Blue Thunder

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Blue Thunder
Directed by John Badham
Produced by Gordon Carroll
Phil Feldman
Andrew Fogelson
Written by Dan O'Bannon
Don Jakoby
Starring Roy Scheider
Malcolm McDowell
Music by Arthur B. Rubinstein
Cinematography John A. Alonzo
Editing by Edward M. Abroms
Frank Morriss
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) May 13, 1983
Running time 109 min
Country USA
Language English
IMDb profile
For other uses, see Blue Thunder (disambiguation).

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 spinoff television series also entitled Blue Thunder lasted eleven episodes in 1984.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

The film revolves around Frank Murphy, a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) helicopter pilot and troubled Vietnam War veteran. Amid a family crisis, he is selected to pilot the world's most advanced helicopter, nicknamed "Blue Thunder," which is essentially a military style combat helicopter supposedly intended for police use as a surveillance platform and for large crowd control missions. 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 that the LAPD readily accepts.

When the death of Councilwoman Diane McNeely turns out to be more than just a random killing, Murphy begins his own investigation. He discovers that a subversive action group, using the acronym THOR, is intending to use "Blue Thunder" to carry out their mission that involves secretly eliminating political undesirables. Murphy immediately suspects that his old nemesis from the war, Colonel F.E. Cochrane, who is actually the primary test pilot for Blue Thunder, is hiding something. After following Colonel Cochrane and using the technology on board Blue Thunder to record a meeting Cochrane has with others planning to use Blue Thunder for nefarious purposes, Frank must try to get the video tape to a television station before he gets killed. The final showdown between him and Colonel Cochrane, who pilots a dual 30mm cannon equipped Hughes/McDonnell Douglas MD500 helicopter against Blue Thunder, takes place over Los Angeles and includes a battle with two F-16 Fighters. After pulling off a spectacular loop, Murphy helps deliver the tape, shoots down Cochrane and then destroys Blue Thunder by landing it in front of a fast-moving train.

[edit] Main cast of characters

[edit] Trivia

  • The type of helicopter used for Blue Thunder was a French-made Aérospatiale Gazelle—modified with bolt-on parts and an Apache-style canopy. These alterations made the helicopter so heavy that various tricks had to be employed to make it look fast and agile in the film. For instance, the 360° loop maneuver at the end of the film was carried out by a radio controlled model.
  • The helicopter and at least one Los Angeles television station had a 3/4 " Sony U-Matic VCR. It was one of the first VCR formats in use and was largely transitional. It found limited use in the broadcast industry but never became a consumer product, as did (briefly) Sony's Betamax and (not-so-briefly) Matsushita's VHS formats.
  • This was one of Warren Oates' last films before his death. He died of a heart attack after making this film. This film is dedicated to him. He made one movie and one TV episode that were released after Blue Thunder.
  • The two F-16 Fighting Falcons were actually scale models.
  • A caption at the beginning of the Blue Thunder movie states that all the high-tech-equipment features of the helicopter are real and were actually used by the military at the time.
  • The helmet-controlled gun turret and targeting system was inspired by the AH-64 Apache, which uses an "Integrated Display and Sight System", wherein the nose-mounted sensors and the 30-mm chain gun are linked to the pilot's helmet.
  • The television series cast included James Farentino, Dana Carvey, and former professional football players Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus. The 11-episode series was released as a region 1 DVD in August 2006. The show was cancelled by ABC after they felt the similar Airwolf on CBS would win the ratings battle. Also, the series aired at the same time as the CBS series "Dallas" on Friday nights, and lost.
  • The bolt-on cockpit of the original helicopter is currently in deplorable shape on a backlot of MGM studios in Florida. It can be seen on the backlot tour from the tram.
  • A defense contractor offered to donate fifty million rounds of live ammunition to director John Badham for Blue Thunder's Gatling cannon. Badham declined the offer.
  • Malcolm McDowell has a talent for playing evil characters. This film is a case in point.

[edit] Other appearances

  • Thunder Blade (alternatively titled Blue Thunder) is a SEGA video game that is based loosely on the movie.
  • Blue Thunder a game for the Action Max, using footage from the movie.
  • Blue Thunder video game for ZX Spectrum, Atari 8 bit and Commodore 64.
  • In a television commercial for Wang Laboratories, a modified Blue Thunder with wing mounted missiles was featured, sneaking up and hovering outside of a skyscraper's windows, to intimidate a competitor.
  • The ABC TV miniseries "Amerika" from the late 80's, about the invasion of the U.S. by the U.S.S.R., featured two Blue Thunder helicopters, painted black and wearing Red Star insignias, posing as Russian helicopters on patrol.
  • In the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City players flying in the Hunter helicopter can play vigilante mini-game called "Brown Thunder" (since it is a brown helicopter). This is yet another 1980s reference in the game (which is set in 1986).
  • In the 2005 Doctor Who episode 'Dalek', Blue Thunder appears in stock footage as 'Bad Wolf 1', the villain's helicopter.
  • Matchbox released a die-cast toy model in 1985 named "Mission Helicopter". It is directly based off of Blue Thunder.
  • Blue Thunder appears briefly in the pilot episode of the TV show MacGyver.
  • A French reprint of a Tom Clancy's Op-Center novel entitled Chaostage features a photo of Blue Thunder on the cover.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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