10 Highest-Grossing '80s Movies Ranked Worst To Best

10. Beverly Hill Cop

Year: 1984

Box Office: $234 million

Probably the most surprising revelation of the 80s was the success of Martin Brest's action comedy, which kicked off a franchise that made Paramount a massive $735.5 million (for the time period at least) and gave the world Eddie Murphy as a solo leading man. It's not quite correct to say it launched his career, though, as he'd already made three major movies and was about as famous as Jesus Christ thanks to his SNL adulation.

Remarkably, considering he was cast only two weeks before filming commenced, Beverly Hills Cop feels like a Murphy vehicle (and not in the same sense as Norbit or Meet Dave would later). Axel Foley was an extension of the cocksure stand-up persona he'd developed to such success and that attitude worked as the perfect abrasive against the typically straight-laced cops of California. It's essentially Crocodile Dundee but Dundee is from Detroit and has a very loose interpretation of the rules of policing.

The comedy is great, the story compelling and the action exciting, but it's all about Murphy, who has rarely been this good or this charmingly obnoxious. Just imagine how different it might have been if Mickey Rourke had been allowed to film the role after initially being cast, or Sylvester Stallone, whose ideas for it were frankly terrifying. It certainly wouldn't be in this ranking, that's for damn sure.