00:00:00Eddie Murphy's Best Defense Backlash
00:16:21The Disappointing Film 'Best Defense
00:22:48Eddie Murphy's Impact on Best Defense
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Was Eddie Murphy’s participation in "Best Defense" a career misstep or a necessary detour? Join us as we unravel the fascinating story of the 1984 film "Best Defense," starring Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore, notorious for being one of the worst movies ever made. We take you through Eddie Murphy’s journey, from his initial hesitation, motivated solely by a hefty paycheck, to his profound regret post the film's disastrous reception. Along the way, we share our own struggle to track down this cinematic enigma, culminating in an eye-opening viewing experience on Showtime that validated all the critical disdain.
In this episode, we contrast the chaotic wartime narrative and comedic interludes that feature Murphy, despite his limited screen presence, as the film's saving grace. We also explore Dudley Moore’s career trajectory, from the heights of "10" and "Arthur" to the lows of "Best Defense." The conversation delves into the bogus marketing strategies that misleadingly spotlighted Murphy, leveraging his rising fame and inadvertently paving the way for his breakout role in "Beverly Hills Cop." This episode is a testament to the industry's knack for misallocating talent and the frustration that ensues when star power fails to salvage a fundamentally flawed film. Tune in to hear our candid take on a cautionary tale of missed potential and erroneous marketing gambits.
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Now, briefly, here are some more entries in our Hall of Shame for 1984, Stinkers of the Year and let's not forget Best Defense.
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Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore made a bad film in 1984, and they made it together.
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Best Defense, a stupid military espionage story.
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I read an interview where Eddie Murphy said that this was going to be his apology for Best Defense, which was an awful film, and he knew it was an awful film.
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Well, he still owes us a good one.
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Yeah, I think so still.
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We've been waiting for a long time.
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Yes, we've been waiting for a long, long time.
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Good morning, my neighbors.
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Jesus Christ, this is becoming very irritating.
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Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of the murphy monday podcast, the only podcast that celebrates the life and career of Eddie Murphy.
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I'm your host, nigel A Fullerton.
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Today is going to be a short one.
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This is going to be a very short episode.
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We are talking about the movie Best Defense.
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Ladies and gentlemen, eddie Murphy, thank you, thank you, thank you.
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This is very bizarre, because I grew up on this show.
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It's bizarre to host it.
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I feel strange and I'm very nervous because I haven't done this in a year and a half, so just bear with me.
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I said last year that when I left this show, I swore that I would never do Saturday Night Live again because I said the show was terrible Really and I did 48 hours in trading places.
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I swore that I would never do Saturday Night Live again because I said the show was terrible Really and I did 48 hours in trading places and I felt like I was an actor.
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Now I was like Saturday Night Live Ha, really.
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That was my vibe last year.
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And after I did 48 hours in trading places, all these scripts started coming from everywhere and I picked up a script called Best Defense.
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Here's a movie that sucked real bad At first.
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I wasn't gonna do it because I read the script and I felt like I was an actor.
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But the money they gave me to do it y'all would have did Best Defense too.
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Okay, but I read the script at first and the script was terrible.
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I was like what?
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How dare you give me a script like this oh, that much money, let's go.
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So I read the script for Best Defense.
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I went out and did Best Defense.
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Best Defense turned out to be the worst movie ever done in the history of anything.
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And all of a sudden I wasn't that hot, no more.
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So I called up the producer, saturday Night Live, and I go um, you still got my dressing room and he said why don't you come back on the show and host the Christmas show?
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So I said bet.
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So I signed the contract to host the Christmas show and while I was waiting for Christmas to come, sitting in my house by myself, somebody brought a script for a movie called Beverly Hills Cop.
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I did Beverly Hills Cop.
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Beverly Hills Cop is a hit.
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All of a sudden I'm an Hills Cop.
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Beverly Hills Cop is a hit.
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All of a sudden I'm an actor again.
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But it's too late to pull out, so I had to hold the store.
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What is best defense?
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I asked that question a long time ago, about 20 years ago.
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I had watched the best of Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live and in his monologue he talked about Best Defense, a movie that sucked really bad and I was really trying to figure out what is Best Defense.
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Didn't know what it was.
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I tried to Google it At that time Google was not really helpful.
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There was no IMDB, so I couldn't tell if this movie existed or didn't exist.
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So I went searching.
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I searched for video stores, I searched blockbuster, I searched all these different places to try and find a movie when one day comes on showtime of all places out of the blue.
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And I watched this movie and Eddie Murphy was right.
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This movie was terrible.
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But you find out why.
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You find out why this movie is terrible only because this movie was not made to star Eddie Murphy.
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If you look at the poster for this movie, it says that Eddie Murphy is a strategic guest star.
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Now what does that mean, strategic guest star?
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I had never seen that in a movie before, but I did some research and I found out that Best Defense is a movie that was for Dudley Moore.
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This is a Dudley Moore project.
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Now, many people might not know who Dudley Moore is.
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The nominees for Best Performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy are Steve Martin, All of Me.
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Dudley Moore, mickey and Maude, eddie Murphy, beverly Hills Cop, bill Murray, ghostbusters, Robin Williams, moscow on the Hudson.
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But the winner is.
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Dudley Moore.
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Well, I guess I suppose Eddie, Steve, Robin and Bill were just not up to par this year.
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Dudley Moore is an English actor, comedian, musician and composer.
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Now, deadly Moore used to have a guy that he used to do comedy routines with named Peter Cook and they used to do this on BBC and came to America and started getting hot in America you know about the mid 60s, early 70s and then they broke up and suddenly Dudley Moore started doing his own movies.
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Now, he started off with Bedazzled in 1967.
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Then the movie Foul Play in 1978.
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But he got his big, big break in 1979's 10.
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10 is a movie with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore where Dudley Moore is stalking her.
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I don't know how this movie was made.
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This movie seems creepy.
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I've never seen it, but I watched the trailer and I'm here to tell you this could not be made in 2024.
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Couldn't do it.
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But then you have another movie which was a big hit for him in 1981, called Arthur.
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Now, growing up, I used to hear about Arthur all the time.
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Uh, I just knew that he was a drunk.
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But people love this movie Arthur, so much so that they made a sequel to Arthur and a remake of Arthur uh, in I believe it was 2010.
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Wasn't good either, but still, arthur is a big deal.
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So at the time Dudley Moore was hot, like you know.
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He still had.
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He had a couple movies that didn't do too well but people know him for the movies 10 and the movies movie Arthur don't you wish you were Arthur.
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Would the more attractive of you please step forward.
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It's going to cost you $100.
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Let's make it $200, but I will ask you to Simonize my car.
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How rich are you?
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I wish I had a dime for every dime I have.
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Anticipating your condition, I brought you orange juice, coffee and aspirins.
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Or do you need to throw up Hallelujah?
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Kiss your wife like that.
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I'm not married.
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Keep smiling 6-8-8-5-5-4-9.
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Usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature.
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I take it this bum will be calling you.
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Dad, he's a millionaire.
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You have my permission to marry him.
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Are you a hooker?
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I forgot.
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I just thought I was doing great with you will you take my hand?
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That would leave you with one.
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I'm gonna take my coat.
