Beverly Hills Cop III ** (1994, Eddie Murphy, Hector Elizondo, Judge Reinhold, John Saxon, Bronson Pinchot, Theresa Randle, Jon Tenney, Joey Travolta) – Classic Movie Review 6651

The scrappy 1994 third Beverly Hills Cop movie is by turns off-puttingly violent and stupidly slapstick, though it is helped along with capable, slick direction from John Landis and the thinly appealing, lightly professional performances. It is the third in the trilogy, and the last Beverly Hills Cop movie so far.

Eddie Murphy again stars as Detroit detective Axel Foley, who heads back to Beverly Hills after his boss Inspector Todd (Gilbert R Hill) is killed in a raid and all clues to the killer point to a popular Disney-style amusement park called Wonder World. There, a wicked crook called Orrin Sanderson (John Saxon) is running a forged banknotes scam in a disused theme park ride.

Unfortunately, the story cuts no ice as a mystery thriller, Steven E de Souza’s screenplay merely serving as a peg to hang a series of action scenes and comedy sequences, mostly showcased in the single, admittedly impressive theme park setting. Murphy looks relaxed and athletic, but all his running around, capering about and mugging do not seem to add up to an actual performance, only a star turn.

The support actors seem strangely subdued, with little dynamism in the performances from players as strong as Hector Elizondo (as the LA police chief Jon Flint), Judge Reinhold (Foley’s old cop partner Detective Sergeant Billy Rosewood) and Bronson Pinchot (for whom the film stops for five minutes to reprise his dodgy camp foreigner act, which is racist and sexist) as Serge.

Beverly Hills Cop III is a tired retread of a worn-out formula, as dated as the warmed-up old Harold Faltermeyer theme music, though this time the score is by Nile Rodgers.

As usual in a John Landis film, a clutch of his fellow film directors have cameos – George Schaefer, Peter Medak, Barbet Schroeder, John Singleton, George Lucas, Joe Dante, Martha Coolidge, Arthur Hiller and Ray Harryhausen – but here they seem pointless and unhelpful.

Also in the cast are Theresa Randle, Jon Tenney, Joey Travolta, Timothy Carhart, Alan Young, Stephen McHattie, Louis Lombardi, Lindsey Ginter, Jimmy Ortega, Rick Avery, Ray Lykins and Al Green.

It is written by Steven E de Souza, shot by Mac Ahlberg, produced by Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme, and scored by Nile Rodgers and Harold Faltermeyer, with Production Design by Michael Seymour.

It follows Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987).

In 2017 Beverly Hills Cop 4 is in development to possibly star Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy alongside Eddie Murphy.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6651

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