Vintage Movie Rewatch

Wednesday afternoon, I had the chance to watch Beverly Hills Cop for the first time in a very long time. I think I was about 6 the last time I saw it (yes, my parents let me watch some very questionable movies). Of course, back then I didn't pay much attention to it, as I was too young to really appreciate it. Maybe that was for the best. Either way, I didn't really remember much about it after twenty-seven years, so it was like watching it for the first time.

The dvd was in the $5 bin at Walmart a couple of months ago, so I've had this thing sitting on my desk for quite a while. With all the writing, editing, and watching Lost, I didn't have time for an old movie. I finally got around to it yesterday. I had a headache from spring cleaning, and the fog knocked out my apparently-crappy Hughesnet internet connection, so I had nothing better to do (or maybe I just needed a break). On a sidebar, I'd like to say I'm pretty disappointed that my fancy, new satellite internet goes out anytime it is cloudy or damp outside. This is pretty shoddy service considering what I'm paying.

Moving on, I found Beverly Hills Cop to be a fairly entertaining movie. It's a fairly average movie for the mid-eighties, and didn't have anything that stands out to make it great. It was a cheap thrill movie with some of Eddie Murphy's classic comedy, a lot of swearing, and some pretty bloodless violence (a guy gets shot in the back of the head and he doesn't even bleed—the camera angle helps to cover it, but still). We see Ronnie Cox in a non-villain role (pre-Robocop, I think he always played some kind of good guy). And we see Judge Reinhold in a somewhat familiar "dorky-guy" role.

It's interesting to watch a vintage movie like this, as there's a certain sense of nostalgia behind it. You have the classic eighties soundtrack, glances at the techno-plastic fashions of the era, and altogether you have something that would be considered "low budget" today, even though it probably cost quite a bit in its day. It's worth watching for a few laughs and an entertaining, albeit unrealistic, plotline. Hey, it's worth it just to see Eddie Murphy shoving bananas up a tail pipe (seriously).