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You don't have a coat.
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Oh, I'm gonna take my time.
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You're gonna rich one.
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How does it feel to have all that money?
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It?
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feels great.
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Here comes Best Defense.
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Now, best Defense came out in the summer of 1984.
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It actually debuted number two right after Ghostbusters, which is a pretty big deal because Ghostbusters was cleaning up back then.
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So to be number two at the box office after Ghostbusters, it's kind of a big deal.
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Now, no-transcript.
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It didn't do well.
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The movie received poor, poor, poor reactions and previews.
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When they do previews of a movie they're testing to see what the audience likes.
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You know, if the audience would like this, if we put this out, how would the audience react?
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And the real audience react poorly.
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So Paramount didn't know what to do.
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They were like they were scrounging.
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They tried to see what they can do to fix it.
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Somebody came up with the broad idea of saying, hey, why don't we put this guy, eddie Murphy, in it?
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He had just did 48 hours in trading places, he hadn't done Beverly Hills cop yet.
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The only movie I've had a bad feeling about, when picking up the script was best offense before I even opened it up.
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The script was Best Offense Before I even opened it up.
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It was like and I opened the script up and read it and I felt bad, but they had a check like I had never seen before.
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My morals and principles went right out the window.
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My career almost went out with it too.
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That was a small part.
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You were just barely in the film, right, they told me.
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They told me.
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I was like look, eddie, we're not going to advertise much with you, it's a Dudley Moore film.
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Next thing I know Eddie Murphy, best defense and I'm standing there like this.
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So that's what happened.
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Tell us how big the check was.
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It was big.
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It was more money than I had been paid to do 48 hours in trading places, combined to do Best Offense.
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Oh my, that's how much money it was.
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So that's how I was.
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I freaked man.
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You mean, you really were affected by the role in Best Offense.
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I was affected emotionally, I was upset.
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Yeah Well, you learned something there, yeah.
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Next time you see a check, go like Well, you learned something there.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Next time you see a check, go, don't just take it because the script is.
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If the script ain't good, I don't think I'd do another movie just for money anymore.
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Yeah, yeah, that's like Well, unless it's like a tremendous amount, because people you can't get mad at a guy for that Well.
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No, I think they'd understand more if you told them the exact amount.
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It was a lot of money, a lot of dough.
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It was a lot of money to do that part for the time that I spent doing it.
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It was like a weekend or something right.
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A motel in New Jersey or something.
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No, it was like I worked three months on $40,000, three months on trading places and this was like more money to work a week on another movie.
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So it was like Hollywood goes nuts.
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If you do a good movie, Think about it.
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There are guys that do like one, two good movies and don't do another good movie for like ten movies and still get.
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Hollywood is crazy.
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They just keep shoveling and I would.
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You can't blame people for saying that's a big check, so you know, uh now you have this movie best defense, where you have deadly moore, who's had two big hit movies, as well as eddie murphy.
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Now if they would have did this movie probably together or not have Eddie Murphy as an afterthought because, again remember, he is a strategic guest star.
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Look at the poster.
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He is a strategic guest star.
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I've never heard that before.
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But they tack him into this movie, which was bad to begin with.
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They get rid of some of the scenes of the movie so Eddie Murphy's character can fit in.
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Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore never meet in this movie.
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They never meet.
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They're in two different years.
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Dudley moore is in 1982 creating a tank for the us government and in 1984 eddie murphy is the guy that drives the tank.
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He is the operator of the tank, he's a lieutenant colonel or whatever.
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Get out of the way we have some problems with the tank.
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It's all right, it's our demonstration, but perhaps we should just move back and Please move over.
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Said stop the tank please.
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How do you say get the fuck out of the way in Arabic Run away.
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Oh shit, Lieutenant, what happened?
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The navigation system went out again.
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I'm telling you this tank is screwed.
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This tank's a goddamn lemon Lemon.
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Look, don't hit the tank.
00:14:16.476 --> 00:14:17.616
All right, I'm not teaching you to hit the tank.
00:14:17.616 --> 00:14:18.258
That's not a lesson.
00:14:18.258 --> 00:14:19.491
Now, look, I gotta go and explain to this lady why we're doing renovations to our house.
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To hit the tank.
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That's not a lesson.
00:14:20.614 --> 00:14:24.399
Now, look, I gotta go and explain this lady why we doing renovations to our house.
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Oh hi.
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I'm Lieutenant Landry from the United States Army.
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Yummy, the tank got a little out of hand.
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Oh.
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Eddie Murphy is a US Army lieutenant who is sent to Kuwait to demonstrate the XM-10 Annihilator, america's latest main battle tank, which is equipped with a Cooper system.
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It was played by Dudley Moore.
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Because of the tank's poor design and shoddy construction, eddie Murphy and his crew are barely able to control or navigate the XM-10 before it leaves the proving grounds and wanders into a combat zone during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
00:15:15.071 --> 00:15:28.447
Now, since Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore never directly have any contact in the film, the plot shows how decisions made by Dudley Moore affect Eddie Murphy.
00:15:28.447 --> 00:15:33.054
So whatever happened in 1982, it's affecting Eddie.
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Murphy in 1984.
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That's important because that means that nothing Dudley Moore did fixed the tank.
00:15:56.234 --> 00:15:59.115
So, eddie Murphy, would be okay, cut the bullshit Landry.
00:15:59.115 --> 00:15:59.697
Where are you?
00:15:59.697 --> 00:16:00.517
Hell?
00:16:00.517 --> 00:16:02.258
If I knew, if I knew, I wouldn't have to call you.
00:16:02.258 --> 00:16:04.581
I feel like I'm in gold with the wind, people running around.
00:16:04.581 --> 00:16:06.048
They're burning down Atlanta or something.
00:16:06.048 --> 00:16:08.625
Oh, wait a second, I think we're near.
00:16:08.625 --> 00:16:13.721
Um Om El Cabrat, om El Cabrat, om El Cabrat, some shit.
00:16:13.721 --> 00:16:16.023
I don't know how you say it but that's where we're near.
00:16:16.062 --> 00:16:18.745
Om El Cabrat Romeo, you just entered the battle zone.
00:16:18.745 --> 00:16:20.046
What battle zone.
00:16:20.066 --> 00:16:20.865
What are you talking about?
00:16:21.186 --> 00:16:21.626
Landry.
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This morning Iraq invaded Kuwait.
00:16:23.528 --> 00:16:26.269
We got a real war on here and you are in a Kuwaiti tank.
00:16:27.530 --> 00:16:30.173
No you guys don't understand.
00:16:30.173 --> 00:16:32.294
I'm just like training with a couple of boys out here.
00:16:32.355 --> 00:16:34.395
I ain't in no real war or no shit like that.
00:16:34.615 --> 00:16:36.278
Tell it to the Iraqis Landry.
00:16:36.278 --> 00:16:41.263
They should be on top of you any minute.
00:16:41.363 --> 00:16:47.207
Now Shit, I got to tell somebody something.
00:16:47.207 --> 00:16:50.910
Oh my God, don't slow down guys.
00:16:50.910 --> 00:16:52.111
Please wait a second.
00:16:52.111 --> 00:16:53.833
You're making a mistake here.
