Back in the 80’s Eddie Murphy was one of the funniest actors hands down and there was no two ways about it. The movies he came out in were either edgy and cool or were just flat out hilarious. Some of them didn’t sit well with a lot of people but they became the favorite of others that happened to like the foul language and the jokes that they complemented. Other roles weren’t as filled with vulgar words but were still just as memorable and were something that helped build Murphy’s credibility as a serious actor. To date he’s been one of the more memorable actors of all time for many of his roles, but back in the 80’s he was the guy to go watch when you wanted a comedy that was going to leave you in stitches.
This was of course before he became family-friendly.
5. Trading Places
When the Duke brothers, commodity brokers that were insanely rich and loved to mess with people, decided to switch the lives of Billy Ray Valentine, a street hustler, with Louis Winthorpe, one of their own prominent employees, the effect was highly amusing. A man that had never worked a hard day of labor in his life and a man that had known little but life on the streets were bound to react differently to their sudden and very unknown situations. That’s what made it funny.
4. Beverly Hills Cop
This scene has to be one of his all-time greats since it’s when he started actually making peace with Taggert in the movie. Foley acts like he’s a drunk that’s seen a friend in the strip bar and is cruising towards him with a shaky, shambling walk to signify that he’s a bit tipsy. When the guy gets too close after pulling a shotgun Foley disarms him and knocks him out while Taggert covers the guy’s partner across the way.
3. Raw
Very few people have ever parodied Bill Cosby so well. Eddie Murphy pulls no punches in this movie as he goes after Cosby for something that the other comedian said to him in the past. Cosby was a notoriously family-friendly comic for a lot of years but Murphy, who was inspired by the likes of Richard Pryor, went full out and did whatever came natural to him.
2. 48 Hours
A black man walking into a redneck bar and causing trouble was, in the 80’s, something that might have been followed by a newscast about the same black man being thrown into the street or wheeled to the hospital and placed in the ICU. In this case however Murphy gets to rough a few people up and make it clear that he’s there for information, to be messed with.
1. Coming to America
Not a lot of people would go to the trouble of trying to disarm an assailant in this manner since the common idea is to keep your head down and let the robber have what they want. But the confidence of a prince and his loyal guard are more than enough for a petty thief it would seem.
He was funny back then and is today. But back then he was on fire with his comedy.
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