Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

2026 is a world where movies live and die by the first weekend of release. When’s the last time you heard about a movie being number one for three weeks? In 1984, Beverly Hills Cop was number one for 13 weeks in a row. 13. Movies in 2026 don’t even stay in theaters for 13 weeks. You can make the argument Eddie Murphy was the biggest star Saturday Night Live ever produced. Beverly Hills Cop would be your number one source for that debate. It is impossible in the modern era to even explain his star power to people born in the 21st Century. Mr. Murphy’s film choices later on would dilute some of that power, and just the ever-changing nature of life and how we tend to move on to the new things. Beverly Hills Cop wasn’t even supposed to be his movie. It was being designed for Sylvester Stallone, who did some work on the script before dropping out. Much like Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future, there’s probably some alternate universe where Mr. Stallone stayed involved, and wasn’t a box office success. Beverly Hills Cop is very much an action movie, with Mr. Murphy’s humor keeping the tone light at times. While the police in Beverly Hills aren’t sure of what to make of his Detroit cop style, the movie never insists the Beverly Hills police are idiots, it’s the opposite with them being very good at their jobs, just with a different style. You can believe this movie is why Mr. Murphy was treated like an action star two years later with The Golden Child with less success. There’s been three sequels to Beverly Hills Cop, and none have every matched the energy of the original. See it on a big screen to really feel the power of a young Eddie Murphy. See it with a crowd to enjoy the experience together and be reminded of a time when movies drove the social conversation about having to see a movie because of who was in it.