Murphy’s Law 1986

In a city shrouded in smoke and cynicism, Jack Murphy is a hard-edged, antisocial LAPD detective whose coping mechanism is alcohol. He struggles with the painful truth that his ex-wife, Jan Murphy, Angel Tompkins has become a stripper, and his once-steady career is slipping away. Murphy’s world tilts when he is framed by the ex-convict Joan Freeman, Carrie Snodgress for a crime she forced him to carry out earlier in his career.

Freeman murders Murphy’s ex-wife and her boyfriend, then begins a ruthless campaign to wipe out his associates while pinning the crimes on Murphy. The same police force Murphy serves appears to turn against him, and he is arrested alongside Arabella McGee, Kathleen Wilhoite, a foul-mouthed petty thief he once locked away.

Murphy and Arabella escape from custody, still handcuffed to each other, and embark on a perilous pursuit of the killer. Freeman has already killed everyone on her hit list except Murphy, and the chase leads them to a fateful confrontation. Arabella is kidnapped and dragged back to the building where she was first arrested by Murphy.

Murphy calls for reinforcements, only to discover that the officer he trusted, Ed Reineke, James Luisi, is secretly working for mob boss Frank Vincenzo, Richard Romanus. Vincenzo longs for vengeance after Murphy killed his brother earlier in the story, and he won’t settle for a fair fight.

Driven by grit, Murphy moves to rescue Arabella but is ambushed. Reineke’s treachery comes to light as Freeman’s plan unfolds. Freeman dispatches Reineke with a precise arrow, leaving Murphy to confront a greater compromised web of loyalties. Vincenzo and his two bodyguards storm the building to settle the score, but Murphy battles through and taunts Vincenzo into a final showdown, ending the mob boss with a decisive shot.

In the climactic sequence, Freeman drives the elevator downward in a bid to crush Arabella. Murphy fights his way to a save, but Freeman’s arrow finds Arabella’s back. The struggle climbs to the top floor, where Freeman closes in with an axe. Murphy overpowers her momentarily, yet Freeman clings to the axe wedged in the railing, pleading for help. He refuses, and Freeman tumbles to her death.

The aftermath finds Murphy loaded into the back of an ambulance with a still-living Arabella, and the two are taken to the hospital as the night’s violence slowly ebbs, leaving a trail of consequences for everyone touched by the case.