48 Hrs. (1982) Online

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Nick Nolte	-	Jack Cates
	Eddie Murphy	-	Reggie Hammond
	Annette O'Toole	-	Elaine
	Frank McRae	-	Haden
	James Remar	-	Ganz
	David Patrick Kelly	-	Luther
	Sonny Landham	-	Billy Bear
	Brion James	-	Kehoe
	Kerry Sherman	-	Rosalie
	Jonathan Banks	-	Algren
	James Keane	-	Vanzant
	Tara King	-	Frizzy
	Greta Blackburn	-	Lisa
	Margot Rose	-	Casey
	Denise Crosby	-	Sally

James Remar often went without any sleep before shooting his scenes in order to give bad-guy Ganz a more washed-out, psychotic look.

Reportedly, Eddie Murphy's paycheck was US $450,000 whilst Nick Nolte's salary was US $1,000,000. For the film's sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990), reportedly, Nolte got US $3 million, whilst Murphy received US $7 million.

According to Nolte in Nick Nolte: No Exit (2008), most of the dialogue between him and Eddie Murphy was improvised.

The first scene at the police station, which begins at around the twenty minute mark, was apparently shot in a single take. It lasts three minutes, with no visible cuts.

Debut theatrical feature film of actor-comedian Eddie Murphy.

During the filming of a scene where Denise Crosby hits Eddie Murphy in the stomach with a rubber baseball bat prop, Murphy was afraid Crosby would actually hit him instead of stopping about a foot away like all staged movie blows. She demonstrated her control on both Walter Hill and Nick Nolte to assure Murphy, but ended up hitting him anyway during a take.

Eddie Murphy revealed on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) that he didn't know how to "act" when drawing a gun, so he simply did what he did in every movie since: impersonate the facial expression of a ready for battle martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

Walter Hill later allegedly felt that Eddie Murphy's 48 Hrs. (1982) character Reggie Hammond had been re-used and morphed into Axel Foley for Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and its sequels.

According to Eddie Murphy, he was almost fired for not being funny. He said he was not made aware of this until after the movie had wrapped.

Nick Nolte was top first billed whilst Eddie Murphy received second billing. This billing order would be reversed for the movie's 1990 sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990) where Murphy would be billed first and Nolte second.

The movie during the late 1970s was originally designed as a vehicle for Clint Eastwood as the cop and Richard Pryor as the con. Around this time, Eastwood wanted to play a criminal and turned down the film and went and starred as a convict in Escape from Alcatraz (1979). The picture then went into turnaround for a time and didn't go back into development for another couple of years.

The film's original storyline, according to Wikipedia, "had the Governor of Louisiana's daughter kidnapped by a criminal, who strapped dynamite to her head and threatened to blow her up in 48 hours if the ransom was not met. The meanest cop goes to the worst prison in the state and gets out the most vicious criminal for his knowledge of the kidnapper who was his cell-mate".

Eddie Murphy states in his 2008 Biography special that his character's name was originally scripted to be "Willie Biggs." He had concerns with that name as it sounded too much like a "Hollywood, made-up, black guy's name." He suggested the last name Hammond based on a raspy-voiced, cool kid from his hometown named Terrance Hammond. Reggie was a compromise by having just the first name be a typical "Hollywood, made-up, black guy name."

According to Eddie Murphy, his agent at the time was Walter Hill's girlfriend and recommended him to Hill.

The Jack Cates character played by Nick Nolte apparently became the inspiration for the Sonny Crockett character on the later hit television series Miami Vice (1984). 48 Hrs. (1982) actress Olivia Brown went on to be a regular on the same show.

The band at Vroman's is "The Busboys", who in real life would open up for Eddie Murphys comedy concerts. During breaks in filming, Murphy would join the band for a musical number and ham it up.

Because of the violent shoot-out in the hotel lobby sequence, according to the book "Walter Hill: Last Man Standing" (2004) by Patrick McGilligan, Walter Hill was told he would never work for Paramount again. Hill did though, as he directed Another 48 Hrs. (1990) for Paramount.

Gregory Hines was the first choice to play Reggie Hammond but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Cotton Club (1984). In fact, Eddie Murphy later confessed that he was the "fourth or fifth" choice for the part. Other actors considered for the role included Richard Pryor, the late Howard E. Rollins Jr. and a young Denzel Washington.

