John Ashton

Nicolas Cage, Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz are the larcenous Firpo brothers. Bill (Cage) is a good-hearted guy doing his best to keep pathological Dave (Lovitz) and kleptomaniac Alvin (Carvey) out of trouble. But the two small-time crooks lure their brother into robbing a bank in the small town of Paradise, Pennsylvania, where pulling off the heist is a snap compared to getting out of town after a snowstorm hits. And, the brothers soon discover that all their big-city smarts are useless against the unsuspecting, good-hearted townsfolk who shower them with kindness at every turn.

Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is a tough ex-cop turned bounty hunter. Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas (Charles Grodin) is a sensitive accountant who embezzled $15 million from the Mob, gave it to charity and then jumped bail. Jack's in for a cool $100,000 if he can deliver The Duke from New York to L.A. on time. And alive. Sounds like just another Midnight Run (a piece of cake in bounty hunter slang), but it turns into a cross-country chase. The FBI is after The Duke to testify-the Mob is after him for revenge-and Walsh is after him to just shut up.

The 1988 sequel to one of the most successful movies of all time finds Eddie Murphy reprising his role as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, and once again playing a fish out of water as he tries to solve a series of heists in Beverly Hills that may be connected to the attempted murder of his friend, a Beverly Hills police captain (Ronny Cox). Constructed in a much flashier and faster-paced visual style than the first film, the song still remains the same as Foley tries to keep his job in Detroit while solving crimes for the Beverly Hills cops.

While its sequels were formulaic and safe, the first Beverly Hills Cop set out to explore some uncharted territory, and succeeded. A blend of violent action picture and sharp comedy, the film has an excellent director, Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman), who finds some original perspectives on stock scenes (highway chases, police rousts) and hits a gleeful note with Murphy while skewering L.A. culture. Good support from Judge Reinhold and John Ashton as local cops not used to doing things the Detroit way (Murphy's character hails from the Motor City).