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The Rewatchables ·

48 Hrs.

year 1982decade 80sdirector Walter Hillgenre Actiongenre Buddygenre Thrillergenre Comedy
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryan
All 14 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 21:27

The Torchy's scene

The field is narrowed to the hotel shootout, now with the bonus of the Breaking Bad actor, Torchy's, Jack visiting Eddie in prison, the Reggie Hammond and Jack Cates fight, and the Busboys scene where Eddie phones Jack from Roman's; a tangent recalls the Busboys' two songs, their Delirious opener and Eddie trying to prop them up.

It has to be Torchy's: the setup and the scene itself never get old, from the drink-order exchange to 'I'm your worst fucking nightmare', one of the best four minutes ever in a movie; the cutaways to Nolte deciding whether to jump in and glancing up when the glass breaks, the patron who ran because he is on parole, and the whole thing as an assertion of power over a room with nothing like it in movie history.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 59:43

"Bullshit. You're too fucking stupid to have a job"

Candidates include Reggie asking Jack for a bedtime story and the profane reply, Reggie's crude line about three years in prison, Jack's line that class is not something you buy, answered by Reggie in his five-hundred-dollar suit that he looks good anyway, and Jack's 'this sucks' monologue about a maniac killing people with his gun, which crosses lines and has not aged well but was once on a host's answering machine.

The film

48 Hrs. (1982)

Directed by Walter Hill · Action

97 minutes

IMDb
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Nick Nolte San Francisco Police Inspector Jack Cates
Nick Nolte San Francisco Police Inspector Jack Cates
Eddie Murphy Reggie Hammond
Eddie Murphy Reggie Hammond
Annette O'Toole Elaine Marshall
Annette O'Toole Elaine Marshall
Frank McRae Captain Haden
Frank McRae Captain Haden
James Remar Albert Ganz
James Remar Albert Ganz
David Patrick Kelly Luther Kelly
David Patrick Kelly Luther Kelly
Sonny Landham Billy Bear
Sonny Landham Billy Bear
Brion James Inspector Ben Kehoe
Brion James Inspector Ben Kehoe
Kerry Sherman Rosalie
Kerry Sherman Rosalie
Jonathan Banks Inspector Algren
Jonathan Banks Inspector Algren
James Keane Inspector Van Zant
James Keane Inspector Van Zant
Tara King Frizzy
Tara King Frizzy
Margot Rose Casey
Olivia Brown Candy
Jack Thibeau Inspector Lloyd
Clare Nono Ruth
Sandy Martin Officer Kramer
Chris Mulkey Officer Bellis
John Hauk Henry Wong
Peter Jason Torchy's Bartender
John Dennis Johnston Torchy's Patron
Ola Ray Vroman’s Dancer

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

13:20

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:20Read transcript
  • Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and wrote about Eddie Murphy's Torchy's scene (transcribed as 'torture scene') that sometimes an actor becomes a star in a single scene, as Jack Nicholson did in Easy Rider and Faye Dunaway did looking out at Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde; the hosts add that the theater felt it in the moment and that the movie itself knows it.
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25:55

Casting What-Ifs

Clint Eastwood and Richard Pryor nearly made it in the late seventies; Jeff Bridges turned down Jack Cates; Gregory H...

Clint Eastwood and Richard Pryor nearly made it in the late seventies; Jeff Bridges turned down Jack Cates; Gregory Hines was the first choice for Reggie; Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds reportedly turned down Jack Cates; the studio nearly fired Eddie Murphy days into the shoot

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:55Read transcript
  • In the late seventies the film almost happened with Clint Eastwood and Richard Pryor until Eastwood did Escape from Alcatraz instead; that version would surely be far less racist and would become a Richard Pryor movie in the Brewster's Millions or Stir Crazy mold, probably sillier, and Pryor was coming apart on sets then, setting himself on fire in what the hosts date as 1982.
  • Jeff Bridges turned down Jack Cates because he did not want another cop movie; nobody could be better than Nolte, though a method Bridges putting on twenty pounds and going dark might have been pretty good, and Nolte is still permanently Jack Cates in a way an Ed Harris version would not have been.
  • Gregory Hines was the first choice for Reggie and dropped out to do Cotton Club, prompting a Running Scared tangent: a total 48 Hours ripoff in which Hines is really funny, and whose Florida Keys stretch with Michael McDonald is the movie one host wanted the whole time; Hines would have been pretty good, obviously not Eddie Murphy good.
  • Sly Stallone and Burt Reynolds allegedly both turned down Jack Cates, the kind of claim attached to every movie of the era; Reynolds could have taken the part to a bad place and might have ruined the movie, though Longest Yard-era Reynolds was good in tight roles like this.
  • Earlier, the studio nearly fired Eddie three or four days into the shoot because they did not think he was funny enough, with Michael Eisner running Paramount; called a good what-if that would have been a bad decision.
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40:50

Half-Assed Internet Research

James Remar skipped sleep before shooting to look psychotic; Jack Cates inspired Sonny Crockett; two deleted scenes; ...

