Like all directors of photography, Murphy paid his dues working his way up through the ranks alternating between film and television projects in the late 1970s and early 80s. He served as co-cinematographer with the legendary Henri Alekan on Wim Wenders' homage to low-budget filmmaking, "The State of Things" (1982), before excelling as one of the finest directors of photography specializing in rural settings. Returning to the heartland for David Anspaugh's directorial debut "Hoosiers" (1986), he captured the basketball fever of post-war rural Indiana, once again revealing a keen eye for country landscapes. The stylish muting of his reteaming with Anspaugh, "Fresh Horses" (1988), though, could not overcome the one-note acting of male lead Andrew McCarthy.
Murphy helped recreate the look of late 40s NYC for Paul Mazursky's "Enemies, A Love Story" (1989) bathing the romantic leads in crisp lighting that accentuated the complex romantic relationships playing out on screen. His stellar use of light to indicate the growing paranoia of the troubled president earned him an Emmy nomination for his cinematography on Pearce's television adaptation of "The Final Days" (ABC, 1990). Though his subsequent work with Mazursky (the bright, almost garish "Scenes from a Mall" 1991 and "Faithful" 1996) may have fallen short of their initial collaboration (arguably Mazursky's finest film), his second film pairing with Pearce, "A Family Thing" (also 1996) exemplified his ability to wring the charm from non-urban settings. His camerawork served as an adjunct to the director's startlingly clear view of the way people behave. For Joe Johnston's "October Sky" (1999), Murphy's widescreen color lensing powerfully emphasized the claustrophobic conditions of the underground tunnels (a facility he had previously demonstrated in the jail scenes of 1995's "Murder in the First"), making plain the hero's desire to escape the darkness of his coal mining town by reaching for the stars.