00:16:53.833 --> 00:16:57.496
I have nothing against Iraq.
00:16:57.496 --> 00:16:58.697
I love Iraq.
00:16:58.697 --> 00:17:03.264
I'm not in this war, I'm from Cleveland.
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Every time you see Eddie Murphy on screen, it's hilarious.
00:17:09.372 --> 00:17:09.893
All right, that's it.
00:17:09.893 --> 00:17:10.814
Activate the 50 caliber.
00:17:10.814 --> 00:17:11.734
I'm tired of this garbage.
00:17:11.734 --> 00:17:17.920
I'm going to teach this dumb desert cowboy a lesson.
00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:21.249
All right, now you're going to see what happens when you mess around with Lieutenant TM Landry.
00:17:21.249 --> 00:17:27.595
You don't mean to Now you're gonna see what happens when you mess around with Lieutenant TM Landry.
00:17:27.595 --> 00:17:28.559
Nothing works on this damn tape.
00:17:29.981 --> 00:17:33.213
Send out my Rich, little Rich.
00:17:33.253 --> 00:17:33.535
Little.
00:17:33.535 --> 00:17:42.066
All right, do Michael Jackson Very good.
00:17:42.066 --> 00:17:42.953
Now do James Brown very good.
00:17:42.973 --> 00:18:00.826
now do james brown hot pants it's like you're watching two different movies and eddie murphy's having a blast in the movie that he's in.
00:18:01.006 --> 00:18:07.128
Dudley Moore is just doing Dudley Moore things I wish he was.
00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:31.140
Arthur in this no-transcript.
00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:39.365
As a tank specialist, like he's just making tanks and he's drunk, I wish that that would have been funnier than what deadly moore gave us.
00:18:39.365 --> 00:18:40.969
I don't want to look around.
00:18:40.969 --> 00:18:43.641
Is there a big blonde guy at the bar?
00:18:46.486 --> 00:18:49.068
well, no, I, I don't see.
00:18:49.068 --> 00:18:53.095
Oh wait, there is a guy just just coming in, that's him.
00:18:53.095 --> 00:18:54.624
Seven o'clock.
00:18:55.266 --> 00:19:00.461
Sharp In ten minutes.
00:19:00.461 --> 00:19:02.548
I'm supposed to meet that guy In the bathroom.
00:19:02.548 --> 00:19:09.150
Check See he says his name is Jeff and he has a condo in the marina, but that's not his real name.
00:19:09.150 --> 00:19:09.991
No, no.
00:19:11.721 --> 00:19:27.712
Um, if this doesn't go right and something happens to me, I never got a chance to give my son Morgan the fatherly advice and the bits of wisdom I've picked up through the years.
00:19:27.712 --> 00:19:32.451
Like never pass up an opportunity to take a piss.
00:19:32.451 --> 00:19:34.032
Mutual funds are the worst.
00:19:34.032 --> 00:19:35.315
Fat girls tend to take a piss.
00:19:35.315 --> 00:19:36.516
Mutual funds are the worst.
00:19:36.516 --> 00:19:39.326
Fat girls tend to come a lot.
00:19:41.602 --> 00:19:42.065
Is that true?
00:19:42.065 --> 00:19:45.127
Eddie Murphy's movie's great.
00:19:45.127 --> 00:19:52.269
However, if you put all of Eddie Murphy's clips together in this movie, it's about six minutes.
00:19:52.269 --> 00:19:54.326
I'm almost positive.
00:19:54.326 --> 00:19:57.468
If you don't believe me, go to youtube.
00:19:57.468 --> 00:20:01.483
You can find best defense, six minute clips.
00:20:05.570 --> 00:20:07.653
I can't give any more away of this movie.
00:20:07.653 --> 00:20:11.986
I don't think I there is anything else to say about this movie.
00:20:11.986 --> 00:20:15.711
Um, I don't know how to fix this.
00:20:15.711 --> 00:20:16.313
I don't.
00:20:16.313 --> 00:20:17.800
I don't know how to make this better.
00:20:18.321 --> 00:20:19.123
This movie's bad.
00:20:19.123 --> 00:20:24.820
I I'm telling you this to save you from watching it, because you might be like me.
00:20:24.820 --> 00:20:25.241
You might.
00:20:25.241 --> 00:20:25.481
It's.
00:20:25.481 --> 00:20:26.763
This is a cautionary tale.
00:20:26.763 --> 00:20:33.566
You might want to go watch this and say, oh, this is bad, but this is bad.
00:20:33.625 --> 00:20:40.451
Like, don't be one of those people that like to sit down and watch bad movies and then get like mad and start making fun of it.
00:20:40.451 --> 00:20:43.729
Like some people think that watching bad movies is funny.
00:20:43.729 --> 00:20:44.391
It's not funny.
00:20:44.391 --> 00:20:46.482
There's no humor.
00:20:46.482 --> 00:20:49.392
It's not fun.
00:20:50.261 --> 00:20:55.714
This movie, like I said, I fell asleep three times trying to watch this, to the point where I own this movie and I can.
00:20:55.714 --> 00:21:00.086
I fell asleep three times trying to watch this, to the point where I own this movie and I can't get through it.
00:21:00.086 --> 00:21:02.167
I haven't watched in a long time.
00:21:02.167 --> 00:21:11.286
There has been one instance where I've seen the whole movie but I couldn't do it and that's why I'm giving you this short episode.
00:21:11.286 --> 00:21:17.922
I'm giving you this short episode because I couldn't do an hour long episode on this.
00:21:17.922 --> 00:21:19.065
There's nothing.
00:21:19.065 --> 00:21:21.128
There's nothing here with this.
00:21:21.750 --> 00:21:26.306
I couldn't have a guest talk to you about what they liked about this movie, because there's nothing to like.
00:21:26.306 --> 00:21:33.531
The only thing to like is Eddie Murphy as a war hero, and I think that is funny.
00:21:33.531 --> 00:21:43.583
I think that this could have been like the black version of stripes, you know, instead of you know, stripes with, uh, bill Murray and Howard Ramis, you know.
00:21:43.583 --> 00:21:48.025
You could have had Eddie Murphy and like it could have been, you know, whatever it could have been like.
00:21:48.025 --> 00:22:00.786
This could have been like the early version of a coming to America, where you have Eddie Murphy as an army lieutenant and Arsenio Hall as like one of his people in his platoon.
00:22:00.786 --> 00:22:02.451
That would have been funny.
00:22:02.451 --> 00:22:05.583
But again, this is not an Eddie Murphy movie.
00:22:05.583 --> 00:22:07.249
This is a Dudley Moore movie.
00:22:10.144 --> 00:22:16.287
Not that it was a rotten movie, but it wasn't as successful as some of your movies, and that is best defense.
00:22:16.287 --> 00:22:20.971
Now, looking back on it, do you have any regrets about doing it?
00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:30.022
Well, I only regret that I never saw it until it was all signed and sealed and delivered, and I also regret that.
00:22:30.022 --> 00:22:36.731
I mean my basic criticism is that the human element was left outside.
00:22:36.731 --> 00:22:47.852
That included myself and my wife in the film, which was a very endearing part of the film, and was somehow eliminated, and I felt very sad that that happened, because it lost dimension because of that.