James Remar skipped sleep before shooting to look psychotic; Jack Cates inspired Sonny Crockett; two deleted scenes; Reggie Hammond was originally named Willie Biggs; the 1964 Cadillac is now owned by Vanilla Ice; Larry Gross's on-set diaries; Sonny Landham's career from adult films to Kentucky politics

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:50Read transcript
  • James Remar often went without sleep before shooting to give Gans a more psychotic look, which the hosts believe, joking that it came from hanging out with Nick Nolte; one host lived in Remar's LA neighborhood in the early 2000s, saw him having coffee with his dog and always expected him to start shooting people; Jack Cates was apparently the inspiration for Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice, which now makes sense.
  • Two deleted scenes are mentioned, one with Cates and his girlfriend and an extended Roman's scene with Eddie Murphy dancing, possibly a third Busboys song; Reggie's bit confronting a man whispering to his 'wife' is quoted, and the Roman's bartender's 'come here often, Holmes' greeting is loved.
  • Reggie Hammond was initially named Willie Biggs until Eddie thought it too cliche and borderline racist and got it changed; the 1964 blue Cadillac has been restored, painted silver and is now owned by Vanilla Ice, which stuns the hosts; screenwriter Larry Gross kept diaries during the shoot that went online about ten years ago with many set stories.
  • The diaries stop after about five entries but reveal Sonny Landham as a maniac who had to be bailed out of jail, alongside crazy Nick Nolte stories; a Sonny Landham research subcategory follows: he plays Billy Bear, was a former pornographic film actor and moved to mainstream films via Walter Hill.
  • Landham's filmography is recited: a cop in The Warriors, then the really underrated Southern Comfort, then Poltergeist and 48 Hours in 1982, followed by Predator, Action Jackson and Lockup (as transcribed).
  • The Southern Comfort recommendation, telling anyone who has not seen it to check it out, is directed at the listeners. — Chris Ryan
  • He is good in Lockup; his character names are enjoyed, Hunter in Southern Comfort, Billy Soul in Predator (as transcribed), Billy Bear here, Mr. Quick in Action Jackson, and of his Lockup character name, a slur, the remark as transcribed is 'So that one still aged well', tone unresolved; he later ran for office in Kentucky several times, once for governor and once against Mitch McConnell as a libertarian Senate candidate, and died this year.
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51:42

Picking Nits

Jack handing over his gun; why Luther left the money in Reggie's car for years; Rosalie vanishes; no manhunt for Gans...

Jack handing over his gun; why Luther left the money in Reggie's car for years; Rosalie vanishes; no manhunt for Gans; the $957 suit; the lost twelve hours; Jack's dates with Annette O'Toole's character; Reggie leaving the hotel for Roman's; the easy return to Billy Bear's apartment; the Roman's girl; the night's timeline

