48 Hrs. is a 1982 action comedy film directed by Walter Hill, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy (in his Golden Globe-nominated role) as a cop and convict, respectively, who team up to catch a cop-killer. The title refers to the amount of time they have to solve the crime. This was Eddie Murphy's film debut, and Joel Silver's first film as a film producer. The screenplay was written by Hill, Roger Spottiswoode, Larry Gross, Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart (uncredited).
48 Hrs. is often credited as being the first "buddy cop" film. The genre evolved throughout the 1980s and 1990s with features such as Beverly Hills Cop, Running Scared, Lethal Weapon, Tango & Cash, Bad Boys, and Rush Hour. The film spawned a 1990 sequel, Another 48 Hrs.
Plot
Convicted robber Albert Ganz (James Remar) escapes from a chain gang with the help of his partner Billy Bear (Sonny Landham). They head to San Francisco to recover $500,000 that Ganz was after when he was arrested. After killing one of his old comrades, Henry Wong, Ganz and Billy take the I.D. they find on Wong, registered to a G.P. Polson, and rent a car and a hotel room. They catch up with their old friend Luther (David Patrick Kelly) and hold his girlfriend Rosalie hostage until he delivers the money, which Luther says he can't get to for a day or so.
Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) is an alcoholic, chain-smoking San Francisco cop. His rocky relationship with his girlfriend Elaine (Annette O'Toole) is a frequent source of stress to him, mostly because neither respects the other much. He hears over the scanner about a G.P. Polson, whose stolen credit cards were used to rent a car and a room at the Walden Hotel. He decides to tag along with fellow officers Algren (Jonathan Banks) and VanZant (James Keane) to the hotel, where they expect to find a kid with a knife holding onto Polson's wallet. VanZant doesn't enjoy Jack's company, but Algren, the mediator, has Jack stake out the lobby.
Algren and VanZant go up to the room, where Ganz and Billy are fooling around with prostitutes they hired earlier. Ganz and Billy start a gunfight and VanZant is killed. Algren is badly wounded. Ganz and Billy get down to the lobby, where Jack intercepts them. He disarms Ganz, but Billy intervenes and Algren, desperately trying to fire his empty weapon, pushes everything into a standoff. Despite Algren's argument that he's not worth it, Jack gives his gun up to Ganz so that Billy will not kill Algren. Of course, Ganz shoots Algren, while Jack narrowly escapes death.
Back at the police station, Jack is talked down to by his fellow officers; notorious for being a loose cannon, Jack is blamed for the mess. Hoping to redeem himself and get revenge, Jack talks Chief Haden (Frank McRae) into letting him go it alone. Haden agrees, but threatens him with "going down" if he screws up.
Jack goes to San Quentin prison and visits Ganz and Billy's former partner Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy). Jack decides to parole Reggie for 48 hours so Reggie can help him find Ganz and Billy. Jack, a hot-headed straight arrow after the villains, clashes instantly with the wisecracking, womanizing Reggie, who is after some long-overdue female companionship. Reggie first leads Jack to Luther, who refuses to talk. They then go to a redneck bar Billy hangs out in. Reggie, on a challenge from Jack, shakes the bar down in a famous scene, single-handedly bringing the crowd under his control. They get a lead on Billy's old girlfriend, but this also leads nowhere, as the girlfriend says she threw Billy out. Jack, frustrated to the boiling point, lets loose on Reggie and they get into a relentless but ridiculous fistfight.
Reggie finally tells Jack about the $500,000, stashed in the trunk of his car, the spoils of a deal gone bad when Ganz apparently sold Reggie out. The money is in the trunk of Reggie's car, parked in a garage for three years. Luther goes and gets the car, and Jack and Reggie tail him to a Muni station where Ganz comes to get the money. Luther, however, recognizes Jack, and Ganz and Billy escape, while Reggie chases after Luther.
Left with nothing, Jack ends up sitting at the station waiting for Reggie to call. His partner Kehoe (Brion James), about to leave, reminds Jack about a message from "your pal from the vice squad." Unfortunately, this comes while Jack is trying to patch things up with Elaine, 'breaking' things up instead.
Jack goes to Vroman's, in the Fillmore district, to find Reggie, who has tracked Luther to a hotel across the street. Jack, humbled, apologizes for continuously berating and insulting Reggie. He lends Reggie some money to pay for a hotel room, but when Reggie leaves to fool around with a girl he's met, he sees Luther leave the hotel.
