But that is the problem. Is this a comedy or an action picture? Roger Ebert famously declared the fusion of the two genres as suspect and unworkable. The screenplay by Daniel Petrie (which was shockingly nominated for an Oscar) is at its best when we see Eddie at the center, acting drunk and foolish to nail a suspected robber at a nightclub or, in general, bluffing his way out of any Beverly Hills establishment and showing the rich, glamorous denizens of the ritzy town who is the boss. That is what I remember best about "Beverly Hills Cop." The lazily written, mediocre cops and cocaine dealers stuff is something you would see in any "Starsky and Hutch" show. Had the film focused on Eddie's attempts to mingle and bluff his way through Beverly Hills and completely ditched the screenplay, then it might have been a real winner.

Martin Brest directs as well as he can, but he later proved to make a more amiable and entertaining action-comedy in the classic "Midnight Run" four years later. "Beverly Hills Cop" was a solid start for Eddie Murphy and it showed his comedic talent skillfully. I just sense that it could have been so much more.