Detective Sergeant William "Billy" Rosewood is a fictional character from the Beverly Hills Cop film series, and is portrayed by Judge Reinhold.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Billy was born in 1960 and joined the Beverly Hills Police Department in 1981. A good cop, Billy is known to go strictly by the book, and is not as tough as his partner, John Taggart.
Beverly Hills Cop[]
In the first film, he was generally polite and bumbling, and not particularly competent at anything, until it was revealed toward the end of the film that he had excellent marksmanship with a pistol, the second film expands on this weapon proficiency. He made friends with Axel Foley and sticks up for him from his superiors. He and his partner John Taggart help Foley take down Victor Maitland who killed Foley's friend Michael Tandino.
Beverly Hills Cop II[]
In Beverly Hills Cop II, Rosewood has matured a bit more and come into his own as a detective, perhaps a bit too much due to his newfound obsession with weaponry and Sylvester Stallone, worrying Taggart and Axel enough to suggest numerous times, "Billy, we need to talk." Despite his quirks and longing for excitement, Billy is still a dedicated and good-hearted officer.
Beverly Hills Cop III[]
Billy has now been promoted to DDO-JSIOC and Detective Sergeant. Billy is now a big shot. When Axel arrives to visit him, he reveals that his former partner, John Taggart, is now retired and living in Arizona. He also has a new partner in Jon Flint. He along with Flint refuses to believe that Ellis DeWald is dirty. However, he later joins the shootout against DeWald's men. He is later shot by one of the security guards, but he survives. He is later seen in a wheelchair aside Axel and Flint as Uncle Dave introduces a new addition to his theme park in Axel's honor, Axel Fox. Uncle Dave commended Rosewood, Flint and Foley for their service and saving his life.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F[]
Several months back, Rosewood made a bust on a Cartel crew out of Adelanto, though the case went nowhere and the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. The drugs Rosewood confiscated turned out to be powder. The supervisor on the case was Captain Grant, which solidified Rosewood's belief the Captain was dirty. He accused Grant of swapping out the drugs for the powder, and swore up and down to Chief Taggart that Grant was dirty. Taggart didn't believe him, so Rosewood turned over his badge. This ended their 30 year friendship and Rosewood opened his investigative service, Rosewood Investigations.
Now, when an undercover cop named Lieutenant Copeland is murdered while on duty, the police arrest Sam Enriquez for the murder. Copeland had been investigating Enriquez's Uncle at the time of his death. Rosewood thinks Enriquez is being framed by Grant and other dirty cops, so he asks Jane Saunders if anyone in her Law firm can take Enriquez's case. She volunteers to take it after reading the file.
After officially joining his case, a group of masked men attack Jane in a parking garage, threatening to kill her if she doesn't drop the case. Rosewood visits her after the attack and asks her to leave the case. He doesn't want to be responsible for telling her dad she died. She makes him promise not to tell her father, whom Rosewood insists she's more alike then she cares to admit. Rosewood calls Axel to tell him of the threat against Jane's life and the complicated case he's working. Rosewood has evidence to blow the whole case wide open. This brings Axel back to Beverly Hills.
Rosewood goes missing after that night, leaving Axel and Jane to follow the breadcrumbs of the case, left by both Rosewood and Grant, in an attempt to crack it themselves. Two days later, Axel and Detective Bobby Abbott find Rosewood in a warehouse, having been beaten and tortured. They free him and turn their sights on saving a kidnapped Jane from Grant and his cohorts.
Rosewood, Foley, and Abbott arrive at the mansion where Rosewood has a gunfight with Taggart by his side, reuniting the estranged friends. After stopping everyone, saving Jane, and revealing the dirty cops, Taggart finally tells Rosewood he regrets not having his back before. Axel is sent to the hospital to recover from a bullet wound. He leaves the hospital a few days later to get better food, which makes Jane ask Taggart and Rosewood to keep an eye on her father to make sure he doesn't sneak out again.
A week later, Rosewood and Taggart sit in an unmarked car across the street to watch Foley. Rosewood asks Taggart a personal question about his relationship with Maureen, and they are both startled when Axel gets in the back seat. He calls them a terrible surveillance team. He doesn't want to be in the hospital anymore. He wants to get a steak. Taggart refuses but Axel presses on then turns to Rosewood. Rosewood decides to start the car, with Taggart giving in. He makes Axel promise not to tell Jane. Axel grins that this will be fantastic - "trust me."
Trivia[]
- Billy Rosewood has posters in his apartment of Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Cobra (1986), both starring Sylvester Stallone. Stallone's then-wife Brigitte Nielsen appears in the film as Karla Fry and Stallone was the original choice to play the lead in the original Beverly Hills Cop (1984). In fact, when Stallone was signed to star in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), he did a polish on the script that focused more on action and took away the comedic element. He changed the main character's name from 'Axel Foley' to 'Axel Cobretti'. When he eventually dropped out of Beverly Hills Cop (1984), he used the character's name and certain elements from his polish of the script for Cobra (1986).
- In the Stallone Script before Eddie Murphy was cast, Billy Rosewood was called Siddons and was originally killed off halfway through the film.
- In one of the unproduced scripts for Beverly Hills Cop 4 titled: Beverly Hills Cop 2009, Axel Foley was about to return to Beverly Hills to investigate Rosewood's murder, but it got rejected.
- Rosewood is a fan of the band Guns N' Roses, indicating by the shirt he wore in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
Gallery[]