Eddie Murphy didn't start work on this film until a few days into principal photography as he was finishing season seven of Saturday Night Live (1975).

Debut film as a screen-writer for director Roger Spottiswoode.

Mickey Rourke, Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds turned down the role of Jack Cates.

Reggie's line to Jack, "Forget this man, we ain't brothers, we ain't partners, and we aint' friends" is repeated by Zeus to McClane in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995).

The make and model of Jack Cates (Nick Nolte)'s car is a sky blue 1964 Cadillac DeVille convertible. The nick-name that Hammond (Murphy) calls Cates (Nolte)'s car was a "piece of shit sky-blue Cadillac". The make and model of Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy)'s car is said to be a Porsche in the film, meaning a Porsche 356 Speedster, but the vehicle, seen in both gray due to dust and once cleaned, black, actually is an Intermeccanica 356 A Speedster replica built by CMC (Classic Motor Carriage).

Paramount Pictures studio executives were concerned during shooting that the picture would be too violent to also function as an effective comedy. The hotel-lobby shoot-out was the execs' major grave concern.

David Proval served as Eddie Murphy's acting coach during filming.

According to the Nov-Dec 1982 edition of 'Coming Attractions' (USA) magazine, the film was "one of the rare Hollywood movies in recent years to make major use of black talent". The picture was "backed by a supporting cast of seven black actors and some two hundred black extras. In addition The Bus Boys, a mostly black rock group . . . perform[ed] four new songs written specially for the movie".

According to 'Allmovie', the movie "greatly bolstered the career of Nick Nolte and made comedian Eddie Murphy a bonafide box-office sensation". Murphy's debut in this movie, like Lauren Bacall's in To Have and Have Not (1944), is considered one of the most sensational debuts in screen history.

The first of 4 movies with Frank McRae as a police captain. The next would be Another 48 Hrs. (1990) then Last Action Hero (1993) , and finally Loaded Weapon 1.

The word "fuck" is used 48 times in its various forms during the course of the film. This appears to be only coincidental to the title however.

David Patrick Kelly also played a character named "Luther" in The Warriors (1979), also directed by Walter Hill.

Kris Kristofferson was at one point considered for the role of Jack Cates.

Walter Hill said that he is amused that people call this a buddy movie, as the two leads hate each other.

There are a couple of scenes that were shot but not included in either the theatrical or video/DVD releases. In the first scene, Jack and Elaine are walking through Chinatown during the daytime after the scenes in the police station following the hotel shooting and before Jack goes to get Reggie out of prison. In the scene, Jack apologizes for the way he snapped at Elaine (at the beginning of the film) and expresses his concerns about going after Ganz. The second is an extended version of the existing scene of Reggie at Vroman's as he's trying to hit on women at the bar. While both scenes are not included in the released version, parts of them are shown in the trailer and are often inserted during TV broadcasts to fill time due to the edited action scenes.

Debut feature film as a full producer for Joel Silver who previously on cinema features had only acted in co-producer, associate producer or executive producer capacities.

The seventh highest-grossing film at the American box-office for the year of 1982. The Virgin Film Guide said that the picture was "a big box-office hit".

In Walter Hill's original rough cut of the movie, Annette O'Toole had much bigger role and even one (maybe two) nude scenes. Some of the stills showing her character Elaine naked in the shower while Nick Nolte is looking at her did show up in movie magazines at the time and in some articles about O'Toole.

Michael Eisner, then head of Paramount, was worried that the film was not funny enough. Walter Hill and Larry Gross wrote more material tailored to Nick Nolte's and Eddie Murphy's personalities. By Hill's account, they rewrote Murphy's character right to the very last day of shooting.

James Horner reused the film's opening theme, with more craftiness in Commando (1985).

Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Jack Cates as he didn't want to be in a cop-movie. He later worked with director Walter Hill in Wild Bill (1995).

Prior to filming, Nick Nolte spent several weeks submerging himself in the role of Jack Cates by interviewing San Francisco, CA, police officers and eating foods he felt were fitting to the character.

The blue Cadillac used in this movie is now owned by Vanilla Ice and fully restored and painted in silver.

The brand of suit that Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) wore was a Giorgio Armani and its billed in the closing credits. The value of the outfit as mentioned in the movie's storyline was US $500.

Sonny Landham, who played Billy Bear, later played a character named Billy in the 1987 film Predator (1987) which was also produced by Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver. 1987 was also the year that Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) debuted which starred Denise Crosby, who played Sally, the woman who hit Reggie with the baseball bat.

