Beverly Hills Cop: The Complete Lineup

(Paramount Home Entertainment, $74.97)

For those moviegoers who never thought they'd get wistful for the '80s, this is the package for you. The original Beverly Hills Cop, a blockbuster 1984 action-comedy directed by Martin Brest, is a relatively low-budget movie and simply delightful. Watch Eddie Murphy, primed with talent and ambition, turn what was meant to be a Sylvester Stallone vehicle into an observant, lighthearted, and funny send-up of SoCal wealth. The second, 1987 opus, directed by Tony Scott, is slick and heartless, and the third, a 1994 exercise in industry cynicism, was directed by John Landis and has laughs as heavy as the baggage everyone involved brought along. The Cop saga may have started as satire, but it was quickly corrupted by its own success. There is something great about this collection, however, and it's the extras-particularly the archival and newly shot interviews with cast and crew: The material is rich with anecdotes and genuine behind-the-scenes history. Murphy's costar Judge Reinhold is especially informative, and Brest's commentary on the first Cop is candid and charming-could this be the same man who gave us the pompous Scent of a Woman and Meet Joe Black?

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