Eddie Murphy is not at Apex despite Cop 2 and Raw in the same year; the first Beverly Hills Cop was his apex, though the film’s success shows his star power. — Bill Simmons
Taggart and Rosewood are named first, with a wish that Beverly Hills Cop movies had kept coming every two years, seven in all, to add more of them. — Bill Simmons
Brigitte Nielsen is raised next, and this is judged the best part she ever had, better than her earlier Schwarzenegger film and definitely better than Cobra. — Bill Simmons
An opening song thematically drawn from the movie is praised as something no longer done. — Chris Ryan
Shakedown was reportedly meant for Glenn Frey until his voice gave out, so Bob Seger sang it; Harold Faltermeyer’s score is compared to 48 Hours, Escape from New York, Miami Vice, and Fletch. — Bill Simmons
Shakedown is called Bob Seger’s only number-one hit, a late peak after Springsteen pulled ahead of him around 1981. — Bill Simmons
George Michael’s I Want Your Sex is called an amazing ‘80s song used perfectly. — Bill Simmons
A scene at the villains’ apartment revealing their strange relationship is wished for, and the debt-driven alphabet scheme is called too cute by half. — Bill Simmons
Simpson and Bruckheimer have aged best; Simpson reportedly had Paramount pull writer Larry Ferguson off The Presidio to work on this film. — Bill Simmons
A deleted gun-club scene where Axel, Rosewood, and Taggart sneak past lasers should have been kept. — Bill Simmons
It was reportedly the first movie filmed at the Playboy Mansion after Hugh Hefner had long refused. — Bill Simmons
The Alphabet Crimes concept could be a Fincher-style limited Netflix series with one letter per episode; the crimes ran through the jewelry store, Bogomil, City Deposit, and the racetrack, and should have reached J. — Bill Simmons
Paul Reiser appears to be reading a Playboy’s Sisters magazine in several scenes, possibly a payoff for mansion access. — Chris Ryan
The short scene of Bogomil being gunned down after Brigitte Nielsen’s car cuts him off opens the category, including the wig removal and Mercedes convertible getaway. — Chris Ryan
Axel commandeering the Andersons’ house under construction is nominated, with the foreman’s exasperated no-right-angles reaction and the flow into Johnny Wishbone as highlights.
The gun club scene is praised for the Monique and Unique bit and Nielsen’s introduction, though shooting the screen with a real gun seems odd and the villain lineup feels overcrowded, including Dean Stockwell’s character.
The 385 North strip-club bit presenting a man as former President Gerald Ford remains funny, helped by the outfit and the crowd’s applause.
The fish-tank fingerprint visit to Rosewood’s apartment, with its Cobra poster, could have lasted twenty minutes. — Bill Simmons
The City Deposit armored-truck robbery is Tony Scott flexing, ending with a cement truck and Chris Rock as a valet; the whole Playboy Mansion sequence is called one of the most ‘80s scenes of the ‘80s. — Bill Simmons
The racetrack robbery is chosen for Tony Scott’s cross-cutting with running horses and Brigitte turning on her partner. — Chris Ryan
The Detroit scenes with the returning cigarette salesman and Paul Reiser’s strung-out Ferrari payphone calls are also named. — Chris Ryan
The final choice splits by genre: City Deposit through the Playboy Mansion for action, and the Andersons house scene for comedy, which the other host matches with the gun-club bag bit as an alternative. — Bill Simmons
Cobretti takes Brigitte to a safe house despite knowing there is a mole, and much of the department knows where it is; safe houses are always leaked (John Connor, Eraser, Miami Vice), a point also held for unanswerable questions. — Kyle Brandt
The 'what's the magic word? please' banter is a line-for-line lift from Ghostbusters two years earlier. — Kyle Brandt
Answer A is that the movie is perfect and should not be touched; Answer B asks whether someone better than Brigitte could have played the part. — Bill Simmons
Marky Post, recently deceased and underrated, from Night Court and The Fall Guy, is offered for Brigitte's role, though the proposer is unsure she would have made it scarier. — Bill Simmons
