Blue Thunder has always been a film that made me fear what technology could produce. 1983 would be a big year for director John Badham, as he would also bring us WarGames with Matthew Broderick, where he would accidentally start World War 3, by playing what he thought was a game with the defense department's computer.
With Blue Thunder, Roy Schieder stars as Frank Murphy, a former pilot in the Vietnam war is now with the LAPD helicopter division. Frank, along with his new rookie partner Richard Lymangood, played by Daniel Stern, is assigned night patrol and eventually the tank in the sky, Blue Thunder.
Things start to get intense pretty quickly on their first night, before they get the beast, they are shot at during their attempt to assist during a robbery. Using his training as a pilot, Murphy uses the wind capabilities to partially blind the robbers, successfully helping in the arrest.
While the helicopter is not an actual unit that the police department uses in real life, this is an actual helicopter that has been modified and does fly across the skies of Los Angeles, which is apparent in a lot of the scenes throughout the film.
One evening, as they are on patrol, they decide to try out the helicopter's recording device, a part of the unit they only vaguely knew of before tonight. They come across what seems to be a board meeting, which is in fact a meeting of a group of men and their discussion of what they are actually planning on using Blue Thunder for. One of the short conversations is that they actually want to get rid of Frank Murphy. At that moment, the curtains open, showing us who is in the room. They are seen and they quickly leave the area.
The film then becomes a great little thriller. There is a great helicopter chase through the downtown core of Los Angeles, great cinematography certainly helps in a lot of the shots.
Malcolm McDowell is fantastic, as always, here he plays Colonel F.E. Cochrane, a nemisis of Franks from their days in Vietnam. They still don't like each other, but Cochrane really pushes Frank to a breaking point. They have recorded the audio of the conversation and it's a race against time and the men involved who are trying to stop Frank, Richard & Frank's girlfriend, Kate, who helps get the tape to a local news station.
I so remember seeing this film several times when it came out, having the 4K upgrade from my old DVD is a treat for sure. The film looks and sounds so good here.
This is the first time the film has been available on 4K, the disc is full of special features with new interviews from last year with John Bandham, Malcolm McDowell & Candy Clark. They were all great to watch and hear their memories of making the film.
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