9 replies to this topic

[tim partridge]

We all acknowledge that pretty much every film in the action genre since the 60s has somehow been 007 influenced. Still, BHC2 REALLY wears the 007 influence.

Bridgette Nielsen plays the pure 007 henchman Karla Fry, who director Tony Scott admits to being modeled on Grace Jones in AVTAK. Nielsen seems to get a lot of grief these days for her various career decisions, but regardless, with a straight face, I think she is excellent in BHC2. Honestly, if she was cast to play one role, this was it. Dare I say, she totally out Maydays Mayday.

BHC2 most blatantly models itself on Bond with it's unique, pretitle sequence, and it's pure Bond. Nielsen's Karla Fry arrives via limosine, dressed all in white, at a large Beverly Hills jewellery boutique, which she then proceeds to hold up with her silent army of goons. She leaves behind a "clue" for the cops, in the form of an alphabet letter emblazoned envelope. It's a bank heist shot as a Gucci commercial, with flashy, jump cutting/slow mo MTV editing that oddly (but pleasingly) seems reminiscent of what Peter Hunt was doing in the 60s.

Another Nielsen high point is the scene in which she guns Ronny Cox down on a Beverly Hills lawn. Dressed like Melanie Griffith in Wild Things, with a black bob wig and shiney sunglasses, it makes strangling Steed in a car wash seem both bland and boring.

There's a robbery scene late in BHC2 which is frenetically intercut with a sexily shot derby horse race. Sound familiar? Yep, it ended up in Quantum of Solace, twenty one years later!


The villain of BHC2 is a true Bond baddie missed opportunity in Jurgen Prochnow. We see many dimly lit scenes behind his desk, clearly recalling the Blofeld moments from the earlier Bond films. The final shoot out at a warehouse has a bit of a very loose YOLT vibe, too.

There is other notable Bond style iconography in BHC2, such as a song playing over the title sequence, Axel Foley dressing "undercover" in a Bond like yuppie suit and racing around in a state of the art sports car. There's even a scene set at the Playboy mansion with a Hugh Heffner cameo, in which we see a real Bond movie level of scantily clad, beautiful young women. I even spotted Ola Ray, Michael Jackson's Thriller co-star, dancing during this scene!

Most overtly Bond is the scene in which Axel Foley blackmails comedian Gilbert Gottfried as a financial manager into using his computer. "It's like a James Bond movie!" Gottfried jokes.


Much for a Bond enthusiast here!

Edited by tim partridge, 24 April 2009 - 07:35 PM.

[The Dove]

Great analysis, tim!! I never thought of it like that before... Cop II happens to be my personal favorite of the trilogy and I hope to god they return to the hard-edged tone that it had for Beverly Hills Cop IV.

[tim partridge]

Just wanted to add how, for no other good reason but to be Bond-like, the villains of BHC2 refer to Axel Foley as "Mr. Foley" when they finally meet him in the film's climax. In fact, Karla Fry's final line in the film is "Goodbye, Mr. Foley"! The line Jurgen Prochnow has "Mr Foley, you involve yourself in matter that do not concern you" is so Bond villain that you expect some John Barry to start wailing.

I am convinced that Tony Scott must have seen BHC2 as an opportunity to make an affectionate Bond film as best he could within the BHC franchise's parameters.

Edited by tim partridge, 26 April 2009 - 10:10 PM.

[baerrtt]

Actually the original intention for BHC 2 was to have it set internationally (I believe London was the original setting until Eddie Murphy refused to fly) as Don Simpson foresaw a rival franchise to James Bond.

Never mind that the title of BEVERLY HILLS cop would have been quite redundant if they had been able to do that.

[Safari Suit]

Actually I believe it was Beverly Hills Cop III which was at one point going to be set in London. Jeffery (Paul Reiser) was going to take a prisoner to London for some reason, gets killed, then Axel comes to London and blah blah blah. One of the producers were worried about killing off a character who had proved to be very popular with audiences, in the end they killed off another popular character (Todd) and Jeffery wasn't even in the film!

Interesting observations Tim, not convinced by all of them personally but that does not, of course, mean that they're not true. I think there is a certain amount of Miami Vice influence on the movie, which may have in turn influenced Licence To Kill.

BHCII is the only time I've ever thought Hugh Heffner seemed cool in that white suit, he gives me the creeps otherwise no matter how many beautiful girlfriends he's got on the go.

[tim partridge]

Interesting observations Tim, not convinced by all of them personally but that does not, of course, mean that they're not true. I think there is a certain amount of Miami Vice influence on the movie, which may have in turn influenced Licence To Kill.

