When Eddie Murphy first played Axel Foley back in 1984, the actor was in his early twenties and branching out from his star-making stint as part of the Saturday Night Live cast. The release of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F comes four decades after the iconic Detroit police agent rolled through the streets of Los Angeles. And apparently, Murphy had a particular gripe about not changing one thing about his character – at first, anyway.
Axel Foley is back in action for Beverly Hills Cop 4 (which should've hit theaters), now streaming with a Netflix subscription. And yes, he’s still rocking that Detroit Lions jacket, alongside blue jeans and white Adidas. However, Axel’s wardrobe was a point of contention between Murphy and the movie’s creatives at first. As Eddie Murphy told The Ringer:
It was surreal when you put it on again and look at it again. They kind of had to talk me into wearing the same clothes. Because I was like, ‘Why would he have on the same clothes from 30 years ago? I have the same sneakers?’ And they were like, ‘Can you get your hair the same way? Yeah, you grow a little Afro like you had back then.’ I was like, ‘What the fuck is wrong with y’all? I’m not doing anything!
At first, Murphy felt Axel Foley, who is now in his sixties, should dress his age. However, as the filmmakers pointed out, the Beverly Hills Cop lead’s fashion is a huge part of the character. As the comedy legend continued:
They kind of talked me into it. They were like, ‘Hey, listen, this character’s look is kind of part of his whole thing. Axel Foley has that jacket. It’s like Indiana Jones’s hat.’ And when they put it like that, it was like, ‘OK. All right.’ And it worked out.
Hey, it kind of makes sense that Axel Foley would be the kind of guy to rep his Detroit Lions bomber for decades upon decades, right? Plus, in the years since Eddie Murphy has become recognizable for so much more than Beverly Hills Cop, that perhaps the nostalgia of his specific wardrobe was a necessary ingredient that Murphy ended up coming around to.
In Axel F, the detective returns to Beverly Hills after his estranged daughter (played by Taylour Paige) when her life is threatened. They both team up with another Beverly Hills-based detective, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Bobby Abbott, along with many of Axel Foley’s old pals along the way.
Yes, Judge Reinhold is back as Billy Rosewood, John Ashton plays John Taggart again, Paul Reiser’s Jeffrey Friedman and Bronson Pinchot’s Serge are all apart of the fourth Beverly Hills Cop. Plus, Kevin Bacon plays a new police captain at the BHPD named Cade Grant.
Ahead of the new Beverly Hills Cop movie coming to streaming, the movie got a good word from critics overall. CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg gave the movie a 3.5 out of 5 in our Axel F review, calling the comedy a “quality addition” to Eddie Murphy’s filmography and “unquestionably” the best legacy sequel the actor has ever made. You can see Eddie Murphy’s return in his iconic ‘80s role now on Netflix!