00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:54.173
Do you think that people were a little disappointed some people because you and Eddie Murphy never had scenes together.
00:22:54.173 --> 00:22:54.359
Do you think that was part of it?
00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:54.616
Disappointed some people because you and Eddie Murphy never had scenes together?
00:22:56.920 --> 00:22:57.961
You think that was part of it.
00:22:57.961 --> 00:23:02.553
Well, it was never stated to the public or anybody that we were in scenes together.
00:23:02.553 --> 00:23:07.846
In fact, it was made clear that we didn't have any scenes together, but I guess people just wouldn't believe it.
00:23:07.846 --> 00:23:09.896
I don't know if it was people.
00:23:09.896 --> 00:23:14.661
It was just not made clear enough, or something he does.
00:23:14.661 --> 00:23:22.606
Eddie has tended to appear in conjunction with various people with great success, so it was inevitable.
00:23:22.606 --> 00:23:26.183
They should assume that he was going to be in conjunction with me.
00:23:26.183 --> 00:23:30.006
But it's like everybody might think that, you know, every film I do is going to be like Arthur.
00:23:30.006 --> 00:23:38.691
It's not, you know, and if I play a politician in a serious role, like I did in six weeks, it's not always palatable to an audience.
00:23:40.382 --> 00:23:43.319
And that is a trope that happens in Eddie Murphy's career.
00:23:43.319 --> 00:24:00.749
I often say that about the movie Holy man with Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum, where they just tack Eddie Murphy all over the whole cover of the movie poster and he's not the main focus.
00:24:00.749 --> 00:24:02.365
The main focus is Jeff Goldblum.
00:24:02.365 --> 00:24:03.608
Same thing with this.
00:24:03.608 --> 00:24:09.932
The poster for this Dudley Moore movie just has Eddie Murphy behind it.
00:24:09.932 --> 00:24:17.394
They figured that they can make Eddie Murphy the bigger star just by putting him there.
00:24:17.394 --> 00:24:29.811
And what's interesting and I guess this is the saving grace, what's interesting about this is that eddie murphy's parts in this movie are so good, so good, plus his previous work.
00:24:29.811 --> 00:24:35.311
But if you look at him, he is so good you want to watch the movie that eddie murphy is in.
00:24:35.311 --> 00:24:36.355
You want to.
00:24:36.355 --> 00:24:44.832
And that opens up the gateway of saying, hey, why don't we put eddie murphy as the star of a movie?
00:24:44.832 --> 00:24:47.865
And that's how we got beverly hills cop.
00:24:48.425 --> 00:24:53.207
Because think about it, beverly hills cop was not supposed to be for eddie murphy.
00:24:53.207 --> 00:24:54.372
I've said it several times.
00:24:54.372 --> 00:24:56.200
This is it was not supposed.
00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:10.744
There was like several people that were supposed to be the bevel hills cop, not only sylvester salone, mickey rourke, uh, a couple other people were supposed to be the bevel hills cop, and they gave it to eddie murphy because, again, he was a big star.
00:25:10.744 --> 00:25:12.446
He tried to.
00:25:12.446 --> 00:25:17.012
You know, he gave a movie that had no laughs, laughs.
00:25:17.012 --> 00:25:21.825
This movie, best defense, had no laughs and he gave it its comedy.
00:25:21.825 --> 00:25:29.507
The reason why best defense is considered a comedy is because of eddie murphy, and that's what happened with the movie.
00:25:29.507 --> 00:25:37.653
This movie had to run, so so beverly hills cop could fly and I'll leave it at that.
00:25:37.653 --> 00:25:40.364
If you haven't already, please like, share and subscribe.
00:25:40.364 --> 00:25:49.272
Tell an Eddie Murphy fan, telling a Murphy man hey, you love this podcast and, with all hearts and minds clear, let's end this show.
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:07.964
Now, briefly, here are some more entries in our Hall of Shame for 1984, Stinkers of the Year and let's not forget Best Defense.
00:00:07.964 --> 00:00:11.733
Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore made a bad film in 1984, and they made it together.
00:00:11.733 --> 00:00:15.189
Best Defense, a stupid military espionage story.
00:00:15.189 --> 00:00:22.926
I read an interview where Eddie Murphy said that this was going to be his apology for Best Defense, which was an awful film, and he knew it was an awful film.
00:00:22.926 --> 00:00:24.385
Well, he still owes us a good one.
00:00:24.385 --> 00:00:25.528
Yeah, I think so still.
00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:29.268
We've been waiting for a long time.
00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:35.331
Yes, we've been waiting for a long, long time.
00:00:35.331 --> 00:00:39.478
Good morning, my neighbors.
00:00:39.478 --> 00:01:00.222
Jesus Christ, this is becoming very irritating.
00:01:00.222 --> 00:01:04.292
Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of the murphy monday podcast, the only podcast that celebrates the life and career of Eddie Murphy.
00:01:04.292 --> 00:01:06.597
I'm your host, nigel A Fullerton.
00:01:06.597 --> 00:01:09.186
Today is going to be a short one.
00:01:09.186 --> 00:01:11.468
This is going to be a very short episode.
00:01:11.468 --> 00:01:15.611
We are talking about the movie Best Defense.
00:01:29.046 --> 00:02:06.406
Ladies and gentlemen, eddie Murphy, thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:02:06.406 --> 00:02:10.310
This is very bizarre, because I grew up on this show.
00:02:10.310 --> 00:02:11.566
It's bizarre to host it.
00:02:11.566 --> 00:02:16.305
I feel strange and I'm very nervous because I haven't done this in a year and a half, so just bear with me.
00:02:16.700 --> 00:02:25.504
I said last year that when I left this show, I swore that I would never do Saturday Night Live again because I said the show was terrible Really and I did 48 hours in trading places.
00:02:25.504 --> 00:02:30.265
I swore that I would never do Saturday Night Live again because I said the show was terrible Really and I did 48 hours in trading places and I felt like I was an actor.
00:02:30.265 --> 00:02:34.961
Now I was like Saturday Night Live Ha, really.
00:02:34.961 --> 00:02:36.367
That was my vibe last year.
00:02:36.367 --> 00:02:44.610
And after I did 48 hours in trading places, all these scripts started coming from everywhere and I picked up a script called Best Defense.
00:02:44.610 --> 00:02:50.826
Here's a movie that sucked real bad At first.
00:02:50.826 --> 00:02:52.500
I wasn't gonna do it because I read the script and I felt like I was an actor.
00:02:52.500 --> 00:02:55.070
But the money they gave me to do it y'all would have did Best Defense too.
00:02:55.070 --> 00:02:59.295
Okay, but I read the script at first and the script was terrible.
00:02:59.295 --> 00:02:59.960
I was like what?
00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:05.586
How dare you give me a script like this oh, that much money, let's go.
00:03:05.586 --> 00:03:08.752
So I read the script for Best Defense.
00:03:08.752 --> 00:03:10.304
I went out and did Best Defense.
00:03:10.585 --> 00:03:14.081
Best Defense turned out to be the worst movie ever done in the history of anything.
00:03:14.081 --> 00:03:17.068
And all of a sudden I wasn't that hot, no more.
