Review of 48 Hrs. (1982) by James H — 02 Apr 2010

I'm going to write this as if I'm 15 again. I haven't seen the picture in a long time. This is one of those movies that is bigger than it's parts, where everything seems more vivid and amplified than your run of the mill unlikely buddy flick. The first reason for this is that Hill manages to create a palpable feeling of danger with hard hitting action scenes and bad guys that are almost super human and actually scary, well played by James Remar and Sonny Landham. This palpable tension is the springboard which lets the stand out performances and mystery unfold with gusto.

Secondly there is a snazzy script with lots of memorable dialogue, that could have fallen silly with the wrong actors, but works wonders here. The whole movie is cast flawlessly.

Finally there is Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. Murphy is confident, likable, and funny giving it all he's got. Nolte simply nails the jaded, sarcastic tough cop to the screen. The chemistry is electric.

For weaknesses the female characters are a bit one dimensional and other archetypal parts as well: the angry police chief, evil, sadistic bad guys, etc. But non deviating archetypes can still have effective punch and they have it here.

When Ganz violently breaks out of prison with the help of his old partner Billy Bear, Nolte decides to enlist the help of a fellow associate of the bad guys who is still in prison to find out what they are up to and apprehend them. Murphy has 48 hours on parole to help solve the problem, but he has half a million dollars hidden he would love to secure before those comrades get a piece of it. Good stuff. "A guy talks about sex as much as you probably can't even get it up." "I've been in prison three years, my dick gets hard when the wind blows." You won't believe this, but they start off hating each other and become friends by the time the picture ends. Well maybe you will, but it is great fun watching the transformation. "He may be a convict, but he's the best god damn partner I ever had.".

"What can I bring you, a black Russian?", says the bartender. "Ha! black Russian, that's a funny joke, I'm black". This sets up the classic "I'm your worst nightmare, a nigger with a badge" episode which is eighties movie line gold. This is a guy movie in the best sense of the expression.