Good concept, poorly executed.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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.

Blue Thunder is a rarity in film. When it first came out, it packed them into theaters with the wry humor of its characters and dialog, and the white-knuckle action for which everything else is a set-up. And once that action starts, it does not stop until the very end.Still, it explored a theme that, to some viewers (including me at the time), seemed far-fetched and typical Hollywood political. But today I watched it again, on the Sony HD Channel. It could have been made today! In short, this film was thirty-one years ahead of its time. And when you watch it, and consider modern headlines and recent history, you find yourself leaping out of your seat and shouting, "They knew then!""Blue Thunder" is, of course, the name of the world's first police SWAT helicopter gunship. The name is slightly ironic, for reasons you will have to watch the film to catch. More to the point: the filmmakers built a truly frightening piece of machinery, and one of the things that makes the lead character such a hero is that he discovers, to his horror, what Blue Thunder is really meant to be. Had the developers of "Blue Thunder" the helicopter simply taken a Cobra helicopter gunship and painted it police blue (or maybe Mountie red), instead of Army green, the results would be no more chilling to anyone who thinks that maybe--just maybe--the government is not his friend. But of course the concept developers didn't do that. They built something that looks far more fearsome than an Army Cobra ever looked.And no one embodies the cynical thrust of the project better than Malcolm MacDowell (Col. F. E. Cochrane USA). He is villainous almost to insanity, as cinematic villains almost have to be. He gets to be as bad as he can be, and clearly enjoys it.Nor can you imagine a better hero than Roy Scheider (Officer Frank Murphy, ASTRO Division). And very early in the film you will know why he is the only one who would want to, and be able to, expose "Blue Thunder" and its underlying project for what they are.For this much I will reveal: Blue Thunder the film exposes the awful over-militarization of municipal police departments in the United States over the last half-century. That's what John Badham (director) and his writers dared expose in 1983. Blue Thunder the project is the logical endpoint of that over-militarization (and you will readily accept that logic before the film is halfway over). That might have seemed far-fetched in 1983. Today, as the Department of Homeland Security (in real life) sells or gives away Army surplus Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) to police SWAT teams, you can only wonder whether police air-support divisions will soon turn into "Air SWAT" forces. If a killing/snooping machine like Blue Thunder the helicopter was feasible then (and I have confirmed it was, from military sources), imagine what a modern-day Blue Thunder could do! Which means: as you watch this film now, you might forget, except for one temporal reference to a then-upcoming event in Los Angeles history, that you are watching a thirty-one-year-old film set in 1983. This film will have you checking the sky to see if anything like Blue Thunder the helicopter is looking at you (and listening, too).Warren Oates provides almost comic relief as a boss who hears the immediate complaints and doesn't understand what Murphy is trying to tell him. Candy Clark, as Murphy's girlfriend, provides more comic relief--but also sets up her part in the wild adventure of the last act in a way that Anton Chekhov would stand in awe at. The two TV reporters will have you wishing more like them were "in the business" today.One last bit of advice: after you see this film, get active to make sure it stays fiction. Do not, in other words, be a "JAFO." And you'll have to watch the film to get *that* reference, too.

I was 18 when Blue Thunder came out in 1983...and 30 years later, I still enjoy this film.Granted, some of the story is over-the-top and unrealistic. But that is what you would expect for such a film - even if a remake were made today.Roy Scheider turned out to be perfectly cast as the lead role. Malcolm McDowell was also perfect as the arrogant "foil" / former Vietnam foe of Roy Scheider. Warren Oates (who died before filming was completed) was a riot as Scheider's boss. And Daniel Stern was also very enjoyable as Scheider's newbie "Observer".Naturally, the high-tech 'copter was the main reason people watched the movie, and it doesn't disappoint. The soundtrack enhances the film's entertainment experience...especially during suspense and action sequences. Unlike too many films today, where the soundtrack is always played (and often drowns out the dialog), I truly find the music adds to the overall enjoyment, and have even ordered the Blue Thunder soundtrack CD.The reason I give this film only a 6 / 10 rating is some of the overly ridiculous action scenes involving the helicopter vs. Air Force fighter jets. The copter wouldn't stand a chance against heat-seeking air-to-air missiles...let alone be able to shoot the wing off of an F-16 at a great distance with a Gatling Gun.

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.