History Film / BeverlyHillsCop

* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: After returning from the warehouse, Axel sneaks into the back seat of Rosewood and Taggart's car and jump scares [[TheGadfly them as a goof]]. In real life for obvious reasons police officers '''never''' casually leave their doors unlocked, even if it was an unmarked car.

* DaChief: Axel's boss, Inspector Todd, who was played by an actual Detroit cop.

* DeathGlare: Taggart is good at these; just ask Axel and Billy. Inspector Todd has a pretty serious one too.

* BigGuyLittleGuy: Taggart and Rosewood, the cops assigned to watch Axel and whom he eventually befriends.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bhctrilogy_4955.jpg]]

* BehindTheBlack: As Zack walks along the corridor leading past the dining room of the Maitland mansion during the final shootout, the camera is seen from the window facing in towards the dining room as Zack moves past one of the entryways. Had Zack looked to his left, he most likely would have seen [[spoiler:Axel himself, lying in wait after being shot, who ambushes and kills Zack as walks past the far entryway and turns around]].

HilarityEnsues as Axel adjusts to the more straight-laced world of Beverly Hills, using his comedic timing and unflappability to get himself out of some sticky situations. As he tries to build a case against the {{Mook}}s that killed his friend back in Detroit, he manages to talk his way into (and out of) the Beverly Hills jail, his hotel, a bonded warehouse, a country club, and more. Just when he's about to crack the case, the BigBad Victor Maitlan (Creator/StevenBerkoff) arrives and kidnaps his [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend not-quite-love-interest]], Jenny Summers (Creator/LisaEilbacher), forcing the Beverly Hills police detectives he's been trying to win over to come and help. The movie ends in [[StormingTheCastle a massive, scenery-chewing shootout at the villain's huge mansion]], with the local detectives learning that sometimes bending the rules isn't so bad after all.

* WeaponOfChoice: Axel's Browning Hi-Power handgun, which he carries in all three films.

* TryAndFollow: While driving, he spots two plainclothes cops tailing him. He stops at a traffic light and waits through the green and yellow cycles, confusing the cops. Just as the light turns red, he speeds through the intersection. By the time the cops recover from their surprise and try to give chase they're cut off by the cross traffic.

The film that cemented Eddie Murphy as a megastar, it was followed by ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'' (1987) and ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'' (1994). A fourth film is being produced by Creator/{{Netflix}}.

The film that cemented Eddie Murphy as a megastar, it was followed by two sequels: ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'' (1987) and ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopIII'' (1994). Directors Creator/AdilElArbiAndBilallFallah are set to helm a fourth movie... [[DevelopmentHell eventually]].

* TakenOffTheCase: After Foley manages to [[BananaInTheTailpipe put a banana in the tailpipe]] of their car and disable it and later lures them to a stripper bar where they foil a robbery, officers Taggart and Rosewood are taken off the case by their captain, and two other detectives are assigned to trail Foley.

--->'''Inspector Todd''': Yes we are, aren't we? Now let's look at the facts. 1) A ''hoodlum'' friend, 2) a professional hit, 3) In a cop's apartment! This whole things stinks to high Heaven!

* SherlockScan: At the bikini bar, Axel is able to determine that two guys are about to rob the place solely on the fact that they were wearing overcoats in the middle of June.

* PlayingDrunk: While at the bikini bar with Taggart and Rosewood, Axel pretends to be drunk to make a suspected armed robber think he's harmless and get close enough to take him out.

* IfIWantedYouDead: Inspector Todd points out to Axel that Mikey was killed by professionals, and that they weren't worrried about Axel. "If they were, you'd be lying beside him in that meat wagon." Justified — both Axel and his friend were knocked out by the killers, who then put two bullets in Mikey's head. As Axel hadn't seen their faces (and they didn't know he was a policeman), they left him alone.

* IfIWantedYouDead: Inspector Todd points out to Axel that Mikey was killed by professionals. "Otherwise, your brains would be splattered alongside his." Justified — both Axel and his friend were knocked out by the killers, who then put two bullets in Mikey's head. As Axel hadn't seen their faces (and they didn't know he was a policeman), they left him alone.

* CrooksAreBetterArmed: When the protagonist cops invade Victor Maitland's estate, they're armed with pistols, plus Taggart's shotgun. The {{mooks}} who attack them are armed with fully automatic submachine guns, while [[TheDragon Zach]] carries a shotgun.

* KnightOfCerebus: Apart from getting thrown into the buffet table, most of the scenes with [[TheDragon Zach]] are played quite serious, such as the scene where he confronts Mikey before shooting him in the back of the head. During the final shootout, he sends Foley running multiple times and is only taken down when Foley waits for him and greets him with a three-round burst.

* TheStoic: Zach never changes his expression or voice. Well, ''almost'' never...
** NotSoStoic: After Axel flips him into the buffet table, Zach looks ''pissed'' and has to be talked down by Maitland.