00:03:17.068 --> 00:03:26.187
So I called up the producer, saturday Night Live, and I go um, you still got my dressing room and he said why don't you come back on the show and host the Christmas show?
00:03:26.187 --> 00:03:27.270
So I said bet.
00:03:27.270 --> 00:03:44.931
So I signed the contract to host the Christmas show and while I was waiting for Christmas to come, sitting in my house by myself, somebody brought a script for a movie called Beverly Hills Cop.
00:03:44.931 --> 00:03:46.072
I did Beverly Hills Cop.
00:03:46.072 --> 00:03:47.174
Beverly Hills Cop is a hit.
00:03:47.174 --> 00:03:49.056
All of a sudden I'm an Hills Cop.
00:03:49.056 --> 00:03:51.018
Beverly Hills Cop is a hit.
00:03:51.018 --> 00:03:52.340
All of a sudden I'm an actor again.
00:03:53.042 --> 00:03:55.235
But it's too late to pull out, so I had to hold the store.
00:03:55.235 --> 00:03:58.173
What is best defense?
00:03:58.173 --> 00:04:00.804
I asked that question a long time ago, about 20 years ago.
00:04:00.804 --> 00:04:14.352
I had watched the best of Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live and in his monologue he talked about Best Defense, a movie that sucked really bad and I was really trying to figure out what is Best Defense.
00:04:14.352 --> 00:04:15.945
Didn't know what it was.
00:04:15.945 --> 00:04:20.831
I tried to Google it At that time Google was not really helpful.
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:26.749
There was no IMDB, so I couldn't tell if this movie existed or didn't exist.
00:04:26.749 --> 00:04:28.382
So I went searching.
00:04:28.382 --> 00:04:41.149
I searched for video stores, I searched blockbuster, I searched all these different places to try and find a movie when one day comes on showtime of all places out of the blue.
00:04:41.149 --> 00:04:45.533
And I watched this movie and Eddie Murphy was right.
00:04:45.533 --> 00:04:48.137
This movie was terrible.
00:04:48.137 --> 00:04:50.843
But you find out why.
00:04:50.843 --> 00:04:57.103
You find out why this movie is terrible only because this movie was not made to star Eddie Murphy.
00:04:57.103 --> 00:05:03.785
If you look at the poster for this movie, it says that Eddie Murphy is a strategic guest star.
00:05:03.785 --> 00:05:06.711
Now what does that mean, strategic guest star?
00:05:06.711 --> 00:05:16.733
I had never seen that in a movie before, but I did some research and I found out that Best Defense is a movie that was for Dudley Moore.
00:05:16.733 --> 00:05:18.406
This is a Dudley Moore project.
00:05:18.406 --> 00:05:21.468
Now, many people might not know who Dudley Moore is.
00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:31.007
The nominees for Best Performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy are Steve Martin, All of Me.
00:05:31.007 --> 00:05:43.689
Dudley Moore, mickey and Maude, eddie Murphy, beverly Hills Cop, bill Murray, ghostbusters, Robin Williams, moscow on the Hudson.
00:05:44.379 --> 00:05:45.485
But the winner is.
00:05:48.048 --> 00:05:48.730
Dudley Moore.
00:05:49.603 --> 00:05:57.533
Well, I guess I suppose Eddie, Steve, Robin and Bill were just not up to par this year.
00:06:03.401 --> 00:06:07.331
Dudley Moore is an English actor, comedian, musician and composer.
00:06:07.331 --> 00:06:32.009
Now, deadly Moore used to have a guy that he used to do comedy routines with named Peter Cook and they used to do this on BBC and came to America and started getting hot in America you know about the mid 60s, early 70s and then they broke up and suddenly Dudley Moore started doing his own movies.
00:06:32.009 --> 00:06:34.730
Now, he started off with Bedazzled in 1967.
00:06:34.730 --> 00:06:37.620
Then the movie Foul Play in 1978.
00:06:37.620 --> 00:06:42.911
But he got his big, big break in 1979's 10.
00:06:42.911 --> 00:06:48.952
10 is a movie with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore where Dudley Moore is stalking her.
00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:51.047
I don't know how this movie was made.
00:06:51.047 --> 00:06:52.593
This movie seems creepy.
00:06:52.593 --> 00:06:58.949
I've never seen it, but I watched the trailer and I'm here to tell you this could not be made in 2024.
00:06:58.949 --> 00:06:59.670
Couldn't do it.
00:06:59.670 --> 00:07:05.612
But then you have another movie which was a big hit for him in 1981, called Arthur.
00:07:05.612 --> 00:07:08.709
Now, growing up, I used to hear about Arthur all the time.
00:07:08.709 --> 00:07:10.624
Uh, I just knew that he was a drunk.
00:07:10.624 --> 00:07:21.774
But people love this movie Arthur, so much so that they made a sequel to Arthur and a remake of Arthur uh, in I believe it was 2010.
00:07:21.774 --> 00:07:26.889
Wasn't good either, but still, arthur is a big deal.
00:07:26.889 --> 00:07:30.581
So at the time Dudley Moore was hot, like you know.
00:07:30.581 --> 00:07:31.425
He still had.
00:07:31.425 --> 00:07:44.149
He had a couple movies that didn't do too well but people know him for the movies 10 and the movies movie Arthur don't you wish you were Arthur.
00:07:50.880 --> 00:07:52.485
Would the more attractive of you please step forward.
00:07:52.485 --> 00:07:54.250
It's going to cost you $100.
00:07:54.250 --> 00:08:03.632
Let's make it $200, but I will ask you to Simonize my car.
00:08:03.632 --> 00:08:05.055
How rich are you?
00:08:05.055 --> 00:08:09.103
I wish I had a dime for every dime I have.
00:08:09.103 --> 00:08:14.552
Anticipating your condition, I brought you orange juice, coffee and aspirins.
00:08:14.552 --> 00:08:21.245
Or do you need to throw up Hallelujah?
00:08:21.245 --> 00:08:22.290
Kiss your wife like that.
00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:24.622
I'm not married.
00:08:26.663 --> 00:08:31.088
Keep smiling 6-8-8-5-5-4-9.
00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:34.591
Usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature.
00:08:34.591 --> 00:08:36.813
I take it this bum will be calling you.
00:08:36.974 --> 00:08:39.096
Dad, he's a millionaire.
00:08:41.380 --> 00:08:46.227
You have my permission to marry him.
00:08:46.227 --> 00:08:48.030
Are you a hooker?
00:08:48.030 --> 00:08:48.893
I forgot.
00:08:48.893 --> 00:08:53.508
I just thought I was doing great with you will you take my hand?
00:08:53.508 --> 00:08:55.152
That would leave you with one.
00:08:55.152 --> 00:08:58.225
I'm gonna take my coat.
00:08:58.225 --> 00:08:59.668
You don't have a coat.
00:08:59.668 --> 00:09:01.513
Oh, I'm gonna take my time.
00:09:01.513 --> 00:09:04.384
You're gonna rich one.
00:09:04.384 --> 00:09:07.649
How does it feel to have all that money?
00:09:07.649 --> 00:09:08.429
It?
00:09:08.470 --> 00:09:08.990
feels great.
00:09:08.990 --> 00:09:11.433
Here comes Best Defense.
