48 Hrs.

48 Hrs.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWalter Hill
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRic Waite
Edited by
Music byJames Horner
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • December 8, 1982 (1982-12-08) (United States)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[1]
Box office$78.9 million[2]

48 Hrs. (pronounced 'forty-eight hours') is a 1982 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Walter Hill, from a screenplay co-written with Larry Gross, Steven E. de Souza and Roger Spottiswoode. It stars Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy (the latter in his film debut) as a cop and a convict, respectively, who team up to catch two hardened criminals. Titled after the amount of time the duo has to solve the crime, 48 Hrs. was Joel Silver's first title as a producer.

Though predated by Richard Rush's 1974 film Freebie and the Bean, the film is often credited as being the first in the "buddy cop" genre, later popularized by films such as Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys, and Rush Hour. Its supporting cast features Annette O'Toole, James Remar, Frank McRae, David Patrick Kelly, Sonny Landham, Jonathan Banks and Brion James. The musical score was composed by James Horner.

Released by Paramount Pictures on December 8, 1982, 48 Hrs. was one of the most commercially successful films of 1982,[3] received widespread acclaim from critics, and launched Murphy's film career by earning him a Golden Globe Award nomination for New Star of the Year – Actor. A sequel, Another 48 Hrs., was released in 1990, also directed by Walter Hill, with Nolte and Murphy reprising their roles.

  1. ^ Box Office Information for 48 Hrs. Archived 2014-10-27 at the Wayback Machine The Wrap. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  2. ^ "Box Office Information for 48 Hrs.". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).