Bovie Movie

A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his father-figure and sent him to prison.

John Smith is an amoral gunslinger in the days of Prohibition. On the lam from his latest (unspecified) exploits, he happens upon the town of Jericho, Texas. Actually, calling Jericho a town would be too generous—it has become more like a ghost town, since two warring gangs have ‘driven off all the decent folk.’ Smith sees this as an opportunity to play both sides off against each other, earning himself a nice piece of change as a hired gun. Despite his strictly avowed mercenary intentions, he finds himself risking his life for his, albeit skewed, sense of honor….

This routine fish-out-of-water thriller from director Walter Hill offered Arnold Schwarzenegger one of his more interesting action roles before he became a superstar. Playing a stony, monosyllabic Soviet cop poses no real acting problems for the big man, and in James Belushi he has an agreeably foul-mouthed foil, as the pair team up to hunt for an escaped Russian drug dealer. Hill stages a series of entertainingly violent and increasingly silly set pieces, and there’s an eclectic support cast that includes Peter Boyle, Gina Gershon and Laurence Fishburne, when he was still calling himself Larry. 

Trading Places apart, Eddie Murphy has never been better than in this, his exhilarating debut, which is still one of the best “buddy” cop thrillers to be made. Murphy plays the con who is sprung from prison by racist cop Nick Nolte in an attempt to track down psychopathic duo James Remar and Sonny Landham, who have escaped from a chain gang and are now back in town. Nolte and Murphy are perfectly paired: the latter all smooth charm and wisecracks, the former the rough, gruff straight man. Murphy’s taming of a redneck bar deserves its place in the cinematic history books, while director Walter Hill also delivers the goods in the action stakes with some beautifully orchestrated shoot-ups and chases. It was followed by an uninspired retread Another 48 HRS in 1990. 

Director Walter Hill and comedy are always an uneasy combination, and this hackneyed, overlong tale glaringly proves the point. Add the manic, rolling-eyed Richard Pryor, a taste never really acquired by British audiences, and you have a major disappointment that fell flat even when it was made. This was the seventh time the story had been filmed — man left millions in will but first has to spend large amount in 30 days — which should have sounded a note of caution all round, but didn’t. As usual, Pryor overacts wildly. 

… and another largely pointless reprise from the Hollywood mill. Although original stars Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte are reunited with director Walter Hill, all three seem to be going through the motions here. Nolte is the same rough and ready cop who is forced to team up again with con Murphy, this time in a bid to salvage his own career. Ironically, that seems to be the reason for this sequel in real life for Murphy; whereas in the original he was electrifying, here he verges on self-parody. The action is spectacular enough, though, and Hill makes sure he uses up his much bigger budget with increasingly ludicrous set pieces.