As a joke, Bull from Night Court could be the Night Slasher. — Bill Simmons
A serious recast gets the band back together: Dolf Lundgren as the Night Slasher, bigger and scarier, with Bert Young as the partner. — Kyle Brandt
The reply is that Dolph would overshadow the role, which needs a new face. — Bill Simmons
Carl Weathers as the sidekick in the Reni Santoni role and Adrian in Brigitte's role, killed by the Night Slasher, would both have been enjoyed. — Bill Simmons
The supermarket killer dials it up, screaming 'I'll kill you all' and a drawn-out 'Why?', as if chasing a one-scene supporting actor award; he is the winner. — Bill Simmons
TV reporter questioning Cobretti's tactics; Brigitte Nielsen's wig; the robot fashion / Skid Row montage set to Robert Tepper's Angel of the City; the Dirty Harry villain actor as a punched foil
The TV reporter questioning Cobretti's tactics after the supermarket mass murder is repeated as aged worst. — Bill Simmons
Brigitte Nielsen's wig makes her look like Robert Plant, perhaps to differentiate her from Drago's wife. — Kyle Brandt
The robot fashion montage, cut against Stallone on Skid Row, is laughably out of date; the robots are Stallone's heat check after Pauley's robot. — Kyle Brandt
Robert Tepper's Angel of the City montage is a drop-off after No Easy Way Out from Rocky IV, though the song is liked now. — Bill Simmons
Casting the Dirty Harry villain as Stallone's cop foil and having Stallone punch him is called cruel, an overt shot at Dirty Harry that did the actor dirty. — Bill Simmons
Feel the Heat by Jean Bevoir plays over the second montage; it is then liked and moved to aged best, 'Apex Mountain from music'. — Bill Simmons
An original ending would have revealed a satanic tattoo marking the Dirty Harry actor's character as the real leader of the New Order; the host who read about it was bummed out, while the other, 'going the other way', says it would have been a great ending, and wishes there had been more spitballing for a better version. — Bill Simmons
Stallone's rewrite of the Beverly Hills Cop script was too expensive, explosive and humorless, so Eddie Murphy was brought in; Stallone kept the renegade-cop idea and made it into Cobra. — Bill Simmons
Cinematographer Rick Waite answered Stallone's complaint about delays by blaming Stallone fooling around with Brigitte Nielsen and showing off for his bodyguards; Stallone cleaned up for about two weeks. — Bill Simmons
Director George P. Cosmodos is described as a figurehead with Stallone effectively directing, and supporting cast and extras were reportedly forbidden to talk to Stallone on set. — Bill Simmons
Brian Thompson, who plays the Night Slasher, repeatedly asked Stallone about the character's backstory and was finally told the guy's just evil. — Bill Simmons
Stallone's mumbling required subtitles; he ran amok for about two months with nobody stopping him, and Thompson, a trained theater actor, was left with no motivation for the role. — Bill Simmons
The source material was the novel Fair Game by Paula Gosling, which was changed a lot, later made into a movie with Cindy Crawford and William Baldwin, and tied to Beverly Hills Cop's origins. — Bill Simmons
The movie almost got an X rating for violence, not sex. — Bill Simmons
The final scene was shot at the Pacific Coast Club in Long Beach; the car was a 1950 Mercury owned by Stallone, with three replicas built for the chase scenes. — Bill Simmons
Knife designer Herman Schneider made the Night Slasher's knife at Stallone's request; with finger holes and spikes like brass knuckles, it is called one of the best weapons in any core action movie and something drawn on school folders. — Kyle Brandt
Drive's director was a huge fan, and the main character's toothpick was a Cobra homage. — Bill Simmons
A TV-series remake was mentioned with 2019 (transcribed 'Stallone animated in 2019'), but nothing had happened after two and a half years. — Bill Simmons
The body count is 52, with 41 killed by Marion Cobretti. — Bill Simmons
Splintered patriotism, recycled footage, TV-delivered bad news, robot sexual jokes, reduced death impact, poor officiating/training, accents, continuity, and the Stallone–Nielsen relationship
