Eddie Murphy sought to exclude one Beverly Hills Cop Reference from Axel F.
Eddie Murphy battled to keep one of the most popular jokes from the original Beverly Hills Cop out of the new sequel Axel F almost included. Along with many of the original movie elements, including the legendary "Axel F" theme song, Murphy's iconic 1980s cop is returning on Netflix's streaming sequel. One joke from the OG Beverly Hills Cop that didn't make it to the sequel, though, is the banana in the tailpipe, a gag that, in the first movie saw Axel foiling police officers on his tail by creatively sabotaging their vehicle.
Why Eddie Murphy Made Sense in Opposing Including the Banana in the Tailpipe?
Though Murphy battled to make sure Axel F refrained from referencing that particular slightly dirty joke, the Banana In The Tailpipe gag is indeed a classic Beverly Hills Cop moment. In a roundtable discussion of the upcoming Netflix film, he clarified:
"Up until the very last day of the film, I battled to ensure the tailpipe would not have any bananas. The director asked "How about the Banana In The Tailpipe?" whenever we ran across a little speed bump and we needed a joke or something. No, no; we cannot do it. "You know, though the people really want to see that." No, they do not, I said.
Axel F Features Familiar Faces & Iconic Music in Beverly Hills Cop
Axel F is not hesitant about revisiting elements of the original Movies that helped audiences find appeal in them. Apart from Murphy's Axel Foley, the movie resurrects Judge Reinhold's Billy Rosewood, John Ashton's John Taggart, Paul Reiser's Jeffrey Friedman, even Bronson Pinchot's Serge. Harold Faltermeyer's famous electronic instrumental track "Axel F.," among other tunes from the legendary soundtracks of the 1984 original and its 1987 sequel, is also included in the film.
Given all the elements Murphy imported from the original films, he might have felt that recycling a joke, just for the fun reference, was going too far. That the director of the movie Mark Molloy persisted in including the joke could have only made the famously independent-minded Murphy much more likely to rebel.
Eddie Murphy Reveals The Banana in The Tailpipe Almost Wasn't A Banana
Murphy says Molloy kept bringing up the banana in the tailpipe each time they were stuck for a joke and might have thought that using that specific gag, or even mentioning it, was giving in too quickly to a nostalgic impulse. Old joke Movies do seem desperate, and Murphy might have been sensitive to that fact. In the end, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F omitted referencing every little fan-favorite joke from the original movies and included plenty of callbacks.
Murphy also revealed that the well-known banana in the tailpipe was practically not a banana at all: "It was almost a potato. 'What's a potato going to do in a tailpipe?' I asked.
Eddie Murphy's choice to oppose the banana's tailpipe gag underlines his will to uphold the integrity of the Beverly Hills Cop brand. He made sure Axel F would stand on its own as a deserving addition to the show by not depending on cheap laughter or nostalgia.
