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Netizens usually come with a declaration every now and then that they have found the greatest buddy-cop film ever made. Rush Hour gets a shout almost always. The Nice Guys always has its crowd, and Bad Boys never stay out of the conversation. And don’t get us wrong, they are all good, but if you are wondering where it all started, 48 HRS. is your answer.

A massive reason for that is Eddie Murphy. Honestly, it’s almost impossible to watch 48 HRS. wondering how massive he became after that. Before this, he was the breakout man on Saturday Night Live. After it? Hollywood couldn’t get the contracts in front of him quickly enough.

The best thing is the film doesn’t hang about. Nick Nolte plays Jack Cates, a hard-as-nails San Francisco detective hunting down two cop killers who have vanished into the city. His only lead is Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy), a con artist already banged up, who used to work with them. So Jack gets permission to drag Reggie out of prison for exactly 48 hours, hoping he will point him in the right direction before he marches straight back inside. Nice and simple, isn’t it?

And that’s exactly why it works a treat. On paper, it is about catching criminals, but that’s not really the point, is it? It’s about throwing two men together who’d happily knock seven bells out of each other if they weren’t busy chasing somebody else. Jack’s rough as old boots. Reggie, though? Ahh, he walks in with full confidence, reckoning he is the cleverest person there… and nine times out of ten, he’s spot on.

Did you know Eddie Murphy wasn’t even the first choice to play Reggie Hammond? The producers had a look at a few established names before taking a gamble on a 21-year-old comic. Talk about pulling a blinder. That performance turned him into one of the biggest stars of the ’80s and opened the door for Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, and everything that came after.

Kudos to director Walter Hill as well. Loads of buddy-cop films are mostly about the laughs and treat the action like an afterthought. Not here. Hill came from gritty crime films, so the shootouts feel quite real. There is always that sense that things could go sideways at any minute.

And don’t kid yourself about the influence this film had either. Without 48 HRS., there is every chance Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys, Rush Hour and loads of other odd-couple action comedies would’ve looked completely different. Hollywood found the formula here and kept going back to it.

Now, remember, parts of 48 HRS. have definitely aged like an early ’80s action film. Some of the language and attitudes won’t be liked by everyone these days, and there’s no pretending otherwise. But you can’t ignore what it did for the genre either. Netflix has no shortage of action films, but 48 HRS. still rocks up like it owns the place… and in all fairness, it’s earned the right.