Luther gets onto a stolen bus driven by Billy and hands over the money to Ganz, but when he asks Rosalie if she's okay, Ganz gets angry- "What're you talking about? Huh? I said I wouldn't hurt her, didn't I?" - and shoots Luther. What happens to Rosalie is left ambiguous. Ganz spots Jack and Reggie following them, and a car chase/gunfight ensues, which ends when Billy forces Jack's Cadillac through the window of a Cadillac showroom.
Chief Haden furiously berates Jack back at the station, telling him he's through. Jack quietly soaks it up, but when Haden shouts about his defending a "lousy nigger convict" Jack loses his temper and angrily defends Reggie. Haden disregards this and Jack takes Reggie out of the station.
At a local bar before Reggie goes back to prison, Reggie asks Jack how things are going with Elaine- "If I was depressed and had a lady I'd go see her, I figured you'd do the same." Jack decides he'll patch things up tomorrow, then questions whether Billy would do the same with his girlfriend; the bus was found in Chinatown, where her apartment is. As it turns out, Billy did just that.
Jack and Reggie force their way inside and after a brief confrontation Reggie shoots Billy. Ganz escapes into a maze of alleyways, capturing Reggie. Jack approaches and shoots Ganz, throwing him off Reggie, then finishes him off by shooting him repeatedly. Reggie is almost shocked by Jack's stony face.
Finally, Jack takes Reggie to go fool around with the girl he'd been chasing. They agree to meet again when Reggie gets out of San Quentin in six months. Jack leaves the money in Reggie's car, but asks for a loan on another Cadillac when he gets out. Reggie implores to Jack that he will be an honest man going forward, but playfully asks, "If I DID decide to go back to a life of crime, what makes you think you could catch me?" Jack's only response is to request the return of the lighter that Reggie just pick-pocketed off of him. After a laugh, they drive off, heading back towards prison.
Cast and characters
James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, and Marcelino Sánchez were also cast in Walter Hill's The Warriors, portraying the characters Ajax, Luther, and Rembrandt.
Sonny Landham, who played Billy in the film, also played a character named Billy in the 1987 film Predator.
Chris Mulkey, who plays one of the police officers who tried to arrest Cates and Reggie; plays another cop, Deputy Ward, in First Blood.
Production
Lawrence Gordon came up with the original idea for the film.[1] The premise had the Governor of Louisiana's daughter kidnapped by a criminal, who strapped dynamite to her head and threatened to blow her up in 48 hours if the ransom was not met. The meanest cop goes to the worst prison in the state and gets out the most vicious criminal for his knowledge of the kidnapper who was his cellmate. Roger Spottiswoode was hired and he wrote the early drafts as did Bill Kerby. The project started at Columbia Pictures and moved to Paramount Pictures. At one point, even Walter Hill wrote a draft.[1]
Clint Eastwood was originally approached to play Det Sgt. Jack Cates and Richard Pryor was set for the role of Reggie Hammond.[1] Eastwood wanted to play the criminal role and ended up playing one in Escape from Alcatraz instead. As a result, 48 Hrs. went into limbo for two years. Then, Gordon called Hill and asked him if he would make the film with Nick Nolte as Cates.[1] The character of Reggie Hammond was originally named Willie Biggs, but Eddie Murphy felt that was too stereotypical of a black man's name and changed it to Reggie Hammond.
Eddie Murphy started a few weeks after principal photography began because he was finishing up a season of Saturday Night Live.[1] The shoot went well but Hill ran into problems with studio executives. Michael Eisner, then head of Paramount, was worried that the film was not funny enough. Hill and his co-screenwriter, Larry Gross wrote more material tailored to Nolte's and Murphy's personalities. By Hill's account, they rewrote Murphy's character right to the very last day of shooting. Executives also found the footage of the gunfight in the hotel to be too violent and were worried that it would kill the film's humor. They told Hill that he would never work for Paramount again as a result.[1]
Allusions and references in other works
Akon's, Smack That music video is a short remake of the film featuring a convict played by Akon and officer Jack Gates played by Eric Roberts. In the Smack That video Akon is only let out for 24 hours instead of 48 hours.
See also
References
External links
- 48 Hrs. at the Internet Movie Database
- 48 Hrs. at Allmovie
- 48 Hrs. at Rotten Tomatoes
- Larry Gross' 48 Hrs. Diaries, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, and Part 10
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The Renegades (1982) · The Last Innocent Man (1987) · Time Flies When You're Alive (1989) · Third Degree Burn (1989) · And the Band Played On (1993) · Hiroshima (with Koreyoshi Kurahara) (1995) · Prince Street (1997) · Murder Live! (1997) · Noriega: God's Favorite (2000) · The Matthew Shepard Story (2002) · Ice Bound (2003)
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