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Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a foul-mouthed, street-smart and freewheeling Detroit police agent. When a friend is murdered in Los Angeles, he heads there to investigate. He arrives to Beverly Hills to finds an old friend Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher). The clues lead Axel to suspect a local businessman and art dealer Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) and henchman (Jonathan Banks). He is helped by a pair of sympathetic L.A. detectives Taggart (John Ashton) and Billy (Judge Reinhold) causing wreck havoc on the way. These two make an excellent double act as the pair of cops assigned to keep an eye on Foley in Beverly Hills.

The picture is action-packed, thrilling and tongue in check with humour. It was a role tailor-made for the charismatic Murphy who, with his rapid-fire delivery and impeccable timing, makes us laugh in damn near every scene; even a brief exchange with Jenny’s flamboyant assistant Serge (Bronson Pinchot), which barely lasts a minute, is comic gold.

The supporting performances are also strong. Berkoff plays a good villainous character as always. Ashton and Reinhold generate some laughs as the mismatched police partners. But as good as the rest of the movie is, without Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills Cop would have been a run-of-the-mill ‘80s action/comedy. As it is, the film is one of the best of the decade.