Blue Thunder is a 1983 feature film that features a high-tech helicopter of the same name. The movie was directed by John Badham and stars Roy Scheider. A spin-off television series also called Blue Thunder lasted 11 episodes in 1984.
Plot
Francis McNeil "Frank" Murphy (
Roy Scheider) is a
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) helicopter-pilot-officer and troubled
Vietnam War veteran with
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His field partner is the newly assigned Richard Lymangood (
Daniel Stern), who is given the nickname "
JAFO". The two patrol Los Angeles at night and give assistance to police cars below.
Murphy is selected to pilot the world's most advanced helicopter, nicknamed "Blue Thunder," which is essentially a military-style combat helicopter intended for police use in surveillance and large-scale civic disobedience. With powerful armament, stealth technology that allows it to fly virtually undetected, and other accoutrements (such as infrared scanners, powerful microphones and cameras, and a U-Matic VCR), Blue Thunder appears to be a formidable tool in the war on crime.
But when the death of city councilwoman Diane McNeely turns out to be more than just a random murder, Murphy begins his own covert investigation. He discovers that a subversive action group, using the acronym THOR (Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response, the "proposed use of military helicopters to quell disorder"), is intending instead to use Blue Thunder to carry out an evil mission of their own, one that involves the secret elimination of political undesirables.
Murphy suspects the involvement of his old wartime nemesis, former United States Army Colonel F.E. Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell), the primary test pilot for Blue Thunder. After using the technology aboard Blue Thunder to record a meeting Cochrane has with other high-powered government officials planning to use the helicopter for nefarious purposes, Murphy tries to get the video tape to a television station before he is killed, as Lymangood has already been. Frank Murphy succeeds in giving the video tape to his girlfriend, who sends the tape to the television station.
A final showdown between Murphy and Cochrane, who flies a cannon-equipped Hughes 500 helicopter, takes place over downtown Los Angeles. It includes an initial battle with two Air National Guard F-16 fighters with one being shot down. By pulling off a spectacular 360° loop (primarily through use of Blue Thunder's turbine boost function and extremely painful effort on his own part), Murphy shoots down Cochrane. He then destroys Blue Thunder by landing it in front of an approaching freight train, having deemed the tactical helicopter too dangerous to be used by anyone else.
Cast
Roy Scheider — Officer Frank Murphy
Malcolm McDowell — Colonel F.E. Cochrane
Warren Oates — Captain Jack Braddock
Candy Clark — Kate
Daniel Stern — Officer Richard Lymangood
Paul Roebling — Icelan
David Sheiner — Fletcher
Joe Santos — Montoya
Ed Bernard — Sgt. Short
Jason Bernard — Mayor
Mario Machado — Himself
James Murtaugh — Alf Hewitt
Pat McNamara — Matusek
Jack Murdock — Kress
Clifford A. Pellow — Allen (as Clifford Pellow)
Production
The first draft of the screenplay for
Blue Thunder featured Frank Murphy as more of a crazy main character with deeper psychological issues, who went on a rampage and destroyed a lot more of the city.
The LAPD Hooper Heliport served as home base for the fictional police unit in the while construction of the heliport was still being completed.
Box office
The movie was released on May 13, 1983, and was the #1 ranked movie in the United States in its opening weekend, taking $8,258,149 at 1,539 theaters. It overtook Flashdance as the #1 movie that weekend. The movie was ranked #2 in its second and third weekends. Overall in the United States, it took $42,313,354 from 66 days on release. Internationally, Blue Thunder was released in West Germany on February 5, 1983, before its United States release, then released worldwide between June-September 1983. Its UK release was August 25, 1983. It was released in East Germany and South Korea in 1984. Its international box office takings are unknown. The movie made $21.9 million in video rentals in the United States also.
Blue Thunder helicopter
The helicopter used for Blue Thunder was a French-made Aérospatiale SA-341G Gazelle modified with bolt-on parts and an Apache-style canopy. Two helicopters were used in the filming of the movie. The helicopters were purchased by Columbia Pictures and flown to Cinema Air in Carlsbad, CA where they were heavily modified for the film. Unfortunately, these alterations made the helicopters so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop-the-loop maneuver Murphy performs at the end of the film was carried out by a radio controlled model.
Cultural references
JAFO -
Just Another Fucking Observer; which is police community mentioned repeatedly in the film in reference to the helicopter's non-pilot second officer, in this case
Daniel Stern's character of Richard Lymangood. In the related
Blue Thunder (TV series), the reference is
bowdlerized as
Just Another Frustrated Observer.
See also
Airwolf
List of American films of 1983
References
External links
Blue Thunder unofficial home page
Blue Thunder movie page on gregdonner.org
Blue Thunder page on rotaryaction.com
Blue Thunder review on videovista.net
Category:1983 films
Category:1980s action films
Category:American action thriller films
Category:Police detective films
Category:Fictional helicopters
Category:Aviation films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Films directed by John Badham
Category:Films set in Los Angeles, California
Category:Films shot in Los Angeles, California
Category:Films set in California
Category:Films shot in California
Category:Films shot anamorphically
Category:Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
