Eddie Murphy owes his international popularity to Beverly Hills Cop, the 1984 action-comedy film where he starred.  Produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, it was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards; it was the second highest-grossing film of that year.

The film centers on Detroit detective Axel Foley (Murphy), who is under constant watch from his superiors after conducting an unauthorized sting.  When his friend Mikey Tandino (James Russo) was killed, he asks his boss Inspector Todd (Gilbert R. Hill) to let him in the case, but is refused.  Instead, he asks for two weeks’ worth of vacation time, and goes to Beverly Hills himself, disguised as a Rolling Stone reporter, to investigate Mikey’s death.  He meets up with mutual childhood friend Jenny (Lisa Eilbacher) and try to solve the case together.  Also on the film are Judge Reinhold, as William Rosewood; John Ashton, as Sean Taggart; and Ronny Cox as Andrew Bogomil.

Bruckheimer revealed on the featurette in the film’s DVD release that Mickey Rourke was originally offered the role of Axel Foley.  He signed a holding contract, but left when pre-production and story revisions took longer than expected.  The film was then offered to Sylvester Stallone, but he left due to creative differences; he wanted the film to have more action.  Jenny was also originally intended to be Stallone’s love interest rather than a mutual friend.  When Stallone left, the role was subsequently rewritten for Murphy.

Beverly Hills Cop earned $316,360,478 worldwide, making it the second biggest hit of 1984, closely following Ghostbusters.  The film’s soundtrack won a Grammy for Best Original Score Album; its instrumental title tune, “Axel F,” has since been sampled by many artists.  It spurred two film sequels, released in 1987 and 1994 respectively. A fourth sequel is reportedly in production.