The Taking of Beverly Hills
Encyclopedia
The Taking of Beverly Hills is a 1991 American action film
, directed
by Sidney J. Furie
. An action film in the vein of Die Hard
, the film stars Ken Wahl
, fresh off the success of the television series Wiseguy
, as football hero Boomer Hayes, with Matt Frewer
stepping up to the plate as his sidekick, Beverly Hills policeman Ed Kelvin. The film also features Pamela Anderson
in her first film part in an uncredited role playing a cheerleader.
However, the spill is a cleverly executed hoax masterminded by the head of L.A.'s football team, Robert 'Bat' Masterson. The police officers and DEA agents are bitter ex-cops eager for a piece of what the citizens have hoarded from them. Within the 70 minutes that it will take for the National Guard to arrive, they plot to loot every home and business in the city.
However, one man has been forgotten in the rush to get everyone out. Aging football player Boomer Hayes was in his hot tub, expecting to get lucky, when his lady friend, Laura Sage went to see what was going on and was taken in the rush to evacuate everyone. The officers thought that "Boomer" was her dog, but checked anyway. After taking care of one of the cops sent to kill him, Boomer is trapped in the hot tub by an officer, but before he can shoot him, he's shot from behind. Ed Kelvin, a cop in on the whole thing but disgusted by the ruthless murder of the Mayor (he was told there would be no killing), fills in Boomer on the whole situation, and Boomer decides to help bring in the real police, who are locked in the station's hazmat suit room. Donning his jersey, injecting cortizone for his bum knee, and enlisting Kelvin's help, Boomer will spend the next 70 minutes attempting to stop the robbery and bring Masterson to justice, while evading ex-cops and the hired thug Benitez, who has commandeered a SWAT tank and is gunning for Boomer and Kelvin.
after original distributor Orion Pictures
ran into financial trouble. The film was given a limited release
in the fall of 1991, grossing $939,277 at the box office. Despite Wahl's presence, and due to rather lackluster advertising, the film bombed on this initial release, but later found an audience through cable TV and its VHS
video release. As of 2011, the film has still not been officially released on DVD
.
All quotes are from Rotten Tomatoes:
However, the game was developed and released by Capstone Software
, a company notorious for their poorly-created movie tie-ins. The game had some significant bugs and poor gameplay, and, like the film its based on, faded into obscurity. You can freely download the game from the internet as abandonware
.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
, directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Sidney J. Furie
Sidney J. Furie
Sidney J. Furie is a Canadian film director. Furie is perhaps best known for directing American Soldiers, The IPCRESS File, The Entity, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Lady Sings the Blues, The Boys, Gable and Lombard, Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York and the Iron Eagle films.Also...
. An action film in the vein of Die Hard
Die Hard
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film and the first in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to the book The Detective, which...
, the film stars Ken Wahl
Ken Wahl
Ken Wahl is an American film and television actor, popular in the 1980s and 1990s. He twice won the title of Sexiest Man on TV, earned an Emmy nomination and won a Golden Globe.-Career:...
, fresh off the success of the television series Wiseguy
Wiseguy
Wiseguy is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 16, 1987 to December 8, 1990 for a total of four seasons. Starring Ken Wahl, the series was produced by Stephen J...
, as football hero Boomer Hayes, with Matt Frewer
Matt Frewer
Matthew "Matt" Frewer is a Canadian American stage, TV and film actor. Acting since 1983, he is known for portraying the 1980s icon Max Headroom and the retired villain Moloch in the film adaptation of Watchmen.-Life and career:...
stepping up to the plate as his sidekick, Beverly Hills policeman Ed Kelvin. The film also features Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
in her first film part in an uncredited role playing a cheerleader.
Plot
One night in Beverly Hills, California, a truck carrying hazardous materials crashes, releasing a deadly chemical. The citizens of Beverly Hills are sent to quarantine in a hotel in Century City, while the police and the EPA agents stay behind to keep an eye on the valuables and clean up the town.However, the spill is a cleverly executed hoax masterminded by the head of L.A.'s football team, Robert 'Bat' Masterson. The police officers and DEA agents are bitter ex-cops eager for a piece of what the citizens have hoarded from them. Within the 70 minutes that it will take for the National Guard to arrive, they plot to loot every home and business in the city.
However, one man has been forgotten in the rush to get everyone out. Aging football player Boomer Hayes was in his hot tub, expecting to get lucky, when his lady friend, Laura Sage went to see what was going on and was taken in the rush to evacuate everyone. The officers thought that "Boomer" was her dog, but checked anyway. After taking care of one of the cops sent to kill him, Boomer is trapped in the hot tub by an officer, but before he can shoot him, he's shot from behind. Ed Kelvin, a cop in on the whole thing but disgusted by the ruthless murder of the Mayor (he was told there would be no killing), fills in Boomer on the whole situation, and Boomer decides to help bring in the real police, who are locked in the station's hazmat suit room. Donning his jersey, injecting cortizone for his bum knee, and enlisting Kelvin's help, Boomer will spend the next 70 minutes attempting to stop the robbery and bring Masterson to justice, while evading ex-cops and the hired thug Benitez, who has commandeered a SWAT tank and is gunning for Boomer and Kelvin.
