Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

TBS has this thing where they advertise macho action movies as "Movies for GUYS who like movies!” If any movie falls directly into that category, the 1982 film 48 Hours is it.

48 Hours is a compendium of everything that a fan of big tough action would want in a movie. Plenty of action, machismo, one-liners and a little sex. Mix in two more-than capable actors and this well-worn formula rises above the norm.

48 Hours begins with the image of a group of men working on a chain gang (Oooh aaah!). We watch as an Indian motorist stops and request some water for his car. One of the prisoners makes a few wisecracks and a fight soon ensues. The prisoner and the Indian wind up shooting several guards and escaping together.

Next we shift to a scene where San Francisco cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) is trying to nab the escaped convicts. The police on the scene order Jack not to enter the building where the convicts are hiding. But to stay outside and keep his guard. Of course Jack is your typical movie cop who doesn't play by the rules and when the other cops wind up in trouble he goes to help. This of course P!sses off his superior who gives Jack 48 hours to find the convicts. Jack realizes his best bet is a former member of the same criminal gang the convicts were on. The convict, named Reggie Hammond, is still in prison. So Jack succeeds in getting Hammond released from prison for 48 hours to help him find the villains.

Reggie Hammond was Eddie Murphy's first big movie role after Saturday Night Live. And this one started his career off on a great note. When we first see Hammond he is doing a bad karaoke version of "Roxanne" by The Police. Later on, we see him rant about the lack of females in prison as he attempts to pick one up at a club.

Nolte also does well as tough cop Cates. His character is a foul-mouthed job driven a**hole who continually fibs to his girlfriend and doesn't have much respect for anybody else. After a while however, he begins to develop a grudging respect for Reggie.

The chemistry between Nolte and Murphy works just as well as in this adult action movie as the chemistry between Murphy and Mike Myers in the excellent family movie Shrek. Of course, the most famous scene in 48 Hours is the one where Murphy goes into a redneck bar and pretends to be a cop as a means of getting information from the rednecks. That scene is truly one of the funniest ones I've ever seen in a movie.

There are also good performances by James Remar and Sonny Landham as the villains and Annette O'Toole as Cates' girlfriend.

If you're looking for a good date movie or for something of Citizen Kane quality, you need to look elsewhere. But if you're in the mood for movie machismo, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better example.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS