Eddie Murphy was the surest of bets in the 1980s.
At the age of 19, he single-handedly yanked “Saturday Night Live” back from the brink of cancellation after the departure of the original cast, and was all of 21 when he shot to big-screen stardom opposite Nick Nolte in Walter Hill’s action-comedy classic, “48 Hrs.” His second feature, “Trading Places,” was also a critical and commercial hit, while his stand-up LP “Eddie Murphy: Comedian” went platinum.
By 1984, Murphy was so hot, Paramount inserted him into the finished Dudley Moore comedy “Best Defense” in the hopes that he could enliven the deathly unfunny film with his ad-libbed brilliance.
It didn’t work, but no one held it against Murphy.
The movie was just that bad.There was no question that Murphy had turned into one of Hollywood’s biggest stars overnight, but his first two hits had been two-handers.
He had yet to carry a film on his own.
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