One of a number of collaborations of producers Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon. 48 Hrs. (1982) was arguably the first ever "full" Gordon-Silver production.

The movie's promotional blurb started with the phrase "The Boys Are Back In Town". This was also the name of a song written specifically for the film. The track was never released when the movie came out and was never available on CD until the year 2000. The "The Boys Are Back In Town" wording was used as the main movie tagline for the film's sequel Another 48 Hrs. (1990). Though the original song was heard at the end of the sequel, the track wasn't included on the sequel's album either.

Actor Jonathan Banks later appeared in another Eddie Murphy movie that being Beverly Hills Cop (1984). However, their roles were reversed: Banks was the criminal, and of course, Murphy was the title character; a cop.

Clint Eastwood was originally approached to play Detective Sergeant Jack Cates. Eastwood wanted to play a criminal role and ended up playing one in Escape from Alcatraz (1979) instead. As a result, the film went into limbo for two years.

The name of the song that Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) sings in prison was "Roxanne" by The Police. The tune is reprised by Murphy in the film's sequel, Another 48 Hrs. (1990).

Director of photography, Ric Waite, used Kodak 93, a high-speed film for nighttime and interior shots, which minimised lighting setups and allowed the production to work more quickly.

The weapon carried initially by Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) and then taken by Albert Ganz (James Remar) at the hotel shootout, is a Smith and Wesson model 29, 44 magnum with a 4inch barrel and custom wood grips with finger grooves. The loaner weapon issued to Cates at the station house is a Government model Colt 1911 A1, 45 automatic. Cates seems to carry this pistol in the same shoulder holster he used for his 44 revolver. In reality, this is impractical as the two weapons have very different contours. Probably a different holster was switched in for the automatic pistol. The weapon procured by Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) while waiting for Cates at Vroman's, is a snub nosed Smith and Wesson model 19, 357magnum. The weapon used by Billy Bear (Sonny Landham) is a Colt New Frontier. This is basically the classic western six shooter only with more modern sights. However, the adjustable rear sight seems to have been removed from the weapon used in the movie. During his initial arrest, Luther (David Patrick Kelly) shoots at Cates with a Colt New Service revolver, most likely a 45 calibre issue. Oddly, the front sight appears to have been completely filed off of this weapon.

First of three collaborations of actor-star Nick Nolte and writer/director Walter Hill. The films are 48 Hrs. (1982), Extreme Prejudice (1987) and Another 48 Hrs. (1990).

This film's director Walter Hill's later movie Brewster's Millions (1985) had a number of elements associated with this picture. The later film featured a number of the same actors, props, locations (such as Torchy's Bar) and story-elements as this movie, such as a light-blue 1964 Cadillac convertible as well as featuring a number of the same supporting actors. Richard Pryor who stars in the later movie was the original choice for the part played by Eddie Murphy.

Paramount had previously rejected early drafts of the film, but suddenly rushed into production in spring 1982, urging Walter Hill and producer Lawrence Gordon to begin principal photography by mid-May 1982. However, the script had not been completed, and, according to Nick Nolte, Hill and co-writer Larry Gross continued to write throughout the shoot.

Despite Eddie Murphy's fame on Saturday Night Live (1975) and the credit he received for saving the show's reputation, Michael Eisner did not know who he was when he was suggested for the role of Reggie Hammond.

Many movie posters for the picture featured a preamble that read: "The boys are back in town. Nick Nolte is a cop. Eddie Murphy is a convict. They couldn't have liked each other less. They couldn't have needed each other more. And the last place they ever expected to be is on the same side. Even for... 48 HRS."

Sky blue Cadillac cars feature in such Walter Hill movies as 48 Hrs. (1982), Red Heat (1988) and Brewster's Millions (1985).

Crediting this film as the first "buddy/cop" movie is erroneous, besides the fact that Eddie Murphy's character's not a cop, it was preceded by Freebie and the Bean (1974) with James Caan and Alan Arkin.

Apparently, an earlier or the original version of the script had the two leads as two cops with no convict.

Third of four cinema film collaborations of actor James Remar and writer/director Walter Hill. The films include The Warriors (1979), 48 Hrs. (1982), Wild Bill (1995) and The Long Riders (1980).

Actors who appeared in this picture as well as director Walter Hill's earlier movie The Warriors (1979) were James Remar, Sonny Landham, Marcelino Sánchez and David Patrick Kelly.

