48 HRS. (1982) * * * *

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, James Remar, Annette O'Toole, David Patrick Kelly, Frank McRae, Brion James, Sonny Landham

The plot of 48 Hrs. is nothing new.   It wasn't even original back in 1982, but the movie successfully worked the formula and spawned an entire generation of cop buddy movies.  In this case, one of the buddies is a convict, but the idea remains the same.    What separates 48 Hrs. from its imitators is the Murphy/Nolte chemistry and the wattage pumped up really high.    The movie hums along, with very few slow spots, and then of course Murphy shakes down a redneck bar while posing as a cop, and a movie star was born. 

Nolte is San Francisco cop Jack Cates, a dog-tired, cynical, borderline alcoholic on the trail of slimy, sadistic thief Ganz (Remar), who broke out of prison and killed Cates' partner in a shootout.     Desperate to catch Ganz, Jack enlists the help of convict Reggie Hammond (Murphy), Ganz' former partner who is six months away from completing a three-year prison sentence.    Jack arranges for Reggie to leave prison on a 48-hour pass to team up and catch Ganz and Billy Bear (Landham), who wields a knife similar to the one Crocodile Dundee used.

Despite a mutual goal, Jack and Reggie do not get along, hurling a variety of racial slurs and insults at each other, but of course, they develop a truce followed by respect and maybe even friendship.    We know Jack is a curmudgeon, but a good guy at heart.    Reggie is a slick criminal, but with a strong sense of humor and streetwise toughness.    They make a strong team, while Remar and Landham play sufficiently brutal bad guys.  

The movie's most famous scene is Reggie tearing up an all-white redneck bar with Confederate flags adorning the walls.    Using sheer verbal force, assertiveness and personality, Reggie obtains the information he needs while completely intimidating the clientele.    Think of Popeye Doyle rousting a Harlem bar in The French Connection, only funnier and meaner.    Even Jack is amazed.  

It is a pity we haven't seen much of Eddie Murphy lately.   By the early 2000's, he shifted gears towards a string of mostly mediocre family-friendly films which highlighted Murphy's likability while muting his humor.    Save for a little-seen 2016 movie called Mr. Church, Eddie Murphy has been mostly absent from the big screen for half a decade.   I miss him.   Watching 48 Hrs. again recently made it abundantly clear why.