48 Hrs.
At times, a star can emerge from an actor’s performance in one great scene. This happened for Jack Nicholson when he wore a football helmet backwards on his motorcycle in the film “Easy Rider”. Faye Dunaway also experienced this when she looked sleepily through a screen window at Warren Beatty in the movie “Bonnie and Clyde”. This took place with Eddie Murphy in “48 Hrs.”
In 48 Hrs., his scene comes around midpoint. He is a criminal who has served thirty months of his six month theft sentence but upon the efforts of Nolte (who is after some cop killers and thinks Murphy can help) gets forty-eight hour furlough. About that bartender there might be some details to be given by her.
The thing is, the bar we are talking about was only for rednecks, where cowboys drink beer from long necked bottles and salute to confederate flag on walls. For sometime now, he had been kidding Nolte that he could handle any situation. And so it happens that Nolte gives him an opportunity to prove himself right or otherwise. In order to get his own way into the club room filled with patrons who seem to hate each other that much as it seems ,instead of going in there like just another ordinary human being Murphy decides to force an entry as if he were a police officer.
The scene moves smoothly as it transitions between two options: one is Gene Hackman dressed as Popeye Doyle intimidating blacks in a Harlem bar during The French Connection; second is definitely Eddie Murphy impersonating a police leaving no stone unturned.
This movie also contains other good moments by Murphy besides roles played by Nolte who gives us excellent performance as cynical, irresponsible and juvenile policeman always lying to her girlfriend while taking shots from personal bottle of whiskey hidden somewhere near him. They do not trust each other at all from the initial stages till there occurs hatred. But soon they begin to respect one another, little by little.
The plot of the movie is nothing to boast about: it is just ordinary. The film’s strength lies in its production. Nolte and Murphy do well in this movie as they talk and act funny a bit eccentrically though.
James Remar, who makes it in his career as a character actor, plays a terrifically slimy killer that appeared genuinely wicked. Annette O’Toole gets third billing as Nolte’s lover, but it comes across like one of those roles women are forced to play just like every other female part. Not only could O’Toole have phoned it in but she does, spending most of her scenes on the telephone calling Nolte a no good bum.
And he must also give credit to Walter Hill for directing him so expertly throughout this entire film; unfortunately, Hill is not nearly as good with women as he is with action or male camaraderie or atmosphere which is exactly what makes the other parts of his movies great. His films generally have one stunningly composed exceedingly violent fight scene (such those during Hard Times where Charles Bronson fought bare-knuckle) and this time we get so tired watching such fights.
What changes occurs when Hill creates characters in this film? Previously (in “The Warriors,” “The Driver,” “The Long Riders,” “Southern Comfort”), he tended to deal with men who were more symbols than human beings. In “48 Hrs.” however the aforementioned elements make up some of these humans that are very vulnerable rich but mean sometimes too violent and chauvinistic at others; because after all it’s just such kind of film he has done again here again.
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