Apparently, Walter Hill met Eddie Murphy during a recording of Saturday Night Live (1975).

According to the book "Walter Hill: Last Man Standing" (2004) by Patrick McGilligan, the original high concept for the movie was conceived by producer Lawrence Gordon.

This movie is not actually the first ever movie to be titled 48 Hrs. (1982). The British Ealing film Went the Day Well? (1942) was retitled as "48 Hours" for its American release stateside around thirty-eight years earlier in 1944.

The background score being played in the scene featuring Jack and Reggie tailing Luther is the same as used in Commando (1985) which came out three years later. Both films were scored by James Horner and in both films, the character being tailed is played by David Patrick Kelly and he is seen driving a Porsche - in this case it's a replica Speedster and in that film it's a 911.

The license plate on Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy)'s convertible is the same as the one sported by the brown 1977 Pontiac Firebird Esprit that Ryan O'Neal's character drives in the 1978 film The Driver (1978): '487 BAK'.

Sonny Landham, who played Billy Bear, went on to direct and appear in the movie Billy Lone Bear (1996).

This Paramount Pictures production was originally in development at another studio, Columbia Pictures, which was the regular production house for star Richard Pryor, who not surprisingly, was originally tagged for the convict role played by Eddie Murphy. Around the time of the late 1970s and early 1980s when 48 Hrs. (1982) was in development, Pryor actually played a prisoner twice, in Stir Crazy (1980) and Bustin' Loose (1981). 48 Hrs. (1982) director Walter Hill later worked with Pryor on Brewster's Millions (1985). Pryor and Murphy later star-teamed together in Harlem Nights (1989).

Breakthrough film role of actor-comedian Eddie Murphy.

First of two "48 Hours" movies. The second and final movie, Another 48 Hrs. (1990), was made and released about eight years after this picture. There was once talk of there being a third film, yet another 48 Hours film, but this never eventuated.

Second of three collaborations of actor David Patrick Kelly and writer/director Walter Hill. The films include The Warriors (1979), 48 Hrs. (1982) and Last Man Standing (1996).

Third of five collaborations of actor Brion James and writer/director Walter Hill. The films include Hard Times (1975), 48 Hrs. (1982), Red Heat (1988), Southern Comfort (1981), and Another 48 Hrs. (1990).

Fourth of seven cinema film collaborations of producer Lawrence Gordon and director Walter Hill.

A road sign on a street lamp-post in this Eddie Murphy movie reads "EDDY".

Margot Rose and Denise Crosby would both go on to appear in Star Trek roles. Crosby in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Rose in Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Inner Light (1992).

This is the second movie that David Patrick Kelly (Luther) and James Remar (Albert Ganz) are in together. The first was The Warriors (1979).

The original premise had the Governor of Louisiana's daughter kidnapped by a criminal, who strapped dynamite to her head and threatened to blow her up in 48 hours if the ransom was not met. The meanest cop goes to the worst prison in the state and gets out the most vicious criminal for his knowledge of the kidnapper who was his cellmate.

In addition to actor Sonny Landham playing "Billy Bear" in this film and "Billy" in the movie Predator (1987), as previously noted, both characters also display very large Bowie style knives while shirtless during the film.

The garage where Reggie's car is stored is the same garage where Dalton's Mercedes is stored in 'Road House' and vice versa.

While in the bar the bartender says that Ganz's girlfriend lives up the street where Chinatown starts. The movie takes place in San Francisco while the bar they leave from called Torchy's which was in Los Angeles.

Originally, this film was expected to be released in 1,300 theaters on December 17, 1982, but production notes listed a December 10, 1982 release date. The release date for this movie then moved to December 8, 1982 in selected theaters throughout Los Angeles.

Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

David Patrick Kelly and James Remar both had starring roles in the 1979 film "The Warriors". David Patrick Kelly had portrayed a character named Luther in both of these films. Both films were written and directed Walter Hill.

Sonny Landham who plays Billy Bear, also played a character 5 years later in Preador(1987) named billy

Johnathan banks appered 2 years later in Beverly Hills Cop(1984) also starring Eddie Murphy, in this film they never shared a scene

Walter Hill: [bar] One of a number of Walter Hill movies that feature a bar / night-club called "Torchy's".

Body Count: 9. (Plus one character presumed dead, but it's unconfirmed).