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.

Tough cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) teams up with wise cracking criminal Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy), who has been paroled to him for 48 Hours to help track down prison escapee Albert Ganz (James Remar) and his partner Biil Bear (Sonny Landham).

Cates wants revenge on the pair after they kill two of his fellow officers; Hammond wants to get his hands on a half million dollars he stashed away before going to prison, money he acquired through a robbery with Ganz who is also after the loot.

Cates and Hammond must work together to get what they want, if they don't kill each other first.

Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy work well together providing the necessary chemistry, with Murphy giving a very good performance which helped make him an instant movie star. Nolte is also good as the cynical, immature cop. Both James Remar & Sonny Landham are well cast as the villains.

The action scenes are still decent thanks to director Walter Hill's deft hand on the genre, the highlight being Notle and Murphy' very well choreographed fight scene.

Yet some of the jokes have not stood the test of time, mainly due to the fact that Murphy has done the same thing so many times now that his shtick has grown tiresome. However his interrogation of a redneck bar is still a riot, as is the constant back and forth between the films two stars.

There have seen much better takes on the genre, yet since this is an original, respect is due.