Cast
- Ken WahlKen WahlKen Wahl is an American film and television actor, popular in the 1980s and 1990s. He twice won the title of Sexiest Man on TV, earned an Emmy nomination and won a Golden Globe.-Career:...
as Boomer Hayes - Matt FrewerMatt FrewerMatthew "Matt" Frewer is a Canadian American stage, TV and film actor. Acting since 1983, he is known for portraying the 1980s icon Max Headroom and the retired villain Moloch in the film adaptation of Watchmen.-Life and career:...
as Officer Ed Kelvin - Harley Jane KozakHarley Jane Kozak-Life and career:Kozak was born Susan Jane Kozak in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Dorothy , a university music teacher, and Joseph Aloysius Kozak, an attorney. She has seven siblings: brothers John, Joseph, Peter and Andrew and sisters Dorothy, Mary and Ann. Harley is the youngest of...
as Laura Sage - Robert DaviRobert DaviRobert John Davi is an American actor and singer. He has played such roles as Vietnam veteran and Special Agent Johnson in Die Hard, the villainous Jake Fratelli in The Goonies, and Al Torres in Showgirls...
as Robert 'Bat' Masterson - Lee VingLee VingLee Ving Lee Ving Lee Ving (born Lee James Capellaro; April 10, 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an American musician, most famous for his role as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Los Angeles-based punk rock band Fear, and actor. In the late 1960s Ving joined Sweet Stavin Chain Blues Band...
as Varney - Branscombe RichmondBranscombe RichmondBranscombe Richmond is an American character actor and stuntman. He is sometimes credited in films as Richmond Branscombe, Ranscombe Richmon, Ranhome Quickman or Branscom Richmond....
as Benitez - Lyman WardLyman WardLyman Ward is a Canadian actor.-Biography:Ward was born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada and graduated from Saint Malachy's Memorial High School in the class of 1958, and then in 1963 from St...
as Chief Healy - George WynerGeorge WynerGeorge Wyner is an American film and television actor. He is probably best known for his role as ADA Bernstein on the series Hill Street Blues. Wyner graduated from Syracuse University in 1968 as a drama major, and was an in-demand character actor by the early 1970s. To date, Wyner has made guest...
as The Mayor of Beverly Hills - William PrinceWilliam Prince (actor)William LeRoy Prince was an American actor who appeared in numerous soap operas and made dozens of guest appearances on primetime series as well as playing villains in movies like The Gauntlet and Spontaneous Combustion.-Biography:Prince was born in Nichols, New York, the son of Myrtle , a nurse...
as Mitchell Sage - Michael BowenMichael Bowen (actor)Michael Bowen is an American actor. Films he has appeared in include Jackie Brown, Magnolia, and Less Than Zero. Bowen also had a recurring role as Danny Pickett on the ABC television series, Lost....
as L.A. Cop at Roadblock - Tony GaniosTony GaniosTony Ganios is a Greek American actor. In 1979 he made his film debut as a heroic tough-guy named 'Perry' in The Wanderers. He is probably best known for his role as Anthony 'Meat' Tuperello in the 1982 hit comedy Porky's, the 1983 sequel Porky's II: The Next Day and the 1985 sequel Porky's...
as EPA Man - Michael AlldredgeMichael AlldredgeMichael Alldredge was an American film and television actor. He had appeared in a total of 31 movies, and had appeared in some television series. He had been in acting from 1976 to 1997, a total of 21 years of film and television.-External links:...
as Dispatch Sergeant - Raymond Singer as Mr. Tobeason
- Pamela AndersonPamela AndersonPamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
as Cheerleader (uncredited)
Release
The film was picked up for theatrical distribution by Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
after original distributor Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
ran into financial trouble. The film was given a limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the fall of 1991, grossing $939,277 at the box office. Despite Wahl's presence, and due to rather lackluster advertising, the film bombed on this initial release, but later found an audience through cable TV and its VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video release. As of 2011, the film has still not been officially released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
All quotes are from Rotten Tomatoes:
- "The Taking of Beverly Hills is sound and Furie signifying nothing. Director Sydney J. Furie takes a promising premise -- the robbery of the world's most upscale community while residents are fleeing a fake toxic spill -- and reduces it to an assortment of car stunts. Cars screech, cars crash, cars flip, cars burn, and so on. Take that away and you have Ken "Wiseguy" Wahl. You'll miss the cars." - Richard Harrington, WASHINGTON POST
Computer game
A computer game was released in 1991 to coincide with the film's theatrical release. The game was an action/adventure hybrid where you could play as both Boomer Hayes and Laura Sage (strangely, Ed was left out) to solve puzzles and defeat bad guys in order to stop the looting of the city.However, the game was developed and released by Capstone Software
Capstone Software
Capstone Software was a subsidiary of IntraCorp, a Miami, Florida-based computer and video game company. Founded in 1984, Capstone created first-person games such as Corridor 7: Alien Invasion, William Shatner's TekWar and Witchaven, and is also known for releasing games based on movie/TV...
, a company notorious for their poorly-created movie tie-ins. The game had some significant bugs and poor gameplay, and, like the film its based on, faded into obscurity. You can freely download the game from the internet as abandonware
Abandonware
Abandonware are discontinued products for which no product support is available, or whose copyright ownership may be unclear for various reasons...
.