Blue Thunder (1983)

When I saw this One in 1983 on the BIG screen it was a fantastic experience. The final encounter between Murphy and Cochran is simply the best helicopter chase ever! Roy Scheider is brilliant in his role as a broken pilot who becomes a random witness of a great conspiracy. Bonus points also for his sidekick Daniel Stern and the evil opponent Malcolm McDowell. Perfect air photography by John A. Alonzo and superb cutting by Frank Morriss. A winner!!!

Fmovies: Tense and suspenseful aerial action film with an exciting final chase starred by superbly crafted high-tech helicopters and F16 on the L.A. skies among its big city skyscrapers . Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) is a Vietnam vet and police pilot who forms a helicopter surveillance team along with his younger partner (Daniel Stern) , when they spontaneously catch a secret conversation . Booth of them discover the strange project Thor (Thunder Helicopter Offensive respond ) in which are implicated powerful authorities . Then they take to the skies against a nasty army colonel (Malcolm McDowell) who will defend his accomplices at whatever cost.

Gripping , original action movie that deal with Roy Scheider trying to find the means avoid a video disk to be taken by corrupt government agents . Acceptable thriller full of intrigue and tense, this is a fast-paced , stylized action-suspense film. The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as ever close for ending . Casting is frankly magnificent, Roy Scheider as tormented Vietnam vet , Malcolm MacDowell takes honors as a psychopath who attempts to turn the tables on the protagonist before he can inform the police. Plus, a good secondary cast, such as Daniel Stern , Candy Clark, Warren Oates , Joe Santos and usual baddie of the 80s Anthony James , among others . But the real star is ¨Blue Thunder ¨ a heavily armored prototype , an Apache helicopter-alike which is secretly being proved for use in a nefarious government conspiracy . The slick screenplay written by recently deceased Alien's Dan O'Bannon . Adequate musical score accompanying the action by Arthur B. Rubinstein and inventively photographed by classic cameraman John A. Alonzo . The motion picture is professionally directed by John Badham . He's a nice director who achieved his greatest success in the 80s . He directed several hits ( Saturday night fever , Short circuit, Blue thunder, Drop zone, War games,Skateout ) , though today making TV movies( Jack Bull, Floating away ) and television episodes ( Crossing Jordan, Psych, Las Vegas, Standoff , Heroes ). Blue Thunder was followed by a successful TV series also starred by the ultra-sophisticated helicopter with James Farentino and Dana Carvey.

Clearly, Blue Thunder's introduction shows the state of the art in computer technology at the time. Looked like a Wang computer at work.

I saw this movie for the first time at a drive-in. Those were the days!! .. before DVD's and when VHS recorders were manually tuned. Guess you might say that this was the end of an era and the beginning of video.

My girl and her two boys will remember this movie as long as they live. The movie that played right after this at the drive-in was Xtro. Remember when you could have the entire family see two full length movies for under $10.00? Now, popcorn alone costs $10.00 for one medium bucket.

I have the original Blue Thunder VHS tape in my library, played it last night. My favorite part of the movie is when a heat seeking-missile is launched into a B-B-Que chicken factory and chickens come raining down on the street and cars. The suspense that built up to this point made it funny however tragic for the factory workers.

25 years prior to this movie there was Whirly Birds in black and white on TV. It is interesting to see the advance in aeronautical technology from the early Korean War birds to stealth flight in choppers. I seriously doubt that any helicopter today can achieve or survive inverted flight as was depicted in the final scenes of Blue Thunder. As unbelievable as it seemed, it was exciting to watch.

We still have increased concerns of the privacy of citizens and terrorist activity. In the days of Blue Thunder it was only fantasy to think of wire tapping without a warrant .... today? This reader comment could be intercepted before it makes your review.

Blue Thunder fmovies. Old movies have it hard on ImDb. They got pushed in this database without all the benefits modern movies have to artificially boost their initial user score. Publicity stunts, media spin, false "user" feedback... They got none of that. How many bad movies have you seen start at 8,5 and end up being turds. To remedy that, Blue Thunder gets a solid 8 from me. It is a typical 80's flick, sprinkled with sexist and racist bits nobody would dare to approach today. Movies reflect their epoch; here we find a pre-olympic L.A. not very far from it's race crisis. More important, we find real helicopters doing real stunts above and inside the city. No production will ever get a permit to do all this anymore and only for that, that movie is worth watching.

Always liked this one. Well written and acted, with excellent aerial action sequences. It's a shame this was Warren Oate's last role - he was magnificent. Other reviewers made a valid point about this film presaging the use of military hardware against civilians. We already use airplanes to catch speeders on the ground - doesn't the aviation fuel cost more than the amount of revenue taken in through summonses?

A helicopter is developed for police work using full surveillance technology, stealth modes etc. Officer Murphy and his partner are trained to fly it for street tests. However Murphy suspects that it has more sinister uses when he finds that the man in charge is Colonel Cochrane – who he has a history with in Vietnam. The battle between the two men heads for a showdown as Murphy gets evidence to back up his suspicions.

Made as a film but turned into an inferior tv show this film is entertaining but no more than that. The plot is interesting – with plenty of conspiracy stuff but the action is sometimes forced. Because most of the helicopter shenanigans are save for the climax we are given car chases etc to help fill the time. The helicopter itself is very cool and well used and the final battle above the city is exciting if formulaic. The morals of a `big brother' helicopter, able to pry everywhere isn't examined as well as could have been but it's still interesting.

Scheider is always good to watch and does well, as do Warren Oates and a young Daniel Stern. However the show is stolen and the film made by a great baddie from Malcolm McDowell (catch you later!) who is menace incarnate for me.

Overall an enjoyable thriller but it really only sticks in the memory due to the TV series that followed – worth watching for McDowell though.