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:42Read transcript
  • Jack Cates giving up his gun when Jonathan Banks's cop has been shot but is not dead is not 1982 police procedure, and since these men have already shot cops one more hostage should not be enough; it should be a Mexican standoff.
  • Why was Reggie's car in the parking garage so long, and if Luther had the keys why did he wait for Gans to break out of prison instead of taking the money any time, and why does he have the keys at all; Rosalie screams when Luther is shot on the bus and is never seen again, presumably killed, perhaps cut because the movie had been hard enough on women.
  • Why there is no bigger manhunt for Gans after he kills two cops, unless it is the early-eighties feel of a city under budget siege; only Cates seems to be on it, and when he phones for messages after parting from Reggie at the subway the station of thirty people is business as usual.
  • Whether Reggie's suit would really cost $957, a lot of money then, perhaps a two-thousand-dollar suit adjusted for inflation or even ten thousand; it should have said $457.
  • The morning timeline: they wake, Luther crosses the street and gets the car, the chase leads to the subway and a near shootout, Gans and Billy Bear escape, Jack is nearly arrested by cops who do not know he is a cop, and Reggie runs after the money at about 9:30; the next scene is at night, so Reggie is gone ten to twelve hours before he phones from Roman's.
  • Is anyone worried that Jack has now lost the cop killers twice and lost the man he sprung for forty-eight hours; Reggie follows Luther to the hotel, eight hours pass, and he turns up at Roman's with a gun he somehow acquired, presumably from a friend.
  • The biggest nitpick is Jack making dates with Annette O'Toole's character during a cop-killer investigation, with her complaining that he makes her work too hard at it, which makes her a terrible girlfriend; Reggie leaving the hotel assuming Luther is in for twelve hours instead of hanging outside is an investigative faux pas, and Billy going back to his ex-girlfriend should have been staked out instead of abandoned after thirty seconds.
  • A tally of Jack and Reggie's interactions: a fistfight, Reggie coming clean, sleeping in the car without talking, the morning chase, the split, ten hours apart, Roman's, the bus chase and shooting at the bus; then Frank McRae's captain yells and Jack tells him Reggie has more guts than any partner after about ten minutes together and a stream of racial insults, which is movie magic.
  • Circling back to Billy Bear's apartment the second time is too easy, and if the girls there were harboring Billy why do they call the cops on Jack and Reggie; most importantly, Olivia Brown's character dances with Reggie once and is immediately ready to go across the street with him, paying since he has no money, until he spots Luther; the evening's clock is debated between 7:30, 8 and 10 with Roman's pumping.
  • After the bus crashes and the sheriff yells, there are drinks, Billy Bear, a big fight and Gans shot around two in the morning at a homicide scene, yet Eddie finds the Roman's girl, whose name he may not know, the same night; someone named Zach is asked when San Francisco bars closed in the eighties, and a reconstructed clock from a 7 o'clock Roman's to an 11 o'clock shootout leaves the girl waiting nine hours; a lot of holes.
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1:00:49

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Is Jack Cates a terrible cop or an awful cop? Why is Jack Cates still lovable? Is Kehoe ruined by Another 48 Hours? W...

Is Jack Cates a terrible cop or an awful cop? Why is Jack Cates still lovable? Is Kehoe ruined by Another 48 Hours? Who won the Jack and Reggie fist fight?

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:49Read transcript
  • Terrible cop or awful cop: he cannot drive, cannot keep a partner, is racist, is a terrible boyfriend with no respect for the maitre d' profession, got two cops killed with his gun, makes springing a random crazy person his plan, thinks a Zagnut bar is a meal for a furloughed prisoner, and loses the bus; Eddie may have eaten surf and turf during his missing thirteen hours, which is why he is broke at Roman's; terrible cop is the answer.
  • Why one host still loves Jack Cates, the irascible racist with a heart of gold, has no answer; the archetype of the grizzled, unlucky-in-love, smoking, drinking, beaten-down cop like Sonny Crockett works every time, and Mindhunter should have cast that type instead of the miscast Jonathan Groff.
  • Is Kehoe ruined because he is the villain of Another 48 Hours; one host finds the sequel entertaining despite a heavier Eddie Murphy; Nolte told the A.V. Club that his idea for the sequel was a far more racist story in which Cates had become a full-blown alcoholic in a fleabag motel and Reggie came to get him out and took control, which Eddie rejected; they then did it for the money.
  • The sequel was easy and they overthought it, keeping Reggie and Jack antagonistic when they should be friends; it should have been five years later with Reggie a cop, or both private investigators, as partners still busting each other, either solving a case or facing Gans's brother, the only smart part of the real sequel, which could have run to six films; Metro with Michael Rapport (as transcribed) is essentially 48 Hours 3.
  • A defense of Another 48 Hours as one of the last bastions of action comedy, though bloated with bikers, meth and shootouts; Fletch Lives, Rocky V and Another 48 Hours all arrived within eighteen months in a dark period, explained by the theory that Hollywood's cocaine years from 1977 to 1986 ended with Len Bias's death and left five years of horrible movies.
  • Who won the Nolte and Eddie fight: Eddie was winning before the cops showed up, but Cates comes on strong and lands the last six or eight punches after starting dirty; one scores it 10-9 Reggie 'because I believe in justice', a punch count has it almost even, and the other scores it 10-9 Murphy but expects Nolte to wear him down in the next round.
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