00:09:11.433 --> 00:09:18.261
Now, best Defense came out in the summer of 1984.
00:09:18.261 --> 00:09:27.211
It actually debuted number two right after Ghostbusters, which is a pretty big deal because Ghostbusters was cleaning up back then.
00:09:27.211 --> 00:09:35.974
So to be number two at the box office after Ghostbusters, it's kind of a big deal.
00:09:35.974 --> 00:09:38.000
Now, no-transcript.
00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:38.543
It didn't do well.
00:09:38.543 --> 00:09:44.754
The movie received poor, poor, poor reactions and previews.
00:09:44.754 --> 00:09:50.392
When they do previews of a movie they're testing to see what the audience likes.
00:09:50.392 --> 00:09:55.091
You know, if the audience would like this, if we put this out, how would the audience react?
00:09:55.091 --> 00:09:57.044
And the real audience react poorly.
00:09:57.044 --> 00:09:59.250
So Paramount didn't know what to do.
00:09:59.250 --> 00:10:00.823
They were like they were scrounging.
00:10:00.823 --> 00:10:03.971
They tried to see what they can do to fix it.
00:10:03.971 --> 00:10:09.245
Somebody came up with the broad idea of saying, hey, why don't we put this guy, eddie Murphy, in it?
00:10:09.245 --> 00:10:14.407
He had just did 48 hours in trading places, he hadn't done Beverly Hills cop yet.
00:10:14.580 --> 00:10:20.589
The only movie I've had a bad feeling about, when picking up the script was best offense before I even opened it up.
00:10:20.589 --> 00:10:22.436
The script was Best Offense Before I even opened it up.
00:10:22.436 --> 00:10:30.546
It was like and I opened the script up and read it and I felt bad, but they had a check like I had never seen before.
00:10:30.546 --> 00:10:36.465
My morals and principles went right out the window.
00:10:36.465 --> 00:10:39.942
My career almost went out with it too.
00:10:39.961 --> 00:10:40.905
That was a small part.
00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:42.645
You were just barely in the film, right, they told me.
00:10:42.666 --> 00:10:43.207
They told me.
00:10:43.207 --> 00:10:47.745
I was like look, eddie, we're not going to advertise much with you, it's a Dudley Moore film.
00:10:47.745 --> 00:10:52.206
Next thing I know Eddie Murphy, best defense and I'm standing there like this.
00:10:52.206 --> 00:10:55.486
So that's what happened.
00:10:55.486 --> 00:10:56.922
Tell us how big the check was.
00:10:56.922 --> 00:11:00.085
It was big.
00:11:00.085 --> 00:11:06.692
It was more money than I had been paid to do 48 hours in trading places, combined to do Best Offense.
00:11:06.692 --> 00:11:09.635
Oh my, that's how much money it was.
00:11:09.635 --> 00:11:13.043
So that's how I was.
00:11:13.043 --> 00:11:14.166
I freaked man.
00:11:14.166 --> 00:11:17.312
You mean, you really were affected by the role in Best Offense.
00:11:17.312 --> 00:11:19.655
I was affected emotionally, I was upset.
00:11:19.655 --> 00:11:20.636
Yeah Well, you learned something there, yeah.
00:11:20.657 --> 00:11:22.019
Next time you see a check, go like Well, you learned something there.
00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:22.240
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:22.721 --> 00:11:26.607
Next time you see a check, go, don't just take it because the script is.
00:11:26.607 --> 00:11:31.437
If the script ain't good, I don't think I'd do another movie just for money anymore.
00:11:31.437 --> 00:11:45.581
Yeah, yeah, that's like Well, unless it's like a tremendous amount, because people you can't get mad at a guy for that Well.
00:11:45.581 --> 00:11:48.530
No, I think they'd understand more if you told them the exact amount.
00:11:48.530 --> 00:11:52.840
It was a lot of money, a lot of dough.
00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:56.559
It was a lot of money to do that part for the time that I spent doing it.
00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.307
It was like a weekend or something right.
00:11:58.880 --> 00:12:00.267
A motel in New Jersey or something.
00:12:00.801 --> 00:12:09.950
No, it was like I worked three months on $40,000, three months on trading places and this was like more money to work a week on another movie.
00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:12.245
So it was like Hollywood goes nuts.
00:12:12.245 --> 00:12:13.870
If you do a good movie, Think about it.
00:12:13.870 --> 00:12:19.291
There are guys that do like one, two good movies and don't do another good movie for like ten movies and still get.
00:12:19.291 --> 00:12:20.683
Hollywood is crazy.
00:12:20.683 --> 00:12:23.081
They just keep shoveling and I would.
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:36.917
You can't blame people for saying that's a big check, so you know, uh now you have this movie best defense, where you have deadly moore, who's had two big hit movies, as well as eddie murphy.
00:12:36.917 --> 00:12:50.235
Now if they would have did this movie probably together or not have Eddie Murphy as an afterthought because, again remember, he is a strategic guest star.
00:12:50.235 --> 00:12:51.336
Look at the poster.
00:12:51.336 --> 00:12:55.009
He is a strategic guest star.
00:12:55.009 --> 00:12:56.660
I've never heard that before.
00:12:56.660 --> 00:13:07.369
But they tack him into this movie, which was bad to begin with.
00:13:07.369 --> 00:13:13.413
They get rid of some of the scenes of the movie so Eddie Murphy's character can fit in.
00:13:13.413 --> 00:13:18.557
Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore never meet in this movie.
00:13:18.557 --> 00:13:19.937
They never meet.
00:13:19.937 --> 00:13:22.769
They're in two different years.
00:13:22.769 --> 00:13:34.794
Dudley moore is in 1982 creating a tank for the us government and in 1984 eddie murphy is the guy that drives the tank.
00:13:34.794 --> 00:13:40.179
He is the operator of the tank, he's a lieutenant colonel or whatever.
00:13:40.541 --> 00:13:42.567
Get out of the way we have some problems with the tank.
00:13:42.567 --> 00:13:46.866
It's all right, it's our demonstration, but perhaps we should just move back and Please move over.
00:13:46.866 --> 00:13:49.327
Said stop the tank please.
00:13:49.327 --> 00:13:54.682
How do you say get the fuck out of the way in Arabic Run away.
00:13:54.682 --> 00:14:07.951
Oh shit, Lieutenant, what happened?
00:14:07.951 --> 00:14:10.052
The navigation system went out again.
00:14:10.052 --> 00:14:12.234
I'm telling you this tank is screwed.
00:14:12.234 --> 00:14:14.936
This tank's a goddamn lemon Lemon.
00:14:14.936 --> 00:14:16.476
Look, don't hit the tank.
00:14:16.476 --> 00:14:17.616
All right, I'm not teaching you to hit the tank.
00:14:17.616 --> 00:14:18.258
That's not a lesson.
00:14:18.258 --> 00:14:19.491
Now, look, I gotta go and explain to this lady why we're doing renovations to our house.
00:14:19.491 --> 00:14:20.092
To hit the tank.
00:14:20.092 --> 00:14:20.614
That's not a lesson.
00:14:20.614 --> 00:14:24.399
Now, look, I gotta go and explain this lady why we doing renovations to our house.
