Beverly Hills Cop III is a 1994 American action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. The third film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, it was written by Steven E. de Souza and directed by John Landis. Murphy again plays Detroit detective Axel Foley, who returns to Beverly Hills and teams up with detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) to stop a gang of counterfeiters at a local amusement park called WonderWorld.
The film features a number of cameo appearances by well-known film personalities, including Robert B. Sherman, Arthur Hiller, John Singleton, Joe Dante, Barbet Schroeder, Peter Medak, special effects legend Ray Harryhausen and George Lucas as a ride patron. It is also the only film in the series not to involve producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who opted out of the film's production due to budgetary disagreements.
Beverly Hills Cop III was released on May 25, 1994, by Paramount Pictures. The film was panned by critics, and was considered by Murphy himself as the weakest film in the series. The film also underperformed at the box office, grossing $119 million against a $40–70 million budget. A sequel, titled Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, was released on Netflix on July 3, 2024.
Plot Seven years after the events from the second film, Detroit Police Department detective Axel Foley plans to arrest a car-theft ring at a chop shop. Unbeknownst to his superior, Inspector G. Douglas Todd, Axel cancels his SWAT backup; planning to use only his team for the raid.
Meanwhile, a group of four men arrive at the chop shop to pick up a stolen box truck; the leader of the group confirms that the truck still has its cargo—crates apparently belonging to the U.S. government—then has his men execute the car thieves. The group prepares to leave when Axel and his team launch their raid, but are outgunned. Todd, arriving moments later, is killed by the group's leader. When the group flees in the box truck, Axel gives chase but is intercepted by Secret Service Agent Steve Fulbright. He informs Axel that the killer must remain on the loose because the federal government is pursuing a larger scheme in which he is involved.
After Todd's funeral, Axel learns that several clues left behind by the killers point to WonderWorld; a theme park in Beverly Hills, California, owned by "Uncle Dave" Thornton. Axel arrives in Beverly Hills and reunites with his friend Billy Rosewood, now promoted to "Deputy Director of Operations for Joint Systems Interdepartmental Operational Command" (DDO-JSIOC) and meets Jon Flint, Billy's new partner after John Taggart's retirement. Flint calls his friend Ellis DeWald, head of WonderWorld's park security, to let him know that Axel is coming to the park for his investigation.
Axel befriends park employee Janice Perkins while touring the park's behind-the-scenes facilities. He is observed by security, then shot at and attacked hand-to-hand. Axel retreats to the surface, where he cuts in line to enter the Spider Ferris wheel ride. Axel rescues two children from the Spider after the guards accidentally jam the ride and is brought to park manager Orrin Sanderson. When DeWald is called in to contest Axel's claim that he was attacked by the security guards without prior challenge, Axel recognizes DeWald as Todd's killer but Rosewood and Flint refuse to believe him because of DeWald's impeccable public reputation.
Later, Axel is visited in his motel room by Uncle Dave and Janice. They inform him that the WonderWorld park's designer and Uncle Dave's close friend - Roger Frye - has mysteriously disappeared while inspecting the grounds two weeks earlier, leaving only a letter with a cryptic message. Axel and Rosewood attend a banquet to honor DeWald as private law-enforcement officer of the year and meet Axel's old friend Serge. Axel tries to heckle DeWald into revealing his criminal activities but DeWald resists Axel's attempts.
Later, Axel digs deeper into a closed-off section of the park and learns DeWald and Sanderson are using WonderWorld as a front for a counterfeiting ring. DeWald was at the chop shop in Detroit to collect mint paper stored in the truck. That evening, Axel meets with Uncle Dave to ask him about further details to find a piece of viable evidence and discovers that Frye's warning letter is actually written on a sheet of the stolen mint paper. Before he can make use of that evidence, Uncle Dave is shot and wounded by DeWald and Axel is framed for his shooting.
After getting away from DeWald and bringing Uncle Dave to a hospital, Axel sets out to prove his innocence by storming the park; calling Rosewood and Flint to assist him. The ensuing shootout kills the rest of DeWald's henchmen and leaves Axel, Rosewood and Flint injured; after a hand-to-hand fight Axel kills DeWald, avenging Todd.
In the meantime, Sanderson is killed by Agent Fulbright; who then appears before Axel to explain that he was right. Axel realizes that Agent Fulbright is involved with the counterfeiters, so he fatally shoots him after a brief struggle. Later, Axel, Rosewood and Flint attend a special event at WonderWorld; where Uncle Dave—having made a full recovery—thanks Axel for his assistance by creating a new character for WonderWorld with his name—"Axel Fox"—while Axel begins a relationship with Janice.
