Review of Best Defense

It is a widespread myth that Eddie Murphy's scenes were only added after the movie tested poorly with audiences. That theory makes sense, given that the Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy storylines are so different and set in two time periods, and that Murphy's appearance is so brief. But actually, the film was based on a Robert Grossbach book that already had cross-cutting in it (though it was about the Vietnam War), called "Easy and Hard Ways Out," and the film was all shot in late 1983. This is a quote from Murphy's agent in a July 1984 Wall Street Journal article, the same month the film came out: "No, no," was how Bob Wachs, Mr. Murphy's manager, responded to the theory. "From the beginning, the movie was structured the way it is. The movie was signed with Dudley Moore as a sure go, then we signed on last August." (Shooting didn't begin until October.) Mr. Wachs explained that even though Mr. Murphy had a five-picture deal with Paramount last summer (which doesn't include "Best Defense"), the studio "didn't have a starring vehicle we considered appropriate for Eddie. Rather than Eddie sitting around not being on the screen at all this summer, we wanted him to be in something. This isn't our movie. Dudley Moore is the star of this movie." However, Mr. Murphy is displayed more prominently than Mr. Moore in television ads for the movie, and local theaters have put both names in letters of equal size on their marquees. Isn't Mr. Wachs worried that Mr. Murphy's fans might be angry to find out their hero shows up only sporadically and in a confused movie to boot? "Paramount controls the distribution and advertisement," Mr. Wachs replied. "This was a cameo, for God's sake."