Continuity mistake: When the police arrive at Victor's house the two guards in the security room decide to run. At this time the one with the long sleeved shirt is wearing his gun in a shoulder-holster. In the next shot, when those two guards are running out the door and down the stairs, the long sleeved guy's shoulder-holster has vanished, but as they run toward the van, the shoulder-holster reappears again. (01:32:50)
Continuity mistake: When Axel is asking Lt. Bogomil to straighten things out with Inspector Todd during the conversation we get numerous shots from behind Foley's head. When he says "I guess I'm just out of a job. It's cool though" there is nothing in his afro. The camera then goes to Lt. Bogomil. After Foley tells him he is going to "start his own investigation company. How does that sound?" we get another shot of the back of his head. There is now a white piece of fuzz on the back left side of Axel's afro. (01:38:00)
Continuity mistake: When Axel is checking out of the hotel the position of his shirt collar and his sling varies from shot to shot. There is no visible movement of his arm that would make this change. It just changes. (01:38:35)
Continuity mistake: When Eddie Murphy is getting the bananas from the waiter in the hotel, the bananas he gets are straight. When he places the bananas in the tailpipe of the detectives' car, they are curved.
Continuity mistake: In the last scene (Victor Maitland's house) Taggart, Rosewood and Foley are hiding behind a small wall. After Rosewood says 'I hate machine guns', all three of them shoot back at the gangster, who is trying to gun them down. Foley shoots first, one shot and his gun is empty. One second later he shoots back once more (with the empty gun), and he reloads only after this.
Continuity mistake: As Taggart is apologizing to Axel for punching him, you see Taggart's gun on his belt, but when the camera angle changes the gun is no longer visible.
Continuity mistake: When Axel is thrown through the window you see his arm covering his face as he lands on the ground, but when the camera angle changes his arm is now to his side.
Continuity mistake: When Axel goes to see Victor at the club as he's walking up to the table you see Zack with his hand on the table but when the camera angle changes he is now wiping his mouth with his napkin.
Continuity mistake: When Victor catches Axel and Jenny at the warehouse one of Victor's henchmen is holding a gun to Axel's head and his other hand has Axel's sweatshirt in his grasp. Watch the hand holding the sweatshirt, it keeps changing positions as the camera angle changes throughout the scene.
Continuity mistake: The blood smears on the floor when Axel has gotten shot changes between shots. In the first clip there is just one spot and he moves a bit away from that. In the next clip there are two long smears.
Continuity mistake: During the opening chase, the truck's under-bumper license plates vanish in some shots, usually the same shots that show a wood board protecting the grille.
Continuity mistake: When Axel goes to talk to Jenny he asks her if there is somewhere they can talk and you see his left hand start to rub his stomach, but when the camera angle changes his hand is now in his back pocket.
Continuity mistake: When Axel goes to talk to Victor the first time, the pen on Victor's desk changes from being in the horizontal position to vertical between camera angles. One in the pen holder moves as well.
Continuity mistake: When Axel and Jenny pull up to the Bonded warehouse, you see Axel's arm resting on the passenger door but when the camera angle changes his arm is inside the car.
Continuity mistake: When Maitlands guys remove the bonds from the box, they have opened the lid and 4 nails are sticking out. But they don't hammer them back in. Nevertheless the nails disappear from one shot to the next.
Continuity mistake: When Axel is booking into the Beverly hills hotel the clerk and the manager change from standing very close to each other, to very far apart, depending on the different camera angle.
Continuity mistake: When Axel is telling Bogomil what he's really doing in Beverly Hills, you see Bogomil's hands in the front of him as he is talking but when the camera angle changes only one hand is in front and the other is to his side. Happens about 3 times during the scene.
Continuity mistake: When Axel and Mikey are playing pool, the guy Axel is playing calls out his shot and you see about 3 balls on the table not including the cue ball. Mikey bets the guy that he can't make the shot and you now see only the 8 ball on the table.
Continuity mistake: When the police pull up to the back of the semi, Axel was holding the money in his hands to his side but as the camera angle changes he's now holding the money up in the air.
Continuity mistake: When Axel is talking his way into the club to see Victor, right before he's allowed to see Victor the camera angle from the back shows him rubbing the back of his head with his left hand but the camera angle from the front shows his hand at his sides.
Chosen answer: Much of Axel Foley's lines were improvised, including this scene, according to the commentary. But many other actors improvised their lines too, most notably Bronson Pinchot. The script was originally written with the intent of Sylvester Stallone playing Axel and as such, the issue of his race wasn't scripted and the director tried to avoid mentioning race in the film. It was Eddie Murphy that would bring it up in improvised lines.
Bishop73