What's so great about 48 Hrs. (1982)? (Hollywood, Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Psycho)
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The Three Stooges act was designed to distract the suspects so Mel Gibson could pull his pistol out on them by surprise more. He slapped them in the faces in a three stooges way to distract them. However, the way Murphy and Nolte go about things, they are going to get in trouble and ruin their own case, so it's not in their motive to do that.
Gibson was trying to get the upper hand so he can pull the pistol out on them to arrest them by surprise. So his motive made more sense to me.
Pulling a gun on three drug dealers makes more sense to you? Ok.
I think you are taking movie watching too serious.
48 Hrs. is not a fine buddy cop movie. Because it's not a buddy cop movie.
Reggie Hammond is a convict who helps take down another Ganz (James Remar) from his group. Ganz and his big Native cohort Billy Bear (Sonny Landham) are cop killers.
Cates (Nick Nolte), the detective, doesn't like Hammond, and the movie's very clear about that. The two even come to blows in a pivotal scene. Afterward, Cates, who is convinced Hammond is a bucket of lies, wants "the truth" or he's ready to fight again.
P.S. Neither The Enforcer nor 48 Hrs. are comedies. They have jokes, they have humor, but they aren't comedies. For cop comedies: Police Academy and Dead Heat (which is a buddy cop horror-comedy).
What he said.
It's been quite a while since I last watched 48 Hours. For what it was, a fun crime movie that you should never take too seriously, it holds up rather well. Great villains. Nolte is appropriately grumpy. Murphy is funny. I even like the way the gunshots sound.
Lethal Weapon on the other hand, which I loved as a kid, doesn't hold up as well. Even not taking it too seriously, large portions of it are still really dumb.
What about the scene where Mel Gibson tries to buy some drugs and puts on the three stooges act, and then kills all of the bad guys. That scene was completely unbelievable and silly.
My guess is he may have adlibbed that, he's a big 3 Stooges fan. Produced the made for TV movie about them.
.....Lethal Weapon on the other hand, which I loved as a kid, doesn't hold up as well. Even not taking it too seriously, large portions of it are still really dumb.
As far a LW goes,I only like the first one really... I think the rest are stupid (Like the naked gun movies) and not done well....
48Hrs is quite good... The 2nd one however is another story!
It's considered to be the movie that started the cop buddy genre, and it was a hit with audiences at the time. But I do not get what's so good about it. For one thing, I didn't find the characters believable at all.
SPOILERS
After Nick Nolte's character (Cates) is fed up with Eddie Murphy's character (Hammond), he then forces Hammond into an alley into a fistfight. But why? This fight will not solve anything and it just comes out of nowhere, and Cates was not really set up as a violent masochist, who likes to get into deadly fights, so it felt shoehorned in.
Also, Cates allows Hammond to terrorize a bar full of people with a gun threatening to shoot everyone if he doesn't get the answers he wants. What??? Why would a cop do that? Again the movie shows Cates, and possibly Hammond, to be psycho and out of there minds, but there was no prior set up to this. I don't know how Cates ever thinks he can make a case with this behavior.
And then in the third act of the movie, they do not where the villain and are wondering how to find them. One of them says that he could show up at his ex-gf's place, and we might as well go there and wait in case he does by small chance, and then it turns out by coincidence that he does.
It's as if the writers couldn't figure out how to end the movie so they just throw that coincidence in there, to get all the pieces to fall into place.
It also has the classic dumb cliche of a villain holding someone hostage, and tells the cop to drop his gun, an the cop actually does it. The villain is then free to kill the hostage, and does so. It made no sense for the cop drop his gun cause back up was already called and would have been there if he had just waited a few minutes.
Yet the movie was well liked by audiences and critics, so I feel maybe I missed something or I viewed it the wrong way.
The film was popular among 80s teens. I watched it with a large group of high school students on a Friday night with pizzas. We were all indigenous from New Mexico and we liked it that one of the characters was a Cherokee/Seminole Indian - Sonny Landham. Many of us were also fans of Eddie Murphy. That was the first film in which I saw Nick Nolte, and I became a fan of his other films like "Teachers" and "Down and Out in Beverly Hills".
Realistically, I don't think the film's script would sit well in today's politically correct climate. Nolte's character used the "N" word, and one cop also used a milder slur agains Eddie (which was still offensive). Then of course Eddie's character went on a diatribe of anti-white racial slurs (it went both ways). So, it probably couldn't get made in 2020. But in the early 80s it was considered awesome for its time.