** Axel must have learned it from Inspector Todd, who doesn't just ClusterFBomb, he ''[[UpToEleven CARPET]]'' F-Bombs.

* BlatantLies: Bogomil's cover story at the end about Axel being part of a multijurisdictional task force on organized crime is so obviously made up on the spot that the police chief is on the verge of cracking up over it, but he lets it pass, given the [[SavedByTheAwesome incredible nature of the bust they've just pulled off]].
-->'''Chief:''' You actually expect me to believe that report, Lieutenant?\\

** Maitland has his goons throw Foley through a window, and claims Foley threw himself out. The police buy Maitland's story since [[VillainWithGoodPublicity he's perceived to be much more credible]] than Axel.
** After the banana-in-the-tail-pipe incident, Axel drags Taggart and Rosewood to a strip club when he knows both officers are on-duty. They happen to foil a robbery while they're there (Axel does a good chunk of the work), and all three are dragged back to the station to explain to Bogomil why they were there. Axel tries to cover for them by claiming that they simply followed him to the strip club and apprehended the would-be robbers on their own and calls them "super-cops" but [[HonorBeforeReason Taggart denies this and ends up telling the truth instead]]. Axel Lampshades this by stating that his "super-cop story" was actually working before they "fucked it up", earning a [[FreezeFrameBonus Blink and You'll Miss It]] smile from Bogomil.

* {{Corpsing}}: Eddie Murphy apparently caused plenty of this, specially because most dialogue was improvised. During the "Super Cops" scene, John Ashton is doing sort of a FacePalm to hide his laughter, while Creator/JudgeReinhold, in turn, was pinching his thighs through his pants pockets.

* RefugeInAudacity: Axel manages to get himself a luxury suite in a posh Beverly Hills hotel by claiming to be a Rolling Stone reporter and threatening to write an article claiming the hotel was racist because they "lost" his non-existent reservation.

'''Taggart:''' [punches him]

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Axel and Bogomil empty their weapons into Maitland, shooting him at least twenty times when just one or two shots would have probably been sufficient enough to take him down. And then Maitland falls down the stairs.

* UnconventionalFoodUsage: Axel, Rosewood, and Taggart find lots of coffee grounds in Maitland's warehouse. Later, in Bogomil's office, Taggart wonders about the significance of the coffee grounds. Bogomil explains that drug smugglers use them to throw drug-sniffing dogs off the scent.

* VillainBall: Much of the plot depends on Victor Maitland being a moron. If he had just played dumb and told Axel that he had no idea who would want to kill his friend Mikey, that, yes, he uses bearer bonds in his business all the time, which is completely normal in the art world, and no, he has no idea why Mikey would have brought bearer bonds with him to Detroit, that would have been the end of the movie, as Axel at that point had no real basis of suspicion against him. Instead, he calls in a group of thugs to his office to have Axel literally thrown out of a window, at which point Axel is quite suspicious of Maitland. When Maitland catches Axel and Jenny in one of his warehouses, having discovered a load of cocaine, he could have had them killed on the spot. Instead, he takes Jenny to his mansion, leaving Axel behind to get roughed up by two of his thugs. That, of course, allowed Rosewood to rescue Axel, and for the two of them, with Taggart in tow, to go rescue Jenny. If Maitland had had a triple-digit IQ, the movie would have been much shorter.

-->'''Maitland''': Be careful, old boy. You might hit me.

* HollywoodLaw: An interesting example, because, instead of ignoring Maitland's fourth amendment rights, Axel is actually needlessly sensitive to them. When he and Jenny go to search Maitland's warehouse for drugs, Billy asks why he can't come along; Axel explains that, because Billy is a cop in that jurisdiction, and they don't have probable cause, the judge would rule the search illegal and toss the results. Of course, realistically, any judge with a single digit IQ would also hold that Axel was acting as an agent of the Beverly Hills police, so that justification would not fly. The real reason they could legally search the warehouse is that Jenny is the manager of Maitland's gallery and ''has a key'', given to her by him, to the gallery's warehouse, where the incriminating crate is simply sitting on the floor. If the police are admitted to a place with the consent of a person who would normally have access to that place, then they do not need probable cause. If the manager of a business willingly permits the police to search said business, the police do not need a warrant.

* AdvertisedExtra: Mikey's actor, James Russo, is credited in the opening credits alongside Axel, Rosewood, Taggert, Jenny and Maitland, among others. Mikey gets offed in the first fifteen minutes.

* CrooksAreBetterArmed: When the protagonist cops invade Victor Maitland's estate, they're armed with pistols, plus Taggert's shotgun. The {{mooks}} who attack them are armed with fully automatic submachine guns, while [[TheDragon Zach]] carries a shotgun.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: The two goons shooting at Rosewood and Taggert with Uzis surrender when TheCavalry arrives. Then Rosewood proclaims them all under arrest.