the film's box office totaled about $154 million, and any film with a Bob Seger original song can't be written off as all bad.

Jerry Bruckheimer sat out the third film in the series, Beverly Hills Cop III (although he will be producing the planned Beverly Hills Cop IV), which took in a dismal $42 million -- not even clearing the film's $50 million cost. Despite this, and the fact that the film was nominated for two 1995 Razzies ("Worst Director" and "Worst Remake or Sequel"), the film is actually more enjoyable at some levels than the original -- but it only works if you've seen the first film, as character development is nonexistent here.

Look for many unusual cameo appearances here -- George Lucas (billed in the credits as "Disappointed Man"), Joe Dante (Jailer), Arthur Hiller (Bar Patron), and Ray Harryhausen (Bar Patron), among others.

Film Synopsis: Beverly Hills Cop 1: In this highly entertaining cops-and-comedy caper, Eddie Murphy plays a strrtwise policeman from Detroit who takes a leave of absence to track down the men who killed his best friend. This quest takes him to the unfamiliar hills of ritzy Southern California, where he's treated as anything but a hero.

Beverly Hills Cop 2: This sequel lacks most of the charm and freshness of the first film, choosing instead to unwind as a thunderous pounding assault on the senses; it's universally panned as the worst of the three films. Foley returns to L.A. to hep the local police force deal with a succession of robberies committed by a bunch of leather-jacketed punks led by Dean Stockwell and Brigitte Nielsen.

Beverly Hills Cop 3: Detroit cop Axel Foley is back in Los Angeles, fighting off thugs the LAPD can't handle. Eddie Murphy is in his element as the wisecracking cop and knows how to milk one-liners for laughs; it's set in a California theme park with most of the characters from the first two films back on board.

Technical

Video:	Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic)
Audio:	ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC] ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Surround [CC] FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:	English, Closed Captions

All three films are presented in fine 1.86:1 widescreen with provisions for anamorphic enhancement, and feature animated menus keyed to each film.

Beverly Hills Cop (1) is in the roughest shape, but only in comparison to the other two; it's a sharp transfer, with fine details, bright colors and good contrast. Black levels are good, and there appear to be no significant compression artifacts. The grain of the film is noticeable, which is a flaw of the original negative; however, there is a higher-than-expected occurrence of dirt and blemishes, probably not unexpected from a film of this vintage. Excepting those blemishes, though, the film's transfer belies its age and is probably the best-looking transfer this movie has ever had.

Beverly Hills Cop 2 and 3 are smoother and cleaner than 1, and their transfers are exemplary. Colors are equal to (if not better than) the first film, and even in scenes of high contrast details are visible within the black.

Fleshtones are accurate throughout all three transfers.

The three films feature very aggressive soundtracks, and the discs handle them well. There is a wide frequency range throughout, and the rear channels get a workout throughout the films. Aural space is particularly noticeable in the later two films during outdoor scenes.

The three films are each packaged in single-disc Amaray-style keepcases, with single-page inserts for the chapter listings. We've found no Easter Eggs.

Supplements

Beverly Hills Cop 1:

• Commentary by Director Martin Brest
• Cast and Crew Interviews ("Beverly Hills Cop: The Phenomenon Begins") (29:15)
• Casting Beverly Hills Cop ("A Glimpse Inside the Casting Process") (9:38)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:40)
• Location Map:
  • Beverly Hills Police Station (1:29)
  • Victo Maitland's Mansion (1:46)
  • The Biltmore (0:53)
  • Warehouse (0:59)
  • Art Gallery (1:34)
  • Harrow Club (0:42)
  • Strip Club (0:30)
• Photo Gallery (32 stills)
• The Music of Beverly Hills Cop (7:50)

Beverly Hills Cop 2:

• Cast and Crew Interviews (22:11)
• Original 1987 Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (7:09)
• Deleted Scene with Tony Scott Introduction (3:21)
• "Shakedown" Music Featurette (5:02)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:33)

Beverly Hills Cop 3:

• Theatrical Trailer (1:57)
• Cast and Crew Interviews (24:56)

The three disks each feature some terrific supplementary materials, although in decreasing amounts as the series progresses. To Paramount's credit, only the first movie has "Special Collector's Edition" spelled out -- even though all three could qualify for the banner under some lesser studios.

Beverly Hills Cop

The movie is the only one of the trilogy that features a feature-length director's commentary on an alternate audio track, with Martin Brest holding forth with a large amount of background material. His commentary tends towards the technical aspects of the film, including lighting setups, cameras and lenses, but he peppers his comments with anecdotes and incidents of the production. There are some extended pauses, but Brest handles the commentary chores well, and this will be a welcome feature for fans of the film series.

Beverly Hills Cop: The Phenomenon Begins is a half-hour featurette that goes into some great detail of the origins of the film (filtered by the memories and politics of the studio personnel involved, of course).

Casting Beverly Hills Cop is a ten-minute featurette hosted by the film's casting director Margery Simkin. The talk covers both the actual casting process of the movie, and how the actors decided on their characterizations; it's an interesting talk on a subject seldom covered on DVDs.

The Music of Beverly Hills Cop is a short program on the composition of the film's now-classic score and the choices involved in the songs included on the soundtrack.

The Location Map supplement allows the user to choose among seven locations used in the film; each selection highlights the actual location used in the film, and plays a short film about the location and/or set.

Rounding out the film's supplements are the requisite trailer and a small photo gallery featuring both behind-the-scenes photos and still-frames from the film that were used in advertising materials.

Beverly Hills Cop II

Beverly Hills Cop: The Phenomenon Continues is a 22-minutes featurette, effectively a continuation of the featurette on the first movie's DVD, filmed during the same sessions. Reminiscences are somewhat more tuned in this segment, and the interest level remains high.

A seven-minutes behind-the-scenes featurette produced at the time of the film, circa 1987, is also included. It does not present very much in the way of background information not already included in Beverly Hills Cop: The Phenomenon Continues, and the image is somewhat rougher (much of it appears filmed on 16mm), but it includes interview segments with Brigitte Nielsen, who does not appear live in the longer featurette.

A deleted scene involving a break-in to the gun club is included, along with a minute-long introduction by the director and a short epilogue by Judge Reinhold. The scene, per the director, was dropped because it "strained credulity" (insert your own joke here), but as it was probably the first filmed movie scene to include its particular cinematic trick it's great to have it included here.

Bruckheimer introduces the Shakedown" Music Featurette, a five-minute segment on the recording of the Shakedown single for the film.

The theatrical trailer for Beverly Hills Cop II is also included.

Beverly Hills Cop III

Beverly Hills Cop: Triple Axel appears to have been largely filmed seperately from the cast-and-crew featurettes on the previous two discs, although Judge Reinhold's segments were obviously taped at the same time. The piece is more promotional fluff than the previous installments, but since the film is a more recent vintage the stories are more detailed, and director Landis has a lot of enthusiasm for the project and his anecdotes hold your attention throughout.

A theatrical trailer is included.