If anything, “Bad Boys” was supposed to be a cautionary tale for young people who were going down the wrong path. The brainchild of brothers Ian and Roger Lewis, Inner Circle included “Bad Boys” on their 1987 album One Way, never intending it to become a pro-cop anthem. The group formed in 1968 in Jamaica, recording a series of albums that failed to make a dent on the charts. Inner Circle were hardly a new band when Langley stumbled upon them - but they weren’t exactly household names, either. “I heard the song and I said, ‘That’s it. That’s when a field producer found an album from the group Inner Circle. “It seemed to announce, this is not your regular cop show with a Hill Street Blues kind of theme.” He and his team scoured CDs looking for the right track. “Back in 1988, I was a Bob Marley fan - still am - and I thought it would be very interesting to counterpoint law enforcement with reggae,” Cops creator John Langley told Entertainment Weekly in 2017 about selecting “Bad Boys” as his show’s theme song. The show’s cheap production values and tawdry subject matter - the breathless announcer opened each episode informing the viewer, “ Cops is filmed on location as it happens ” - made it perfect trash TV, and the mindlessly catchy “Bad Boys” nicely fit the stoned-at-two-in-the-morning vibe. One of the first big reality-show sensations, Cops debuted in 1989, its depiction of low-rent crooks making asses of themselves when confronted by law enforcement proving instantly addictive. But even before then, “Bad Boys” had become ingrained in the culture - all thanks to a little show called Cops : With its laidback reggae groove and chanted chorus, the song became part of the fabric of the Bad Boys franchise. Of course, they’re referencing the song “Bad Boys.” You probably don’t know who made the song, but you’ll have the chorus embedded in your brain until death… It’s an eminently reasonable suggestion - after all, they’re dudes in their 50s, not young turks anymore - but Mike isn’t having it: I guess it's a matter of perspective but it's difficult for me to believe that those who watched the first movie wouldn't be amused by this scene, let alone find it problematic.In Bad Boys for Life, Marcus (Martin Lawrence) makes an appeal to his partner Mike (Will Smith): Maybe it’s time for them to stop being bad boys and start trying to be good men. And from my experience, he's the one out of touch. It's funny how he makes a mountain out of the molehill this situation is. The most interesting thing about this scene for me is Roger Ebert's critique of it. What were they thinking? Have they so lost touch with human nature that they think audiences will like this scene? Do they think it's funny? Did the actors voice any objections? It's the job of the producer to keep a film on track did Jerry Bruckheimer notice anything distasteful? Or is it possible that everyone connected with the film has become so desensitized by the relentless cynical aggression of movies like this that the scene passed without comment? The needless cruelty of this scene took me out of the movie and into the minds of its makers. Then with a leer: "Want to?" The boy is terrified. He is threatened with the unspeakable if he lays a hand on the girl. Marcus and his partner (Will Smith) intimidate the boy without mercy. The doorbell rings, and Lawrence opens it to confront her date, a nervous 15-year-old boy, tall and thin, neatly dressed. We see the girl, pretty and hopeful in her new dress, being fussed over by her mother. A cop played by Martin Lawrence is alarmed that his 15-year-old daughter is going out on her first date. There is an ugly scene in "Bad Boys II" that I want to tell you about.
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