The movie hinged on scenes where "ethnic" bars were the sets for some racial tension - Nolte in an all-black club and Eddie in a white cowboy bar. I remember when Nolte's character said "They're sure as hell are going to like you" with sarcasm. So, it would be too racist for today.
It's been quite a while since I last watched 48 Hours. For what it was, a fun crime movie that you should never take too seriously, it holds up rather well. Great villains. Nolte is appropriately grumpy. Murphy is funny. I even like the way the gunshots sound.
I didn't see it at the theater, but remember being happily surprised at how good it was when I saw it on videotape. Yep, I saw that movie on VHS. Great action sequences. You're spot on about the villains. And Eddie Murphy was very funny. Funny you should say that about the gunshots. They were very LOUD. Which I thought was much more realistic than other movies I'd seen with gunfire.
A funny line from the movie that always stuck with me. Luther (played by Davis Patrick Kelly) goes to get Reggie's car in a parking garage. The attendant says, "This car's been here for three years." Luther says, "Yea. I've been busy!"
It's unfortunate we didn't get to see more of Annette O'Toole. I get the feeling that a lot of her scenes were cut.
The sequel, Another 48 Hours was utterly forgettable.
Funny you should say that about the gunshots. They were very LOUD. Which I thought was much more realistic than other movies I'd seen with gunfire.
Yup. Most movie and TV gunfire is entirely unrealistic. If you shoot even a mid-sized caliber weapon indoors, you are not going to be hearing anything for a good while after.
Remember the elevator scene in T2? Linda Hamilton is actually permanently deaf in one ear because of all the gunfire that occurred in such a small space in that scene.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill790
It's unfortunate we didn't get to see more of Annette O'Toole. I get the feeling that a lot of her scenes were cut.
I have no idea. I rewatched CAT PEOPLE not that long ago and forgot about how much Annette O'Toole we see in that movie. Shocking actually. That's Ma Kent!
The Three Stooges act was designed to distract the suspects so Mel Gibson could pull his pistol out on them by surprise more. He slapped them in the faces in a three stooges way to distract them. However, the way Murphy and Nolte go about things, they are going to get in trouble and ruin their own case, so it's not in their motive to do that.
Gibson was trying to get the upper hand so he can pull the pistol out on them to arrest them by surprise. So his motive made more sense to me.
I think there was a big difference between movies in the early ‘80s when 48 Hours was released to movies in the mid- to late-‘80s when Lethal Weapon was released. It’s like the difference between Porky’s and 16 Candles for teen movies.
I liked 48 Hours but recently watched and realized it’s mostly nostalgia now. The movie was like a cop show, maybe Streets of San Francisco or Starzky & Hutch. The formula got better for movies by the time Lethal Weapon came along.
It was ultra violent, for then, and it opened with one heck of a sound track! Further, it was an early movie that started the shift of cops carrying revolvers to automatics. And......it was pretty much clearly a boys picture....for the leading lady, Annette O'Toole barely got much screen time.
It's a fantasy.
Now, to the other comments. I agree about the sequel in that it is almost totally forgettable. About the only scene I recall from that flick is the one with Nancy Everhard and she had a minor role. The sequel was rather like Crimson Rivers 2, sort of "It worked once with these two, let's do it again!".......and it flops.
I didn't realize it at then but looking back at times, it is interesting to see how the minor faces of that flick showed up in other minor roles that were recognized. Such as Luther being in Dreamscape and Commando and the 1st blonde call girl being one of the 5th Column in "V".
There was a great move in having in the flick Brion Jones, "Kehoe", as a supporting actor. I recently came across James Remar in a Sex and the City and being strikingly handsome there, it took me forever to figure out why he was ringing a bell. I had to go all the way back to realize he was "Ganz".
Finally, I really go in for these lines in movies that suggest alternate ways of seeing things, alternate approaches to the world we are seeing. Such as:
"Oh, and Jack, your buddy from Vice called."--Kehoe and when Jack acts confused. "Yeah, he said you helped him bust up a bar last night."........puts the Honky Tonk scene into a much different light.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 10-02-2020 at 04:25 PM..
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Shocking actually. That's Ma Kent!
