48 Hrs (1982)

Elevator Pitch

The 48 Hours of the title is the length of time during which renegade San Francisco cop Jack Cates can rely on the assistance of bank robber Reggie Hammond who he has had released from prison so that the two can go on the track of Reggie’s former associates who are attempting to recover the proceeds of a robbery and are causing mayhem in the grimy underbelly of the city’s bars, clubs and seedy hotels.

Content

One of the gang breaks another out of a prison road gang. We are introduced to Jack Cates as he participates in a shoot-out in a hotel where two cops are killed. Jack and Reggie bicker. Reggie pretends to be a policeman in a redneck club. They drive about in the cop’s semi-derelict convertible and at times get close to the gang members, finally chasing them as they get away in a stolen bus. There is some drinking, a lot of swearing, a bit of female nudity and a running joke as Reggie hits on young women, having not had sex during his three years in prison.

A View

I would say that this movie has not weathered all that well, containing a number of what we today would call stock characters, the renegade cop, the shouty police lieutenant, the violent killers and the hysterical hookers, but some of the scenes are riveting particularly the opening moments, the shoot-out in the hotel, Eddie Murphy’s scene in the redneck club and the fun music in an R&B establishment. So for those scenes worth your time.