verbusen Memories, I would have been 19 at the time in Southern Cal, and in the Navy. Dating a hot chick who had a Firebird like Rockford had (except it was yellow), I watched this film and was so blown away I decided to go back and take her that time (lol). I was still blown away. The ending is just awesome when Scheider takes on the jets, just the most awesome thing ever, really. Also, this film reinforced my love for McDowell, he is perfect here and my second favorite role he played (first being Clockwork Orange of course). Stern is also really good here in a uncharacteristic good guy role. But Scheider is the main man here, he was on the crest of his fame, I had watched him in Jaws and also in Marathon Man, here he was the main man, (outside of the helo). Does it hold up well now to a contemporary viewer? Maybe not a 10 but it should at least rate a 8, great early 80's action film.

Bill Slocum When it came out in the spring of 1983, "Blue Thunder" was a cutting- edge techno-thriller that amazed a lot of folks. Thirty years later, the technology may need revisiting but the film still grabs you as a riveting thrill ride with a solid human-interest angle.Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) is a seasoned helicopter pilot who patrols Los Angeles for the local police. Tormented by Vietnam flashbacks and a free spirit by nature, he's probably the worst guy to hand a prototype for the government's latest secret weapon, a helicopter that can do everything from cut cop cars in half to overhear mouse excretions at 2,000 feet. But Murphy is assigned the copter, nicknamed "Blue Thunder," to the eventual regret of some highly-placed wrongdoers."A dozen of these copters and you could run the whole damn country," Murphy exclaims as he begins to piece together what's what.However prescient "Blue Thunder" has proved in terms of technology and government intrusion using same, the film is still half-baked. Its core idea, of a government so keen on lethal ordinance it plots to instill inner-city rebellion in hopes of inflicting mass murder, is fortunately only drawn from at the corners of the film rather than given full focus. Instead, the story focuses on Murphy and his fancy copter, which is cool because both Scheider and his machine merit the attention.Was Roy Scheider great or what? Watching him play Murphy is like a tutorial on film acting that is unobtrusive yet effective. He had a face that looked like it spent the prior decade soaking up every beam of sun that hit California, but his dancing eyes and gentle cackle were elastic wonders. Whether he's breaking in a rookie partner played by Daniel Stern ("Stop calling me 'sir,' you sound like David Copperfield") or having a confrontation with his spiky but caring boss (Warren Oates, in his last film role), Scheider has a way of making you care about his character without getting in the way of the story.The story, like I said, has problems, but it's also quite exciting and full of impressive moments that stick. Like when Stern's character realizes what his nickname "JAFO" means, or how director John Badham and his team frame the entrance of Blue Thunder, silhouetted like an insect against the sun. As a Malcolm McDowell fan, I really enjoy the man's performance as chief bad guy F. E. Cochrane (what "F. E." stands for is another memorable one-liner of Murphy's). Despite what some others (including Leonard Maltin) have said, McDowell plays his character not as openly menacing but more of a smoothie, which makes him a fascinating foil for the not-completely-collected Murphy.I want to second Woodyanders' observation in his August 2010 IMDb review, about "a totally preposterous, but witty and engrossing script by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jacoby." For all the rote car chase scenes, and buildings blowing up, I still find myself enjoying Murphy's wry exchanges with his long-suffering girlfriend (a winningly doughty Candy Clark), or the moment when she's confronted by a man who tells her: "The most dangerous thing in the world is a little man afraid for his job," which is a bit of irony if you like that kind of thing given who the speaker and what his situation is at that moment of the film.The film's serious but not mortal weakness is watching Murphy aid and abet a lot of mayhem that would carry a high death toll if it weren't an '80s popcorn picture that expected us to merely enjoy the pyrotechnics and not ask questions. For the most part, I guess I wasn't. Watching Scheider and McDowell square off, using real images of the actors in helicopters and playing off John A. Alonzo's shots of the L. A. skyline, is to feel completely transported into a world where such things don't matter at all. Timeless, maybe not. Thrilling, you bet.

Roland Jakobsson (rolandddd) A few years before Top Gun set new standards for fighter plane action movies, John Badham directed Blue Thunder, an action movie about a combat helicopter of the same name. Roy Scheider plays Frank Murphy, yet another cop, who is selected to pilot the revolutionary helicopter Blue Thunder. BT is a top-modern combat helicopter with some incredibly advanced spying equipment allowing the pilots to listen through walls, use infrared scanners among other things. This equipment quickly backfires on the crew, accidentally listening in on a meeting of a subversive group inside the FBI places Murphy and his co-pilot Lymangood (Daniel Stern) in danger.Sure enough, Murphy is framed, and subsequently chased, and an interesting helicopter hunt begins. The strength of this movie is its brilliant action sequences, the helicopter scenes are very impressive in a time before modern cgi could help filmmakers out, and this gives the film a great look of authenticity, and though some scale models are clearly used, many of the most impressive scenes are genuine stunt work.It is a shame that this film has become somewhat forgotten today, as it is easily on par with some of the more well-known action films of the 80s. The casting of Roy Scheider means that what the film's hero may be lacking in pure muscle size, it clearly has a lot of character instead. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and it certainly delivers impressive action entertainment.

Aaron1375 This film could have been a cheesy "b" movie that featured lots of stupid dialog and such, however it has Roy Scheider in it and he elevates this film to another level. The film has a rather simple enough plot as there is a new helicopter being introduced. A police helicopter like no other as it has a lot of advanced features to make patrolling the skies a breeze and even a machine gun to handle the more extreme situations. Roy plays a pilot who flies the skies of the city and he is given the opportunity to fly this super copter over the city, but what starts out as a routine test run becomes something more as he and his partner actually record a conversation between some people that could cause quite a stir. It is not to long before the partner ends up dead and Roy has commandeered the helicopter using it to aid his wife in getting the tape that will expose the whole cover up. Very good movie, your basic police type movie only with the super copter in it to change things up a bit. The action is mainly confined to the end of the film, but there is enough interesting stuff going on to keep one entertained till they get to the chases and gun fights near the end of the movie. Malcom McDowell plays a sort of rival helicopter pilot to Roy's and he adds some pep as the movies villain as there is a nice fight in the skies at the end of the movie. When I looked up this film I saw that there was a television show based on this movie, I am guessing it was rather short lived as I have never heard of it till just now.