Another 48 Hrs.

Another 48 Hrs.
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Walter Hill
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Robert D. Wachs
Screenplay by	John Fasano Jeb Stuart Larry Gross
Story by	Eddie Murphy (as Fred Braughton)
Based on	Characters by Roger Spottiswoode Walter Hill Larry Gross Steven E. de Souza
Starring	Eddie Murphy Nick Nolte Brion James Ed O'Ross Andrew Divoff
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Edited by	Donn Aron Carmel Davies Freeman A. Davies Tim Ryder
Production company	Eddie Murphy Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	June 8, 1990 (1990-06-08)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50 million[1]
Box office	$153.5 million[2]

Another 48 Hrs. is a 1990 American action-crime comedy film,^[3] directed by Walter Hill and stars Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte, Brion James, Andrew Divoff, and Ed O'Ross. It is the sequel to the 1982 film 48 Hrs. In the film, Nolte reprises his role as San Francisco police officer Jack Cates, who has 48 hours to clear his name from a potential manslaughter charge. To do so, he needs the help of Reggie Hammond (Murphy), Cates's friend who is now a newly released convict. At the same time, a notorious mastermind known only as the Iceman has hired a gang of bikers to kill Reggie.

Plot

San Francisco cop Jack Cates is at the Hunter's Point Raceway checking out a known associate of the Iceman, Tyrone Burroughs, who for unknown reasons is giving some money to mechanic Arthur Brock. When Jack orders them to surrender, Brock pulls out a gun and starts firing and Jack kills Brock in self-defense as Burroughs escapes.

Among those who show up at the scene are fellow cops Ben Kehoe and Frank Cruise, and also Blake Wilson, the head of the Internal Affairs division. Cates tells Wilson that he shot Brock in self-defense as Brock had opened fire on him. Cruise picks up a burnt piece of twisted metal but says that he can't find Brock's gun. Jack, however finds a partly burnt picture of Reggie Hammond in Brock's bag.

Jack then goes to visit Reggie in prison, with Reggie due for release in 24 hours. After getting hit in the face with a basketball by Reggie for refusing to promise Reggie his $500,000 unless Reggie helps him find the Ice Man, Jack discovers that Wilson plans to prosecute him on a charge of third degree manslaughter for the Arthur Brock shooting, with Wilson claiming that it was not self-defence and Jack is placed on suspension. Wilson also does not believe that the Iceman exists and believes Jack is wasting department resources looking for him.

After Reggie is released from prison, bikers Richard "Cherry" Ganz, the brother of Albert Ganz, and Willie Hickok from the Brotherhood who had earlier killed two highway patrol officers and a bartender at a bar out in the desert, pull up beside the prison bus and open fire on Reggie, causing the bus to crash. Ganz and Hickok then pull up to a diner where Ganz shoots Jack who is sitting inside. Jack and Reggie end up at the same hospital where it is revealed that Jack was wearing a bullet proof vest and Reggie had escaped the hit with nothing more than a bump on his head. Jack then convinces the attending police officers to release Reggie into his custody by telling them that he is needed to identify the Kingpin of a child pornography ring.

After arriving back in San Francisco, Jack and Reggie go to a bar, the bartender having called the police complaining about some bikers, again revealed to be Ganz, Hickok and the leader of the Brotherhood Malcolm Price. While Reggie is in the women's bathroom getting another patron's wallet back from a pick-pocket who tries unsuccessfully to stab him, Cates ends up in a bar fight with a man that he put in prison two years ago, and when Jack loses the advantage and starts getting beaten up, Reggie returns and asks the bartender if she has a gun and saves Jack by shooting one of the assailants in the left kneecap.

Reggie then tells Jack that if he wants to find the Iceman he needs to go back to prison to talk to a man named Kirkland Smith who had not only kept Reggie alive while inside, but knows everything that goes on. Smith tells Jack and Reggie that Malcolm Price is staying at the Sunset Motel on the beltway, then angrily tells Reggie to repay his debt to him before breaking the dividing glass with a single punch. However, before Jack and Reggie can get to the motel, the Iceman shows up and kills Malcolm by shooting Malcolm 16 times. Cherry Ganz and Hickok then visit Tyrone Burroughs and kill him as a warning to the Iceman that there is a heavy price for killing one of the Brotherhood.

Later that same day, Jack, who now thinks that he may never clear his name and find the Iceman, starts emptying his locker at the police station, and finally gives Reggie his money. That night, while Reggie is giving the money that he owes Kirkland Smith to his daughter Amy Smith, Cherry and Willie kidnap Reggie and Amy, and take them to the Bird Cage Club, where they meet with Cruise to receive a payoff for handing Reggie over to him (as retribution for the Ice Man killing one of their own). Cruise orders Cherry and Willie to kill Reggie and Amy, but then Jack shows up. Reggie then identifies the Iceman as Jack's friend Detective Ben Kehoe.

Jack realizes that Kehoe had Cruise pick up Brock's gun at the track because Kehoe wanted Jack out of the way. This leads to a wild shootout that takes place in the Bird Cage club, with all but Jack and Amy Smith being shot or killed. Reggie punches Cherry who falls out of the third floor window. Reggie is then taken hostage by Kehoe. Jack shoots Reggie in the shoulder after Reggie bluffs that Jack should shoot him (as in the first movie). When a surprised Reggie falls, Jack then kills Kehoe.