The Miami Vice influence is undeniable. Isn't there a reference to Columbia in the script? In fact, the shots of the horse race (that ended up in QOS) alone are clearly supposed to ape the intro sequence of Miami Vice. You could also easily argue that the flash car and Foley in a yuppie suit were pure Miami Vice too. Thing is, MV never ever looked as gorgeous as a Tony Scott movie! Storywise, BHC2 is just a direct retread of BHC, but all the flash is Tony Scott's engaging with pop culture of that time, which MV was definitely a part of.

I still see a big Bond influence on BHC 2 though, and I think we can both agree on Karla Fry for a start! As I said, Tony Scott admits that he wanted a "white Grace Jones" with Karla Fry. I do get a feeling that Tony Scott particularly really savoured BHC2 as his once in a lifetime opportunity as the closest he'd get to doing a Bond. Perhaps his mindset was that BHC was to be an ongoing franchise that could rival Bond?

I would love to know why Bridgette Nielsen's character's musical theme seems to be obviously temped with The Duke's theme from Escape From New York, by John Carpenter. What a random choice to score a cop movie villain with! Bizarrely, it works flawlessly, reperformed on a shiney digital synthesizer by Harold Faltermeyer.


According to interviews from the DVD of Cop 2, the London cop idea was supposed to have happened on BHC 2.

[Safari Suit]

According to interviews from the DVD of Cop 2, the London cop idea was supposed to have happened on BHC 2.

My mistake then, I wasn't sure, it was what I remembered reading in the book High Concept. The idea for the plot to revolve around the death of Jeffrey was definitely in the initial concept for the third film though.

[tim partridge]

Honestly- who'd complain if Jeffrey was killed?

You are probably right though- will have to watch the BHC 3 DVD (shudder) and see what it says on there.

They really cremated the franchise by killing Todd in BHC3, in my opinion. Reminded me so much of killing Nancy Allen off in the equally dire second sequel, Robocop 3. The unfunny scene in which those two mechanics dance a choreographed number to The Supremes is horrible. Pure directorial indulgence at the expense of everything Still, I think Landis got the villain played by Timothy Carhart spot on.

[Safari Suit]

I actually really enjoyed Paul Reiser's scenes in the second movie, although you're right I would hardly have been all that bothered were he killed off in the third. That said, a few scenes with him in the BHCIII they did make would have helped. I think, out of all the characters, the lack of Taggert hurt the film the most. Hector Elizondo was alright playing the character who I imagine almost certainly did some of what John Ashton would have been doing were he available, but it was far too obviously a replacement character, almost a placeholder of sorts in case they ever made a fourth and Ashton returned. Sad to say, but I think Murphy might well have been the biggest problem with Cop III. He supposedly improvised many of the best lines in the first two films, but in the third everything about his performance suggests he could barely be bothered with the film.

Interesting that May Day was such a strong influence on Scott's vision for Fry, as recieved wisdom would tell you that by the time AVTAK came out Bond was bankrupt creatively, and Cop was one of the many newer action franchises it just couldn't keep up with.

[tim partridge]

I thought the best scenes comedy wise in part 2 were those where Murphy was seemingly improvising, such as:

Johnny Wishbone
Credit Card pick up
The bomb at the gun club
"Rap coalition of America" (which has me in stitches everytime I see it)
"Max ****ed it up for everyone!"

I also really dug the scenes where the police chief is bullying Taggert and Rosewood with the Mayor present. Somehow they recaptured that dynamic from the first film perfectly. The guy they got to play the mayor was so darn likable.


The unfunniest scenes in BHC2 in my opinion are any with Taggert and Rosewood on their own or with Axel. The "Gerald Ford" club scene, the hideous scene where they are talking in their car together about his Taggert's wife (what a low), the "dating game" scene at Rosewood's apartment and Taggert falling into the pool.


I also think if you look closely at BHC2 it was probably made for a lot less money than it initially looks. Tony Scott's glossy sheen makes it look like a mega multi million dollar movie but even alot of creative filmmaking choices seem to have been made in order to keep the budget under control. For example, all of the flashy jump cuts with sound effects, which scream MTV cool, actually disguise bad continuity or allow your imagination to fill in blanks. Watch the flying car explode at the end of the movie and notice it falls in one direction but explodes at a totally different angle.

Also notice that in many of the action scenes the action actually happens off screen. The car crash after the club scene is entirely offscreen, created using sound effects, as is the car crash on the way to the bank heist (we cut from a close up inside the car to a wide shot of the car crashed, with a spinning hub cap next to it)! After the nightclub car crash a harsh spotlight comes down on Foley and you hear the sound of a police helicopter over the soundtrack, but you never see it! You believe it though, 100%, and as I said, Scott makes you believe it's glossy and huge budget. That's true filmmaking.

It is funny hearing Gilbert Gottfried exclaiming "It's like a James Bond movie!" just reminding us that in 1987 our favourite spy still was incredibly relevant to pop culture. Hard to believe so many had forgotten about Bond between LTK and GE later.