00:14:29.349 --> 00:14:29.830
Oh hi.
00:14:30.900 --> 00:14:33.187
I'm Lieutenant Landry from the United States Army.
00:14:33.187 --> 00:14:36.581
Yummy, the tank got a little out of hand.
00:14:37.042 --> 00:14:38.222
Oh.
00:14:43.086 --> 00:14:57.256
Eddie Murphy is a US Army lieutenant who is sent to Kuwait to demonstrate the XM-10 Annihilator, america's latest main battle tank, which is equipped with a Cooper system.
00:14:57.256 --> 00:14:59.182
It was played by Dudley Moore.
00:14:59.182 --> 00:15:15.071
Because of the tank's poor design and shoddy construction, eddie Murphy and his crew are barely able to control or navigate the XM-10 before it leaves the proving grounds and wanders into a combat zone during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
00:15:15.071 --> 00:15:28.447
Now, since Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore never directly have any contact in the film, the plot shows how decisions made by Dudley Moore affect Eddie Murphy.
00:15:28.447 --> 00:15:33.054
So whatever happened in 1982, it's affecting Eddie.
00:15:50.350 --> 00:15:52.892
Murphy in 1984.
00:15:52.892 --> 00:15:56.234
That's important because that means that nothing Dudley Moore did fixed the tank.
00:15:56.234 --> 00:15:59.115
So, eddie Murphy, would be okay, cut the bullshit Landry.
00:15:59.115 --> 00:15:59.697
Where are you?
00:15:59.697 --> 00:16:00.517
Hell?
00:16:00.517 --> 00:16:02.258
If I knew, if I knew, I wouldn't have to call you.
00:16:02.258 --> 00:16:04.581
I feel like I'm in gold with the wind, people running around.
00:16:04.581 --> 00:16:06.048
They're burning down Atlanta or something.
00:16:06.048 --> 00:16:08.625
Oh, wait a second, I think we're near.
00:16:08.625 --> 00:16:13.721
Um Om El Cabrat, om El Cabrat, om El Cabrat, some shit.
00:16:13.721 --> 00:16:16.023
I don't know how you say it but that's where we're near.
00:16:16.062 --> 00:16:18.745
Om El Cabrat Romeo, you just entered the battle zone.
00:16:18.745 --> 00:16:20.046
What battle zone.
00:16:20.066 --> 00:16:20.865
What are you talking about?
00:16:21.186 --> 00:16:21.626
Landry.
00:16:21.626 --> 00:16:23.528
This morning Iraq invaded Kuwait.
00:16:23.528 --> 00:16:26.269
We got a real war on here and you are in a Kuwaiti tank.
00:16:27.530 --> 00:16:30.173
No you guys don't understand.
00:16:30.173 --> 00:16:32.294
I'm just like training with a couple of boys out here.
00:16:32.355 --> 00:16:34.395
I ain't in no real war or no shit like that.
00:16:34.615 --> 00:16:36.278
Tell it to the Iraqis Landry.
00:16:36.278 --> 00:16:41.263
They should be on top of you any minute.
00:16:41.363 --> 00:16:47.207
Now Shit, I got to tell somebody something.
00:16:47.207 --> 00:16:50.910
Oh my God, don't slow down guys.
00:16:50.910 --> 00:16:52.111
Please wait a second.
00:16:52.111 --> 00:16:53.833
You're making a mistake here.
00:16:53.833 --> 00:16:57.496
I have nothing against Iraq.
00:16:57.496 --> 00:16:58.697
I love Iraq.
00:16:58.697 --> 00:17:03.264
I'm not in this war, I'm from Cleveland.
00:17:04.645 --> 00:17:08.691
Every time you see Eddie Murphy on screen, it's hilarious.
00:17:09.372 --> 00:17:09.893
All right, that's it.
00:17:09.893 --> 00:17:10.814
Activate the 50 caliber.
00:17:10.814 --> 00:17:11.734
I'm tired of this garbage.
00:17:11.734 --> 00:17:17.920
I'm going to teach this dumb desert cowboy a lesson.
00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:21.249
All right, now you're going to see what happens when you mess around with Lieutenant TM Landry.
00:17:21.249 --> 00:17:27.595
You don't mean to Now you're gonna see what happens when you mess around with Lieutenant TM Landry.
00:17:27.595 --> 00:17:28.559
Nothing works on this damn tape.
00:17:29.981 --> 00:17:33.213
Send out my Rich, little Rich.
00:17:33.253 --> 00:17:33.535
Little.
00:17:33.535 --> 00:17:42.066
All right, do Michael Jackson Very good.
00:17:42.066 --> 00:17:42.953
Now do James Brown very good.
00:17:42.973 --> 00:18:00.826
now do james brown hot pants it's like you're watching two different movies and eddie murphy's having a blast in the movie that he's in.
00:18:01.006 --> 00:18:07.128
Dudley Moore is just doing Dudley Moore things I wish he was.
00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:31.140
Arthur in this no-transcript.
00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:39.365
As a tank specialist, like he's just making tanks and he's drunk, I wish that that would have been funnier than what deadly moore gave us.
00:18:39.365 --> 00:18:40.969
I don't want to look around.
00:18:40.969 --> 00:18:43.641
Is there a big blonde guy at the bar?
00:18:46.486 --> 00:18:49.068
well, no, I, I don't see.
00:18:49.068 --> 00:18:53.095
Oh wait, there is a guy just just coming in, that's him.
00:18:53.095 --> 00:18:54.624
Seven o'clock.
00:18:55.266 --> 00:19:00.461
Sharp In ten minutes.
00:19:00.461 --> 00:19:02.548
I'm supposed to meet that guy In the bathroom.
00:19:02.548 --> 00:19:09.150
Check See he says his name is Jeff and he has a condo in the marina, but that's not his real name.
00:19:09.150 --> 00:19:09.991
No, no.
00:19:11.721 --> 00:19:27.712
Um, if this doesn't go right and something happens to me, I never got a chance to give my son Morgan the fatherly advice and the bits of wisdom I've picked up through the years.
00:19:27.712 --> 00:19:32.451
Like never pass up an opportunity to take a piss.
00:19:32.451 --> 00:19:34.032
Mutual funds are the worst.
00:19:34.032 --> 00:19:35.315
Fat girls tend to take a piss.
00:19:35.315 --> 00:19:36.516
Mutual funds are the worst.
00:19:36.516 --> 00:19:39.326
Fat girls tend to come a lot.
00:19:41.602 --> 00:19:42.065
Is that true?
00:19:42.065 --> 00:19:45.127
Eddie Murphy's movie's great.
00:19:45.127 --> 00:19:52.269
However, if you put all of Eddie Murphy's clips together in this movie, it's about six minutes.
00:19:52.269 --> 00:19:54.326
I'm almost positive.
00:19:54.326 --> 00:19:57.468
If you don't believe me, go to youtube.
00:19:57.468 --> 00:20:01.483
You can find best defense, six minute clips.
00:20:05.570 --> 00:20:07.653
I can't give any more away of this movie.
00:20:07.653 --> 00:20:11.986
I don't think I there is anything else to say about this movie.
00:20:11.986 --> 00:20:15.711
Um, I don't know how to fix this.
