Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 37
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 71,591
A variation on the "buddy-cop" hybridized genre, 48 HRS. greatly bolstered the career of Nick Nolte and made comedian Eddie Murphy a bonafide box-office sensation. When a pair of reckless cop-killers break out of prison, grizzled detective Jack Cates (Nolte) is left no alternative but to spring fast-talking hustler Reggie Hammond (Murphy) from the penitentiary in order to find the criminals. The catch: the pair only have 48 hours to complete their assignment before Hammond must return to prison.
R, 1 hr. 36 min.
Roger Spottiswoode, Walter Hill, Larry Gross, Steven E. de Souza
Dec 8, 1982 Wide
Jan 26, 1999
Paramount Home Video
All Critics (37) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (3) | DVD (7)
Neither jokes nor fast, flashy action can completely distract audiences from the failure to establish an authentic, rather than a purely conventional connection between Nolte and Murphy.
All in all, a superior genre piece, if not the height of Hill's artistry.
The movie's story is nothing to write home about. It's pretty routine. What makes the movie special is how it's made. Nolte and Murphy are good, and their dialogue is good, too -- quirky and funny.
[It] is more memorable for its characters than for its high style, more a series of energetic scenes than a collection of handsome imagery. It has life, ferocity and humor in place of icy, stylized elegance, and that seems more than a fair trade.
A genuinely tetchy, risky race comedy
...a good, taut, surprisingly brief action comedy, with the primary emphasis on the action. (Blu-ray Edition)
It remains one of the better action-comedy buddy pictures you'll find.
One of the first buddy action movies, 48 Hrs. laid the ground work for the sub-genre that was at its best during the 1980's.
The perfect buddy-cop movie! Murphy and Nolte are awesome!
Fast-paced, frill-free action entertainment of the first order.
Although dated, there is a brute edginess to this popular slice of formula odd coupling.
Hang on for the ride.
A down-the-line thriller, plain, fast and efficient.
Stands with Midnight Run as one of the all-time great mismatched buddy movies.
Ignited that whole anti-buddy genre.
Enjoyably edgy romp
This is yet another formulaic action film from the overblown eighties, complete with naked broads, gunplay, and a maniacal killer. Much like other eighties films there's a deadline before everything blows up in the protagonist's face and someone dies. This is the first Eddie Murphy vehicle, made during his time on SNL
July 29, 2010Super Reviewer
I feel REALLY late to the party on this one. Good, but nothing spectacular. To be fair this movie has been copied, parodied, and ripped-off so much it's hard for it so seem as fresh as I'm sure it was when it came out.
March 28, 2007Super Reviewer
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