Eddie Murphy in Tower Heist
It’s been a while since we have seen Eddie Murphy on the big screen but he makes his return this week as he teams up with fellow funny man Ben Stiller in Tower Heist.
To celebrate the release of the movie and Murphy’s return to the silver screen we take a look at some of his movies that you have to have in your collection.
Dreamgirls
He may have been supporting actor to Jamie Foxx on this occasion in 2006 musical Dreamgirls but Murphy unleashed some sensational singing as James "Thunder" Early.
Directed by Bill Condon the movie followed a trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960's.
It was a stunning performance from the actor as he showed off his fine vocal skills - who knew he had such a great set of pipes on him?
For his performance Murphy secured a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, as the film secured seven more, but he lost out to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.
Beverly Hills Cop
In 1984 Murphy stepped into his first action movie of what turned out to be a successful franchise with Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley was born.
When his best friend is murdered, Axel heads off to Beverly Hills in an effort to track down the killer.
The resulting culture shock is only one of his difficulties: Often operating just outside the law in his determination to capture the murderer, he finds himself repeatedly clashing with the local authorities as well as his supervisor back home.
The film shot Murphy to international stardom as Beverly Hills Cop went on to gross in excess of $316 million at the global box office and landing Murphy a Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy nomination at the Golden Globes.
The character of Axel Foley remains the one that the actor is remembered for and there are rumours that he is working on a TV series.
Shrek
In 2001 it was Murphy's vocal cords that were on display as he lent his voice to Dreamworks' new animation project Shrek as they tried to end Pixar's domination at the box office.
Hard to believe that the characters of Shrek, Fiona and Donkey first appeared on the big screen a decade ago - Murphy teaming up with Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz.
An ogre, in order to regain his swamp, travels along with an annoying donkey in order to bring a princess to a scheming lord, wishing himself King.
The film was a runaway hit grossing well over $480 million at the box office spawning three sequels that have gone on to become one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.
48 Hrs
It was 1982 when Eddie Murphy made his big screen debut as he starred alongside Nick Nolte in Walter Hill’s 48 Hrs.
The movie followed a hard-nosed cop reluctantly teams up with a wise-cracking criminal temporarily paroled to him, in order to track down a killer.
The movie was met well by the critics on release and it is often regarded as one of the best and first buddy movies.
Tower Heist.
He is back in a comedy role this week with his new movie Tower Heist, which also stars Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck and Gabourey Sidibe.
After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.
Queens native Josh Kovacs (Stiller) has managed one of the most luxurious and well-secured residences in New York City for more than a decade.
Under his watchful eye, nothing goes undetected. In the swankiest unit atop Josh’s building, Wall Street titan Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) is under house arrest after being caught stealing two billion from his investors.
The hardest hit among those he defrauded? The tower staffers whose pensions he was entrusted to manage.
With only days before Arthur gets away with the perfect crime, Josh’s crew turns to petty crook Slide (Murphy) to plan the nearly impossible... to steal what they are sure is hidden in Arthur’s guarded condo.
Though amateurs, these rookie thieves know the building better than anyone. Turns out they’ve been casing the place for years, they just didn’t know it.
Tower Heist is released 2nd November.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Eddie Murphy