Cast
Eddie Murphy as Detective Axel Foley Judge Reinhold as Sergeant Billy Rosewood Hector Elizondo as Detective Jon Flint Timothy Carhart as Ellis DeWald John Saxon as Orrin Sanderson Theresa Randle as Janice Perkins Alan Young as Uncle Dave Thornton Stephen McHattie as Secret Service Agent Steve Fulbright Bronson Pinchot as Serge Gil Hill as Inspector Douglas Todd Jon Tenney as Detective Levine Lindsey Ginter as Holloway Dan Martin as Cooper Al Green as Minister Joey Travolta as Giolito Hattie Winston as Mrs. Todd Helen Martin as Grandma Tracy Melchior as Ticket Booth Lady Eugene Collier as Leppert Forry Smith as Rondy Gregory McKinney as Kimbrough David Parry as Taddeo Louis Lombardi as Snake Fred Asparagus as Bobby Michael Bowen as Fletch Symba Smith as Annihilator Girl #1 Julie Strain as Annihilator Girl #2 Heather Elizabeth Parkhurst as Annihilator Girl #3 John Singleton as Fireman George Lucas as Disappointed Man Arthur Hiller as Bar Patron #1 Ray Harryhausen as Bar Patron #2 Robert B. Sherman as Bar Patron #3 Richard M. Sherman as Wonderworld Bandleader (deleted scenes)
Production Development and writing Asked in 1989 about a third Beverly Hills Cop installment, Eddie Murphy stated: "There's no reason to do it. I don't need the money and it's not gonna break any new ground. How often can you have Axel Foley talk fast and get into a place he doesn't belong? But these motherfuckers are developing scripts for it. They're in pre-production. The only reason to do a Cop III is to beat the bank, and Paramount ain't gonna write me no check as big as I want to do something like that. In fact, if I do a Cop III, you can safely say, 'Ooh, he must have got a lot of money!'"
During the script's early drafts, the plot concerned Foley, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) going to London to rescue Captain Andrew Bogomil (Ronny Cox), who was being held hostage by terrorists during an International Police Convention. However, problems such as scripting issues and budgeting caused pre-production to slow to the point where both Ashton and Cox had to drop out due to obligations to other film projects. Taggart's role was re-written as John Flint (Héctor Elizondo) and dialogue was inserted to explain that Taggart had retired and moved to Phoenix. Bogomil's absence is never addressed in this film, nor is he mentioned. However, Ashton and Cox make subtle cameo appearances in the form of a picture on Rosewood's desk of Foley, Taggart, Rosewood and Bogomil on a fishing trip. This is the same picture that appeared in Beverly Hills Cop II on Bogomil's and Foley's desks. In an interview in 2012, Ronny Cox said, "They wanted me to be in Beverly Hills Cop III, but...I read the script".
Rejected ideas for Cop III included a Robert Towne screenplay (in which Foley has to deal with his celebrity status), a scenario teaming Murphy with Sean Connery as a Scotland Yard detective and another Axel-in-London idea where his Scotland Yard counterpart would have been played by John Cleese. The last would have involved British gangsters, loosely based on the real-life Kray brothers, who were captured in Detroit and transported to London by Jeffrey Friedman (Axel's friend from Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop II, played by Paul Reiser) and Axel would have gone overseas after the gangsters' henchmen broke them out of custody and murdered Jeffrey. This was scrapped because producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer decided it was too close to the story of Michael Douglas's 1989 film Black Rain.
When writer Steven E. de Souza was brought in, he originally wrote the story as more "Die Hard in a theme park". He was told that each of the rides he had designed would cost about $10 million to build and the whole film would cost about $70 million. When box office results for Murphy's 1992 comedy The Distinguished Gentleman came in, Paramount ordered the budget to be cut to $55 million. Paramount had earlier told Simpson and Bruckheimer that they would only outlay $25 million for a proposed version to be set in New York City, one of the main reasons that the producing team parted ways with the studio. Joel Silver was set to take over producing duties from Simpson and Bruckheimer; however, negotiations on a large budget resulted in production delays leading to Silver quitting production. It was at this time that producers Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme took on the project. Consequently, the film became more about the investigation and less about the action.
Production was temporarily shut down to allow the Paramount top brass the chance to get to grips with the film's spiraling budget. Originally estimated at $55 million, it was soon in excess of $70 million. Of that budget, $15 million was Murphy's paycheck.
Filming Principal photography began on September 8, 1993. The final chase scene through the "Land of the Dinosaurs", featuring eleven animatronic dinosaurs, was filmed at Universal Studios Stage 37. Exterior scenes set in the theme park were filmed at Paramount's Great America (now known as California's Great America) in Santa Clara, California, after Knott's Berry Farm declined permission. The three-armed Ferris wheel rescue scene used Great America's Sky Whirl. One shootout sequence was filmed inside the Earthquake in Stage 50 attraction on the Studio Tour from the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Universal City, California. The Sherman Brothers wrote the WonderWorld theme song. Filming wrapped on January 25, 1994.
Music Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing mostly R&B music was released on May 10, 1994, by MCA Records. It peaked at 158 on the Billboard 200 and 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. While Harold Faltermeyer did not return to score this film, his co-producer from the previous franchise entries, Keith Forsey, did produce and co-write a new song entitled "Keep the Peace", performed by INXS. However, Nile Rodgers covered Faltermeyer's "Axel F" in a breakbeat hardcore version.
This is the only film in the series not to feature a song performed by The Pointer Sisters, although "Neutron Dance" was used in the film's trailer. Beverly Hills Cop featured their song "Neutron Dance", while Beverly Hills Cop II had their song "Be There".
Reception Critical response Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the a score of 16 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.