The TV version has two extra scenes. One featuring a walk with Jack and Elaine through Chinatown as he tells her his fears about going after Ganz and a scene that occurs after the shootout at the B.A.R.T. Station between Cates and the Police Chief. The Chief tells him that Internal Affairs is on his back.
Annette O'Toole originally had more screentime, and even one (maybe two) nude scenes. Some of the stills◊ showing her character naked in the shower while Nick Nolte is looking at her did show up in movie magazines at the time and in some articles about O'Toole.
Dyeing for Your Art: James Remar often went without any sleep before shooting his scenes in order to give Ganz a more washed-out, psychotic look.
Enforced Method Acting: During the filming of a scene where Denise Crosby (as Sally) hits Eddie Murphy in the stomach with a rubber baseball bat prop, Murphy was afraid Crosby would actually hit him instead of stopping about a foot away like all staged movie blows. She demonstrated her control on both Walter Hill and Nick Nolte to assure Murphy, but ended up hitting him anyway during a take.
Method Acting: Prior to filming, Nick Nolte spent several weeks submerging himself in the role of Jack Cates by interviewing San Francisco, CA, police officers and eating foods he felt were fitting to the character.
Production Posse: The actors who play Ganz, Luther and the attendant at the garage where Reggie left his car all had significant roles in Hill's earlier Cult Classic, The Warriors.
Release Date Change: Originally, the film was expected to be released in 1,300 theaters on December 17, 1982, but production notes listed a December 10, 1982 release date. The release date for this movie then moved to December 8, 1982 in selected theaters throughout Los Angeles.
Star-Making Role: Eddie Murphy had already carried SNL through a rough patch and saved it from cancellation, but this film proved his range and versatility as an actor and made him a superstar overnight.
The film's original storyline, according to Wikipedia, "had the Governor of Louisiana's daughter kidnapped by a criminal, who strapped dynamite to her head and threatened to blow her up in 48 hours if the ransom was not met. The meanest cop goes to the worst prison in the state and gets out the most vicious criminal for his knowledge of the kidnapper who was his cell-mate".
Apparently, an earlier or the original version of the script had the two leads as two cops with no convict.
Another 48 Hrs:
Deleted Role: Frank McRae reprised his role, but his was almost entirely cut out of the film. If you look closely in one of the shots in the police precinct, McRae appears on camera for a few seconds. He was uncredited for the role.
Development Gag: When Reggie is calling his old friends to try and borrow money, one of the men he calls is named "Willie Biggs". In the original screenplay for the first movie, Willie Biggs was the original name of Reggie Hammond. Eddie Murphy requested that the name be changed because he thought it was a "generic black name."
Executive Meddling: According to Brion James around 50 minutes were cut from from the final work-print until the released version. Walter Hill submitted the original version that was two hours long weeks before its release, but Paramount cut out twenty-five minutes of the film days before it was theatrically released.
Total Recall (1990) came out a week before Another 48 Hrs. that summer, it made twenty-five million, became the number one movie in the country and the studio panicked because they had invested a lot in the 48 Hours franchise, but they felt that at well over two hours, that the movie might be too much. My stuff was in there until one week before the film opened; that is when they cut twenty-five minutes out of that movie, a week before it opened. It went from around 140 to down around 95 minutes. They said, "Cut all the behaviour, action, comedy..." I lost every major scene I had. That's the last time I ever cared about a movie because I went to the press screening and it was like getting kicked in the stomach, seeing what is not there. I was the third lead and now I looked like a dressed extra. All the stuff that they had in the set-up, stuff in the trailer, all those scenes were gone.
Franchise Killer: There were plans for a third film, Yet Another 48 Hrs that never materialised.
Missing Trailer Scene: The trailer contains a scene where Jack explains to Reggie that he has a deadline to track down the Iceman; as such, there is no mention of '48 hours' anywhere in the final film.
Screwed by the Network: Eddie Murphy accused Paramount of not spending enough on advertising and changing the release date. Paramount counter-alleged that Murphy did not spend enough time promoting the film. This led to tension in the long-running relationship between Murphy and Paramount.
◊ showing her character naked in the shower while Nick Nolte is looking at her did show up in movie magazines at the time and in some articles about O'Toole.
