Official Synopsis:
Roy Scheider stars in this intense action thriller as a courageous police officer pilot battling government fanatics planning to misuse an experimental attack helicopter. Chosen to test BLUE THUNDER, Frank Murphy (Scheider) is amazed by the high-speed, high-tech chopper. It can see through walls, record a whisper or level a city block. Distrusting the military mentality behind BLUE THUNDER, Murphy and his partner Lymangood (Daniel Stern) soon discover that the remarkable craft is slated for use as the ultimate weapon in surveillance and crowd control. Jeopardized after being discovered by sinister Colonel Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell), Murphy flies BLUE THUNDER against military aircraft in a spellbinding contest over Los Angeles.
Our Take:
Throughout the course of Roy Scheider’s career, he’s had some great roles playing cops. Whether it be The French Connection or Jaws, he’s always been able to bring something a little different to them, instead of playing the same generic cop-type character over and over again. In Blue Thunder, Scheider once again plays a cop, this time a helicopter patrolman who is also a Vietnam Vet.
While the story seems rather tame by today’s standards, its undertones of 1984 and Big Brother watching us are still relevant today. Some of the characters are a little paper thin (Malcolm McDowell plays the stereotypical English bad guy, a role he could have done blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back) and so is the plot, but Blue Thunder still makes for a wild and interesting ride. Also look for a very young Daniel Stern, so young in fact that I barely even recognized him!
While I do like this movie, there are a couple of problems as far as plot lines that are introduced but never really fully dealt with in the end. Then again, as a movie it fits my main requirements of being entertaining, and I really don’t want to think too much about any discrepancies my “trained” eye might pick up on in the script. I think it’s enough to just sit back and enjoy the show!
Blue Thunder flies onto DVD with some extras that’ll be sure to excite any fan of the film. Featuring new and original footage, there is a storm of good things included here.
* Commentary: Featuring director John Badham, editor Frank Morriss and motion control supervisor Hoyt Yeatman. An interesting discussion, however, it is very slowly paced.
* Building Blue Thunder (8 minutes) - Shows how the helicopter itself was created.
* Ride with the Angels: Making Blue Thunder (44 minutes) - Broken into three different sections, this documentary features interviews with cast and crew, including Roy Scheider and writers Dan O’Bannon and Don Jakoby.
* Original 1985 Production Featurette (8 minutes) - Features on-set interviews with crew and actors, some behind-the-scenes footage, and thoughts on the film.
* Storyboards – Three different scenes are featured here, showing setup and filming.
Much of the technology featured in this film was partly from the imagination of a writer back in the day. However, in today’s world, much of this technology is a reality, but it’s not helicopters flying over our homes and spying on us we need to worry about; we’ve got the Internet for that. In a day and age when the cost of a movie ticket keeps going up but the quality of the films is steadily going down, it’s nice to enjoy a classic film with plenty of action and excitement like Blue Thunder.
Final Picture:
Film: C+
DVD: B+
- Chris Lawrence
Staff Writer
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