Beverly Hills Cop III is Racist

Several weeks ago, I promised to write a blurb about the movie Beverly Hills Cop III, which stars Eddie Murphy.  As a sequel, the movie missed the mark by a miracle mile.  An incredibly bad movie, that was most likely slapped together before there was even a real hard copy of the script secured.  It was directed by John Landis, who had teamed with Murphy on a couple previous projects, including the hit, "Coming To America".  Landis was also the genius who helmed the director's chair for classic cinema which includes the titles, "The Blues Brothers", "Trading Places" (also with Murphy) and "National Lampoon's Animal House".  However, John Landis dropped the ball on this movie, although I'm guessing it was the producer and the lack of a secured script.

When it aired on television last month, I didn't get to watch it in it's entirety, a loss that I'm actually thankful for, but what I did see of the film, was terribly racist.

Blatant racial humour, which by today's standards, would never be allowed, due to everyone's panties being bunched, is and was the norm in the 60's and 70's.  On many occasions, I shared conversations consumed with laughter and disbelief when reminiscing about the humour in Mel Brooks' classic, "Blazing Saddles".  "The new sheriff is a near...." always made us chuckle.  Humour, like that is barely expected in motion picture comedies in the 90's or, especially, the new millennium.  Not unless it's something from the mind of Quentin Tarantino...

Without getting too in depth with the storyline, Beverly Hills Cop III has Eddie Murphy's Axl Foley investigating a shooting that occurred in Detroit, where the culprits fled to SoCal, and more specifically, a Disney-esque amusement park called Wonder World, where the parks head is a beloved fellow fondly named, Uncle Dave.  There's a point in this farce where Uncle Dave is shot and presumed to be dead, Axl Foley being framed for the shooting.  Like wild-fire, news of the shooting spreads over television and radio, the description always the same.  "Wonder World founder, Uncle Dave, has been shot.  Description of his shooter is a black male."

That's as in-depth as the description gets.  A black male.  Suddenly, every uniform police officer in southern Los Angeles, is after Eddie Murphy's Axl.  Despite there being other African-Americans in the background, Eddie Murphy's the ONLY person of interest.

There's a seen where Axl ducks into a lavish Beverly Hills restaurant to use a pay phone.  The local news plays over a crowd gathered at the bar, which is a scene I've never seen occur in real life at ANY fancy restaurant I've ever attended, but I guess for the sake of this movie, they had to suspend belief.  "A black man shot Uncle Dave..." the news broadcaster says, and everyone's gaze goes from the TV set to Murphy ducked in the back of the restaurant on the telephone.

Is it racist?  Or, more specifically, is it 'racial profiling' that EVERYONE assumes Axl Foley must be the culprit who shot Uncle Dave?  There's even a point where Axl is witnessed by two police officers, accompanying Uncle Dave into the E.R., and even though they recognize that he is assisting in saving Uncle Dave's life, they still assume he's the guilty party when word comes over their radios.

The whole ordeal is disgusting.  A terrible movie and a very racist movie.