Trivia for
48 Hrs. (1982) More at IMDbPro »

• David Patrick Kelly also played a character named "Luther" in The Warriors (1979), also directed by Walter Hill.
  
  
• Eddie Murphy's film debut.
  
  
• Eddie Murphy revealed on "Inside the Actors Studio" (1994) that he didn't know how to "act" when drawing a gun, so he simply did what he did in every movie since: impersonate the facial expression of a ready for battle martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
  
  
• During the filming of a scene where Denise Crosby hits Eddie Murphy in the stomach with a rubber baseball bat prop, Murphy was afraid Crosby would actually hit him instead of stopping about a foot away like all staged movie blows. She demonstrated her control on both Walter Hill and Nick Nolte to assure Murphy, but ended up hitting him anyway during a take.
  
  
• Mickey Rourke turned down the role of Jack Cates.
  
  
• The word "fuck" is used 48 times in its various forms during the course of the film. This appears to be only coincidental to the title however.
  
  
• Gregory Hines was the first choice to play Reggie Hammond but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Cotton Club (1984). In fact, Eddie Murphy later confessed that he was the "fourth or fifth" choice for the part. Other actors considered for the role included Richard Pryor, the late Howard E. Rollins Jr. and a young Denzel Washington.
  
  
• James Remar often went without any sleep before shooting his scenes in order to give bad-guy Ganz a more washed-out, psychotic look.
  
  
• The first scene at the police station, which begins at around the 20 minute mark, was apparently shot in a single take. It lasts 3 minutes, with no visible cuts.
  
  
• Sonny Landham, who played Billy Bear, went on to direct and appear in the movie "Billy Lone Bear (1996)."
  
  
• Eddie Murphy states in his 2008 Biography special that his character's name was originally scripted to be "Willie Biggs." He had concerns with that name as it sounded too much like a "Hollywood, made-up, black guy's name." He suggested the last name Hammond based on a raspy-voiced, cool kid from his hometown named Terrance Hammond. Reggie was a compromise by having just the first name be a typical "Hollywood, made-up, black guy name."
  
  
• Kris Kristofferson was at one point considered for the role of 'Jack Cates'.
  
  
• Jeff Bridges turned down the role of 'Jack Cates', as he didn't want to be in a cop-movie. He later worked with director Hill in _Wild Bill (1994)_. Clint Eastwood also turned down the role of Cates, because he wanted to play the convict.
  
  

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