While Reggie is being loaded onto the ambulance, Jack tells him that he found $500,000 that Cruise was going to use to pay off the Brotherhood. Jack's name being cleared of all charges. Reggie tells Jack he is sorry that Jack had to kill his friend. Jack replies that Reggie is his real friend. As the ambulance leaves with Reggie, Jack realizes that Reggie (as in the conclusion of the first film) has successfully stolen his lighter.

Cast

• Eddie Murphy as Reggie Hammond
• Nick Nolte as Jack Cates
• Brion James as Ben Kehoe/Iceman
• Kevin Tighe as Lieutenant Blake Wilson
• Ed O'Ross as Frank Cruise
• David Anthony Marshall as Willie Hickok
• Andrew Divoff as Richard "Cherry" Ganz
• Bernie Casey as Kirkland Smith
• Brent Jennings as Tyrone Burroughs
• Ted Markland as Malcolm Price
• Tisha Campbell as Amy Smith
• Felice Orlandi as the Warden
• Frank McRae as Captain Haden (uncredited)
• Edward Walsh as Detective Joe Stevens
• Page Leong as Angel Lee
• Edgar Small as Judge

Production

Eddie Murphy had been paid $200,000 for the original. By the time of the sequel his fee was $12 million up front plus a percentage of the gross.^[4]

The film was based on an original story by Murphy who asked Hill if he was interested in directing. Hill:

I was, to tell you the truth, a little skeptical. They usually come out twice as expensive and half as good. Not always. I think the Leone movies always got better, and there are a few others. And I felt the studio might encourage me to make a softer film, and if you made a softer version of 48 Hours you're going to have Beverly Hills Cop... So Eddie jumped up, and he convinced me he really very much wanted to do a movie that represented the spirit of the first one, with a lot of street energy and the hard edges of the original. Then Nolte called me a day later,and said, 'Whaddya think, Walt?' ... Nick said, 'If we do one and it stinks, we're still batting .500, which I assume is pretty good in the American League.^[5]

Hill added that "the plot - which Eddie suggested - is actually kind of intriguing. So why not do it?... A lot of folks will say I'm just doing it for the money. What I want to know is, why do they think I made the first one?"^[6]

Release

There were 1,460,259 admissions in France.^[7]

Original workprint of the movie was 145 minutes long. It was cut by either director Walter Hill or the Paramount studio down to 120 minutes, and a week before its summer theatrical release an additional 25 minutes were cut out by Paramount, making a final theatrical version 95 minutes long, but also creating lot of plot holes and continuity mistakes in the movie. Frank McRae's reprisal of his role from the original 48 Hrs. was entirely cut except for a brief, uncredited shot of him in the background of one scene in the police station. Also removed was a scene which was partially shown in the theatrical trailer in which 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. Brion James, also returning from the original, saw his role severely cut down as well, to create a faster-paced action-comedy. In an interview, James said this about the cuts made on the film;

"Total Recall (1990 film) came out a week before Another 48 Hrs. (1990) 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."^[8]

As of January 2012, there are no plans to release a director's cut of this film.

Reception

The film grossed more at the US box office than its predecessor and made $72.7 million from foreign markets for a total of $153.5 million.^[2][9] However this was considered a box office disappointment and because the film was so costly, profits were minimized.^[10]

However, critical reception was very negative, and it currently holds a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews. Vincent Canby of The New York Times stated that it was "as much a star vehicle for Mr. Murphy as The Gorgeous Hussy once was for Joan Crawford. The Crawford name isn't idly invoked. You have to go back to the old M-G-M days to find movies that, with every gesture, let the audience know it was watching a star." Canby continued, "Though the body count is high, all of the people killed are faceless or only minor characters, until the end. It's as if the movie were saying that lethal violence is acceptable (and fun) as long as the victims - like the victims of guided missiles and high-altitude bombing - remain anonymous. Any comedy that allows the mind to ponder high-altitude bombing is in deep trouble."^[11]

Los Angeles Times critic Peter Rainer also gave a negative review, calling it "a crude rehashing of the high points of the first film" and singling out director Hill, who he said "surely recognizes the hollowness of what he's doing here. He tries to ram through the muddled exposition as quickly as possible; essentially, the film is wall-to-wall mayhem, with more shots of hurled bodies shattering windows than I've ever seen in a movie."^[12]

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 movie. This led to tension in the long-running relationship between Murphy and Paramount.^[4]

Soundtrack

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[13]

1. "The Boys Are Back In Town" - Jesse Johnson 4:01
2. "Give It All You Got" - Curio 4:37
3. "I Just Can't Let It End" - Curio 3:52
4. Another 48 Hrs., film score~The Courthouse - James Horner 3:18
5. Another 48 Hrs., film score~Main Title - James Horner 4:11
6. Another 48 Hrs., film score~King Mei Shootout - James Horner 7:36
7. Another 48 Hrs., film score~Birdcage Battle - James Horner 4:43
8. I'll Never Get You Out of This World Alive - Michael Stanton 2:25

The original version of "The Boys Are Back in Town" by the Busboys was not on the soundtrack, but played at the end of the film.

The song "Drinking Them Beers", by the country music singer Tompall Glaser also appears in the movie during the time that Nick Nolte's character is in the diner at the beginning of the film. This song is also not on the official soundtrack of the film.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Another 48 Hrs.

• Another 48 Hrs. at the Internet Movie Database
• Another 48 Hrs. at AllMovie
• Another 48 Hrs. at Box Office Mojo
• Another 48 Hrs. at Rotten Tomatoes