Director Sidney J. Furie’s The Taking of Beverly Hills sat on the shelf for over two years, but even when it was finally released, it still emerged as one of the earliest examples of a Die Hard in a _______ movie. This time, instead of Die Hard in a building, we have Die Hard in a… Beverly Hills. That means when it comes time for the big car chase, the hero drives a Rolls Royce instead of the typical muscle car. If you can’t already tell, this thing is fucking classy.
Ken (The Soldier) Wahl stars as a football player named Boomer. When a tanker truck overturns and causes a major chemical spill, Beverly Hills is evacuated. Boomer didn’t get the memo because he was locked in his luxurious mansion soaking in his hot tub. The chemical spill is just a cover so a bunch of dirty cops can loot and pillage Beverly Hills. Naturally, this leads to the typical “Wrong Guy at the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time” scenario, and Boomer must team up with a bumbling cop (Matt Frewer) to bring down the bad guys.
The Taking of Beverly Hills is enormously entertaining as far as this sort of thing goes. The direction is capable, the action is non-stop, the pacing is brisk, and lots of stuff blows up real good. The thing that puts it over the top is the incredible cast. We have Robert Davi as the villain, Lee Ving as his henchman, and Harley Jane Kozak as the love interest. Wahl is in his element as the hero who utilizes his football skills to combat the bad guys. (“I’m a master at moving downfield… and they don’t know I’m in the game!”) He uses tackling dummies to toss bad guys out of windows, runs down Rodeo Drive past gunmen like he’s avoiding the opposing team’s defense, and tosses bombs into speeding cars like he’s throwing Hail Mary passes. He also has a spectacular mullet.
In short, Boomer is a Video Vacuum kind of guy.
The big stumbling block is Frewer as the comic relief tagalong sidekick. I’m usually a big Frewer fan, but he’s pretty annoying and his quips aren’t very funny. He should’ve been relegated to the sidelines (to keep the football theme going) and Wahl should’ve flown solo on this one. I think it would’ve made for a tighter picture.
Frewer’s annoying character aside, The Taking of Beverly Hills is a gloriously dumb, ridiculously entertaining good time. It may be derivative, but it’s just so goofy that it’s hard not to enjoy it. Look, you’re either the kind of person who wants to see Ken Wahl carrying Ninja stars around in a designer handbag and tossing them into bad guys while Faith No More’s “Epic” blares on the soundtrack, or you aren’t.
Wahl only made one more picture before retiring from acting in the late ‘90s. Shortly thereafter, he went on to marry one of the Barbi Twins and devoted much of his time to charity work. I wish he was still making movies like this, but it seems like he is busy living his best life, and I can respect that. I wish him all the best.
Unfortunately Wahl's acting career was cut short after he slipped and badly injured his back.
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