Beverly Hills Cop II is a 1987 action-comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Tony Scott. It is the first sequel in the Beverly Hills Cop series.
Taglines:
"The heat's back on!"
"Axel Foley is back. Back where he doesn't belong."
Plot
Approximately two years after the original film, Captain (formerly Lieutenant) Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox), Detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), and Sergeant John Taggart (John Ashton) are trying to figure out who is behind the "Alphabet Crimes", a series of mostly high end store robberies distinguished by their monogrammed envelopes with an alphabetical sequence the assailants leave behind. Complicating matters is the new "political" state of the Beverly Hills police, headed by temperamental new police chief Harold Lutz (Allen Garfield), who is doing everything he can to stay on Mayor Ted Egan's (Robert Ridgely) good side. Unimpressed when Rosewood calls the FBI to help solve the case, Lutz holds Bogomil responsible as commanding officer and suspends him, despite Bogomil trying to convince him that Rosewood was only following a hunch, a traditional aspect of police work. Lutz also punishes Taggart and Rosewood by placing them on traffic duty.
On the way home, Bogomil is shot by Karla Fry (Brigitte Nielsen), the chief henchwoman of Maxwell Dent (Jürgen Prochnow). Finding out about the shooting over a news report, Axel Foley (Murphy) immediately flies out to Beverly Hills (covering his absence from his actual job in Detroit by telling his commanding officer Inspector Todd he was going "deep deep deep DEEP undercover" on the credit card fraud case he had been assigned to) to help find out who shot Bogomil. Taggert and Rosewood agree to assist Axel because of Lutz's apparent attempts to find an excuse to get them fired. Posing as an undercover FBI agent to get past Lutz (by convincing his would-be partner Jeffrey in Detroit to pose as Todd to intercept Lutz's phone call to Todd's office and convince Lutz that Axel is part of a multi-jurisdictional task force). Axel soon starts making the connection between the robberies and Dent, and has Bogomil's daughter Jan use her connections as an insurance agent to find out Dent's financial dealings. Dent is robbing his own businesses to finance firearms deals and is discreetly using his henchman Charles Cain (Dean Stockwell) as the front man for his operations. Bogomil was shot due to being on the right track with his investigation into the case.
Having foiled a robbery attempt at a bank depository, Axel is able to trick Dent's accountant into using his computer and discover that Dent and Karla are planing to leave the country, and he learns from Jan that all of Dent's businesses have gone under except his Race Track, which he is convinced is the next target. On the way Axel solves the latest riddle sent to the police, and is convinced that this riddle was intended for the cops to solve so Dent could implicate Cain as the Alphabet Bandit (which Axel is aware that Cain is not intelligent enough to be the Alphabet Bandit, having met him personally at Dent's gun club).
The three arrive too late to stop the robbery and find Cain's body among the causalities. While Lutz announces publicly that the Alphabet Crimes have been solved, Axel notices some red mud at the stables, which leads him, Taggart and Rosewood to Dent's Oil Field where Dent is making his final arms deal. The three of them then engage in a shootout with everyone involved in the deal. Dent confronts Axel in the warehouse, but Axel gets distracted and Dent walks into the shadows. Dent then crashes through the wall in his car and Axel shoots Dent through the windshield, sending his car down a hill and erupting in flames. Karla appears and is about to kill Axel, but is shot several times by Taggart.
Just as the last thugs are about to flee, the police arrive upon the scene, along with Lutz and Mayor Egan. Lutz tries to fire Rosewood and Taggart for their insubordination as well as arrest Axel. However, both Taggart and Rosewood stand up to Lutz this time and prove that Dent was the real Alphabet Bandit. They are also able to convince Mayor Egan of Lutz's actual incompetence, and the Mayor personally fires Lutz because he is tired of his abusive attitude towards his men.
At the end of the film Bogomil is chosen to replace Lutz as the new Chief of Police, and Axel returns back to Detroit, but not before he gets chewed out by Inspector Todd over the phone, right after Egan called him to congratulate him on allowing Axel to assist them on this case.
Cast
Cameos
- Chris Rock made his film debut here in a small role as a valet. Rock was previously featured in an HBO comedy special which was produced by Eddie Murphy and Clint Smith.
- Paul Guilfoyle, best known as Detective Jim Brass on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, has a small part as gun-runner Nikos Thomopolis. The best shot of him, complete with a full head of blond hair, can be seen in the scene at the Playboy Mansion.
Soundtrack
The song "Hold On" as sung by Keta Bill plays during the scene wherein Axel, Rosewood, and Taggart confront Dent at the Playboy Mansion. However, the film's soundtrack CD released by MCA Records includes only a different song entitled "Hold On," sung by Corey Hart. This song has different music and slightly altered lyrics. According to Keta Bill, "They contracted with Corey Hart---he heard my version and quickly rewrote the song. When the movie people heard his version they were furious he did that----used my version in the movie, and had to keep their contract with him for the album."
The movie introduced George Michael's controversial song "I Want Your Sex". It also includes "Cross My Broken Heart" by The Jets and "Shakedown" by Bob Seger which became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Better Way" performed by James Ingram.
As with the first movie, none of Harold Faltermeyer's soundtrack score has ever been released. However, Harold Faltermeyer's self titled album "Harold F," released in 1988, includes a song called "Bad Guys," which is apparently piece of score which plays during the opening jewelry store robbery scene and through several other scenes in the movie.
References
External links
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