If you search the internet for the best "buddy cop" movies, any link you land on is likely to have Walter Hill's 1982 film, "48 Hrs." on it. Many consider it the film that formulated the film genre, if not at least popularized it.
Fueled by the star-making performance of then-SNL superstar Eddie Murphy, the film is often remembered as a comedy. "48 Hrs." gets lumped in as a part of Murphy's early '80s takeover of the comedy scene when he followed it up with blockbusters like, "Trading Places," "Coming to America" and "Beverly Hills Cop," along with several stand-up special masterpieces, like "Delirious" and "Raw."
However, film critic and author Walter Chaw says that if you revisit "48 Hrs.," you see more hallmarks of Walter Hill's oeuvre and a more tragic statement on toxic masculinity and race in America.
Chaw is the author of "A Walter Hill Film." He joined Wisconsin Public Radio's "BETA" for another installment of "Walter on Walter" to discuss the legacy of Hill's iconic film.
"'48 Hrs.' is remembered by people as a comedy," Chaw says. "It's really about this tense relationship — this tense racial relationship — this violent crime film. It's a lot of things, but a comedy, it's not. And a movie about friends, it's not."
Chaw's relationship with the film dates back to an illicit screening of it when he was a kid. He and his friends snuck into the R-rated film because of all the buzz around Murphy. It was during this viewing that Chaw saw something deeper in Murphy's performance.
"I was particularly drawn to the Eddie Murphy character in '48 Hrs.' for maybe not obvious reasons. He's obviously the energy, the lifeblood of that film, but there's something about Eddie Murphy and the way that he handles the racism that really spoke to me even as a 9-year-old," he says.
Chaw says that he marveled at how Murphy's character of the temporarily released convict, Reggie Hammond, was never surprised by the overt racism he faces in nearly every situation he and surly detective, Jack Cates (played by an equally surly Nick Nolte) find themselves in, but instead is able to weaponize it.
"People are constantly surprised by Reggie Hammond throughout the course of '48 Hrs.' That's because they don't see him as smart. They don't see him as able. They judge him instantly based on what he looks like and what he sounds like and how he chooses to act. And it's to their own detriment," says Chaw.
Chaw, who is Asian-American, had an epiphany moment of realization while watching.
"My parents are Chinese. I was born in Colorado, and I never thought of my race as an advantage until I saw '48 Hrs.' And so in more than just the illicit sense, it was a watershed for me to see that film at 9 years old," he says.
Fans of the film are forgiven for mistaking it for a comedy. Much of the blame for that can be laid at the hands of a showstopping and widely talked about scene where Eddie Murphy dresses down an entire redneck bar called Torchy's.
"It's a huge moment because it's such an unexpected moment, I think, in American film in the '80s. That's the moment that Eddie Murphy becomes a star," says Chaw.
The scene famously almost didn't make it into the final cut of the film. Chaw says that it was because Hill and the writers viewed it as such a tightrope scene that had the danger of polarizing audiences.
"They tested it a couple of times and one screening audience hated it, and the next screening audience loved it. And then at the end of the day, Hill and (writer) Larry Gross said, 'You know what? Let's just go for it.' And it became such a huge scene and such a huge cultural moment," says Chaw.
In many ways, Chaw says, "48 Hrs." has morphed from a comedy staple to a dangerous conversation about race and identity in America. He says that while Walter Hill was never accused of being overly progressive, he was more interested in and very good at reflecting society back on itself in his films.
"I think what you get in Walter Hill's films is a guy who is very open-eyed, very clear-eyed about the way that the world is," he says.
"The use of racial invective in '48 Hrs.,' and in many of his other films in this period, is extraordinary because it's not only the way that these men are needling each other, are starting fights with each other, but it's also the way that they're becoming friends," Chaw continues.
This dovetails naturally into Hill's interrogation of the paradox of toxic masculinity.
"It's all part of this thesis, I think, that Hill has, that men are essentially violent. Men are essentially born of this place of conflict. And men are only taught in our society to express themselves in certain ways. It's not OK for guys to cry in our society or hold hands or hug or give each other kisses on the cheek. We're not allowed to do that. We are allowed to be angry, to be rageful," Chaw says.
Chaw points to a scene in "48 Hrs." where Hammond and Cates physically fight as one of the most powerful because it demonstrates how this toxic violent nature and expression can be used oddly as a sign of respect.
"They express their love for each other ultimately through this big fight in the middle of the street. And even at the end of the fight that Reggie was about to win, Jack says, 'You know what? Whatever. Write up the report. I'm going to say that I won.' Because he's reasserting his power institutionally over Reggie," Chaw states.
"It's been called the prototypical buddy comedy, but it's neither," he continues. "They're not friends at the end of this movie. They're, if anything, kind of coconspirators. They're still on the opposite sides. And they always will be. There's no real bridging of that racial gap. That's the tragedy of it, I think. And that's the tragedy of a lot of Walter Hill's movies."