There are always things that are guaranteed to happen in the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies should Mr. Foley ever find himself under those familiar palm trees and heading for the Hills. One highlight includes unexpected appearances that demand a second take. Besides McDonald having his drive interrupted by an unplanned chopper dropping in, the original “Beverly Hills Cop” features an appearance from comedy star-in-the-making Damon Wayans, who helps Axel with his classic tactic of sticking a banana in Taggart’s tailpipe.
Tony Scott’s beloved second instalment of the franchise, “Beverly Hills Cop II,” has his plan of catching the bad guy interrupted courtesy of the former head of Playboy, Hugh Hefner. As for the third film (a movie so bad it almost ended the franchise entirely), the movie has a who’s who of big-screen directors. John Singleton, Joe Dante, Arthur Hiller, Barbet Schroeder, Peter Medak, and George Lucas all drop in during Foley’s third adventure. It makes it even more surprising, then, that with all those directors, John Landis couldn’t get any help to turn that movie into a decent watch.