00:20:15.711 --> 00:20:16.313
I don't.
00:20:16.313 --> 00:20:17.800
I don't know how to make this better.
00:20:18.321 --> 00:20:19.123
This movie's bad.
00:20:19.123 --> 00:20:24.820
I I'm telling you this to save you from watching it, because you might be like me.
00:20:24.820 --> 00:20:25.241
You might.
00:20:25.241 --> 00:20:25.481
It's.
00:20:25.481 --> 00:20:26.763
This is a cautionary tale.
00:20:26.763 --> 00:20:33.566
You might want to go watch this and say, oh, this is bad, but this is bad.
00:20:33.625 --> 00:20:40.451
Like, don't be one of those people that like to sit down and watch bad movies and then get like mad and start making fun of it.
00:20:40.451 --> 00:20:43.729
Like some people think that watching bad movies is funny.
00:20:43.729 --> 00:20:44.391
It's not funny.
00:20:44.391 --> 00:20:46.482
There's no humor.
00:20:46.482 --> 00:20:49.392
It's not fun.
00:20:50.261 --> 00:20:55.714
This movie, like I said, I fell asleep three times trying to watch this, to the point where I own this movie and I can.
00:20:55.714 --> 00:21:00.086
I fell asleep three times trying to watch this, to the point where I own this movie and I can't get through it.
00:21:00.086 --> 00:21:02.167
I haven't watched in a long time.
00:21:02.167 --> 00:21:11.286
There has been one instance where I've seen the whole movie but I couldn't do it and that's why I'm giving you this short episode.
00:21:11.286 --> 00:21:17.922
I'm giving you this short episode because I couldn't do an hour long episode on this.
00:21:17.922 --> 00:21:19.065
There's nothing.
00:21:19.065 --> 00:21:21.128
There's nothing here with this.
00:21:21.750 --> 00:21:26.306
I couldn't have a guest talk to you about what they liked about this movie, because there's nothing to like.
00:21:26.306 --> 00:21:33.531
The only thing to like is Eddie Murphy as a war hero, and I think that is funny.
00:21:33.531 --> 00:21:43.583
I think that this could have been like the black version of stripes, you know, instead of you know, stripes with, uh, bill Murray and Howard Ramis, you know.
00:21:43.583 --> 00:21:48.025
You could have had Eddie Murphy and like it could have been, you know, whatever it could have been like.
00:21:48.025 --> 00:22:00.786
This could have been like the early version of a coming to America, where you have Eddie Murphy as an army lieutenant and Arsenio Hall as like one of his people in his platoon.
00:22:00.786 --> 00:22:02.451
That would have been funny.
00:22:02.451 --> 00:22:05.583
But again, this is not an Eddie Murphy movie.
00:22:05.583 --> 00:22:07.249
This is a Dudley Moore movie.
00:22:10.144 --> 00:22:16.287
Not that it was a rotten movie, but it wasn't as successful as some of your movies, and that is best defense.
00:22:16.287 --> 00:22:20.971
Now, looking back on it, do you have any regrets about doing it?
00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:30.022
Well, I only regret that I never saw it until it was all signed and sealed and delivered, and I also regret that.
00:22:30.022 --> 00:22:36.731
I mean my basic criticism is that the human element was left outside.
00:22:36.731 --> 00:22:47.852
That included myself and my wife in the film, which was a very endearing part of the film, and was somehow eliminated, and I felt very sad that that happened, because it lost dimension because of that.
00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:54.173
Do you think that people were a little disappointed some people because you and Eddie Murphy never had scenes together.
00:22:54.173 --> 00:22:54.359
Do you think that was part of it?
00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:54.616
Disappointed some people because you and Eddie Murphy never had scenes together?
00:22:56.920 --> 00:22:57.961
You think that was part of it.
00:22:57.961 --> 00:23:02.553
Well, it was never stated to the public or anybody that we were in scenes together.
00:23:02.553 --> 00:23:07.846
In fact, it was made clear that we didn't have any scenes together, but I guess people just wouldn't believe it.
00:23:07.846 --> 00:23:09.896
I don't know if it was people.
00:23:09.896 --> 00:23:14.661
It was just not made clear enough, or something he does.
00:23:14.661 --> 00:23:22.606
Eddie has tended to appear in conjunction with various people with great success, so it was inevitable.
00:23:22.606 --> 00:23:26.183
They should assume that he was going to be in conjunction with me.
00:23:26.183 --> 00:23:30.006
But it's like everybody might think that, you know, every film I do is going to be like Arthur.
00:23:30.006 --> 00:23:38.691
It's not, you know, and if I play a politician in a serious role, like I did in six weeks, it's not always palatable to an audience.
00:23:40.382 --> 00:23:43.319
And that is a trope that happens in Eddie Murphy's career.
00:23:43.319 --> 00:24:00.749
I often say that about the movie Holy man with Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum, where they just tack Eddie Murphy all over the whole cover of the movie poster and he's not the main focus.
00:24:00.749 --> 00:24:02.365
The main focus is Jeff Goldblum.
00:24:02.365 --> 00:24:03.608
Same thing with this.
00:24:03.608 --> 00:24:09.932
The poster for this Dudley Moore movie just has Eddie Murphy behind it.
00:24:09.932 --> 00:24:17.394
They figured that they can make Eddie Murphy the bigger star just by putting him there.
00:24:17.394 --> 00:24:29.811
And what's interesting and I guess this is the saving grace, what's interesting about this is that eddie murphy's parts in this movie are so good, so good, plus his previous work.
00:24:29.811 --> 00:24:35.311
But if you look at him, he is so good you want to watch the movie that eddie murphy is in.
00:24:35.311 --> 00:24:36.355
You want to.
00:24:36.355 --> 00:24:44.832
And that opens up the gateway of saying, hey, why don't we put eddie murphy as the star of a movie?
00:24:44.832 --> 00:24:47.865
And that's how we got beverly hills cop.
00:24:48.425 --> 00:24:53.207
Because think about it, beverly hills cop was not supposed to be for eddie murphy.
00:24:53.207 --> 00:24:54.372
I've said it several times.
00:24:54.372 --> 00:24:56.200
This is it was not supposed.
00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:10.744
There was like several people that were supposed to be the bevel hills cop, not only sylvester salone, mickey rourke, uh, a couple other people were supposed to be the bevel hills cop, and they gave it to eddie murphy because, again, he was a big star.
00:25:10.744 --> 00:25:12.446
He tried to.
00:25:12.446 --> 00:25:17.012
You know, he gave a movie that had no laughs, laughs.
00:25:17.012 --> 00:25:21.825
This movie, best defense, had no laughs and he gave it its comedy.
00:25:21.825 --> 00:25:29.507
The reason why best defense is considered a comedy is because of eddie murphy, and that's what happened with the movie.
00:25:29.507 --> 00:25:37.653
This movie had to run, so so beverly hills cop could fly and I'll leave it at that.
00:25:37.653 --> 00:25:40.364
If you haven't already, please like, share and subscribe.
00:25:40.364 --> 00:25:49.272
Tell an Eddie Murphy fan, telling a Murphy man hey, you love this podcast and, with all hearts and minds clear, let's end this show.
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