48 Hrs. (1982)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I regard 48 Hrs as an action adventure with a comedic debut performance by the then 21 years old, Eddie Murphy.Hard nosed, hard drinking cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) pulls a convicted bank robber Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) from prison on a forged 48 hours pass to help him capture Hammond's old partner, Albert Ganz (James Remar) who killed Cates fellow cop.Ganz himself escaped from prison with the help of native, Billy Bear and both go on a killing rampage as they look for the half a million dollars that went missing after one of their robberies.Reggie knows where the money is but wants to stay one step ahead of Cates. Both distrust each other but need to work together to catch Ganz.Walter Hill made a tough thriller with plenty of violence and cursing but imbued it with the humour of Murphy fresh from Saturday Night Live. Without his presence this would just be a forgotten police action film from the 1980s. He owns that scene when he pretends to be a cop at a country & western dive bar as he shakes down the patron.Murphy elevates the film with the help of some off beat support by Remar and David Patrick Kelly. Nolte plays off well with the street smart, lean and hungry Murphy as the gruff cop who drinks too much and is too flabby.In the sequel, Another 48 Hours, eight years later it was Murphy who would be flabby and out of shape going against a leaner, meaner Nolte.

48 Hrs. (1982) is an action classic the only original best buddy cop flick from the 80's. Is an action cop flick that I love to death and it was honestly the first action film I saw as a kid. I grew up watching this film and in my opinion is still my favorite action buddy flick. This is first time we see Eddie Murphy in action before he went in making Beverly Hills Cop (1984), beside Beverly Hills Cop this is one if his best movies of the 80's. It is actually my favorite Walter Hill film. Like I said I grew up watching this film, I loved 48 Hrs. so much that I hardly convinced my mom to watch this movie with me and the sequel of this film. I read on Charles Bronson's Murphy's Law (1986) flick that the storyline of that film the pairing a cop with a convict was popular in Hollywood during the 1980s after the success of this film 48 Hrs. (1982). Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy are sensational in this film, the action is great and the plot about this film is well paced it goes fast and it is entertaining. I really enjoy watching this movie and honestly I love it more, than I would love the sequel, the sequel can't even hold a candle to this film."Yeah. Well, I'm real impressed with you too, man. It takes a real-skilled cop to kick in the bedroom door of a couple of dykes!"Plot: A hard-nosed cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down a killer.The film is actually about a $500,000 stashed cash and two cop killers who are running around and killing cop,s while they want to get the hands of this cash. A tough cop who is a survivor in a shoot out in the hotel from those two killers, pairs with a convict from prison to help him to get and catch those two killers. They only have 48 Hrs. before the cop has to bring the convict back. They don't make films like this anymore, I really love action films from the 80's and this one was the first one I have saw as a kid. My favorite part in the film is the stake out scene: Jack (Nick Nolte) and Reggie (Eddie Murphy) head out to the parking garage, and they park across the street from the parking garage, waiting till the parking garage opens which it does around 7.00 am in the mornings and they spend the night there. Next morning Jack (Nick Nolte) brings a café drink to Reggie (Eddie Murphy) and wakes him up. The similar thing happened to me when I was 12 years old. My mom drove me and my dad with the car in the city 4.00 am in the mornings it was night than and my dad went with his bike delivering news paper, me with my mom waited on him in the car till his shift ends. During the waiting I fall a sleep, when I woke it was past 7.00 am and my mom brought me food from the store in the car. That moment I remember this scene in this film. It is a beautiful child memories of mine on my mom and 48 Hrs. (1982) is my childhood movie and it is memories on my childhood. 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2 are my favorite Eddie Murphy films from my childhood that I love to death.This is Nick Nolte's best action flick that I love to death and only one that is worth to watch. I love Music theme by James Horner that I love so much including the opening scene that was awesome. Honestly James Horner made the same music theme for Commando (1985) Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie. I love the shout outs, the action scenes, the dialogues and I also love the main lead roles from Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, Jack Cates and Reggie Hammond are my favorite characters. This is the only original action film, but I think it was unnecessary making a sequel (Another 48 Hrs.) that I honestly think Nick Nolte made a lousy awful job reprising his role and Eddie Murphy was even worst by shouting and punching Nick Nolte. Before I finish my review you have a few cast that are memorable here: You have: James Remar from Dexter playing the main villain, David Patrick Kelly from Commando and The Warriors, Sonny Landham from Predator, Annette O'Toole from Smallville, Jonathan Banks from Beverly Hills Cop and Olivia Brown from Miami Vice. I have this film on Blu-ray I used to own the DVD but I switch it for Blu-ray.48 Hrs. is a 1982 American action comedy film directed by Walter Hill, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy (in his film debut and Golden Globe Award-nominated role) as a cop and convict, respectively, who team up to catch a cop-killer. The title refers to the amount of time they have to solve the crime.Overall: Is my favorite action flick from my childhood and I love it to death. This flick get's a solid 10 by me and it deserves it.

Good music score, if a bit odd, steel drums and alto sax create a very unusual mood in this gritty look at early 1980s San Francisco. Plot is threadbare: cop forced to temporarily spring a convict from prison, to help catch his escaped ex-partner in crime. Both characters are tolerable at best, racist and homophobic at worst, so it was difficult for me to care what happened to them. Also, the plot (with a screenplay begun by Roger Spottiswood, then fleshed out by Steven DeSouza, then adapted further during filming by Walter Hill & Larry Gross) almost completely falls apart if one thinks about it afterward. Some abrupt tone changes several times in the final scenes may be a result of the rewrites, and they don't help.I could now only recommend this for Eddie Murphy fans and/ or Nick Nolte fans (who have probably already seen it), or someone with an interest in San Francisco.

48 HRS was one of the best action/adventure/buddy cop movies ever made that introduced a brand new movie star to the world named Eddie Murphy.The film stars Nick Nolte as Jack Cates, a world weary cop, who finds himself in a bind when a fellow officer is killed with his gun by a slimy criminal who broke out of jail in order to get his hands on a booty that is in the trunk of the car of a former running partner named Reggie Hammond, who is now in jail. Cates realizes the only way to get this guy is by enlisting the aid of Hammond, who he gets a 48-hour pass out of jail in order to nab the bad guy.Eddie Murphy deservedly became a movie star with his star-making turn as Reggie Hammond, but Nolte's Cates is an equally effective characterization, a veteran cop who might be slightly over the hill but in complete denial about it. Nolte effortlessly nails the world- weariness of his character without ever letting Murphy blow him off the screen. James Remar also had one of his best roles as Ganz, the bad guy that Cates and Hammond are after. The scene where Murphy takes command of a redneck bar is just outstanding.Nolte and Murphy were reunited for a sequel, but like I always say, stick to the original.