The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) on Netflix
A chemical spill empties Beverly Hills. The spill is a hoax. Football player Boomer Hayes is stranded in the city as ex-cops move in to loot it.
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- Netflix2.3/5
- IMDb5.2/101,549 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes40%
Trailer
Plot summary
A truck carrying hazardous material crashes in Beverly Hills, and the entire population is evacuated to a hotel in Century City. The police and EPA agents remain to guard the empty homes. The spill is a hoax: Robert "Bat" Masterson, head of Los Angeles's football team, has organized a group of ex-cops and DEA agents to loot the city before the National Guard arrives in seventy minutes. Retiring football player Boomer Hayes was in his hot tub when the evacuation happened, and his lady friend Laura Sage was taken away with the crowd, leaving him behind. Ed Kelvin, one of the officers in on the scheme, explains what is happening and joins Boomer, who decides to stop the robbery. Hired thug Benitez commands a SWAT tank and hunts the two men through the city.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The filmmakers never got permission to build and destroy on-screen replicas of luxury stores such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Fred, Cartier and Armani. Some of the real stores' representatives reacted negatively, but lawyers advised against suing and no action was taken.
- Just before the production left Mexico at the end of June 1990, an armored car carrying the equivalent of $50,000 earmarked for the local crew's salaries was robbed.
- Star Ken Wahl brought much of his Wiseguy crew onto the film. When Nelson Entertainment executives visited him on the series' set, he walked them into a room full of people and told them they were hired, effectively forcing his partners' hand.
- Beverly Hills would not accommodate the shoot, so production designer Peter Lamont spent three months photographing the real Rodeo Drive, drawing suspicion from jewelry stores, and rebuilt the street at an unfinished sports complex south of Mexico City.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger was reported in talks to star in summer 1989, but Ken Wahl signed that fall. Wahl had turned the film down, disliking the hero as a stereotypical bitter cop, and had Wiseguy showrunner David J. Burke rewrite him into the flamboyant football player "Boomer," inspired by Joe Namath.
- Stunt coordinator Jack Gill doubled as pilot of the Alvis Saracen armored car, and his younger brother and trainee Andy Gill also worked on the film, performing his first cannon roll for it.
