Tonnerre de feu

Tense and suspenseful aerial action film with an exciting final chase starred by superbly crafted high-tech helicopters and F16 on the L.A. skies among its big city skyscrapers . Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) is a Vietnam vet and police pilot who forms a helicopter surveillance team along with his younger partner (Daniel Stern) , when they spontaneously catch a secret conversation . Booth of them discover the strange project Thor (Thunder Helicopter Offensive respond ) in which are implicated powerful authorities . Then they take to the skies against a nasty army colonel (Malcolm McDowell) who will defend his accomplices at whatever cost.

Gripping , original action movie that deal with Roy Scheider trying to find the means avoid a video disk to be taken by corrupt government agents . Acceptable thriller full of intrigue and tense, this is a fast-paced , stylized action-suspense film. The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as ever close for ending . Casting is frankly magnificent, Roy Scheider as tormented Vietnam vet , Malcolm MacDowell takes honors as a psychopath who attempts to turn the tables on the protagonist before he can inform the police. Plus, a good secondary cast, such as Daniel Stern , Candy Clark, Warren Oates , Joe Santos and usual baddie of the 80s Anthony James , among others . But the real star is ¨Blue Thunder ¨ a heavily armored prototype , an Apache helicopter-alike which is secretly being proved for use in a nefarious government conspiracy . The slick screenplay written by recently deceased Alien's Dan O'Bannon . Adequate musical score accompanying the action by Arthur B. Rubinstein and inventively photographed by classic cameraman John A. Alonzo . The motion picture is professionally directed by John Badham . He's a nice director who achieved his greatest success in the 80s . He directed several hits ( Saturday night fever , Short circuit, Blue thunder, Drop zone, War games,Skateout ) , though today making TV movies( Jack Bull, Floating away ) and television episodes ( Crossing Jordan, Psych, Las Vegas, Standoff , Heroes ). Blue Thunder was followed by a successful TV series also starred by the ultra-sophisticated helicopter with James Farentino and Dana Carvey.

One of the things that really caught my attention about this film was the brief blurb at the beginning which stated something to the effect of "All of the surveillance equipment depicted in this film exists and is in use in the United States." Knowing what I do of technology, I am not surprised that those capabilities existed back then. However, I received a powerful demonstration of the stealth technology called "whisper mode" in the film, a couple of years after seeing it. I live near a major U.S. Army firing range, and our local airport hosts a considerable amount of military traffic. At this particular time, I was renting a house about one kilometer from the airport. I went out for a walk late one Sunday night, and, shortly after leaving the house, I heard a noise I could not identify. It was a loud hissing sound, 'which seemed very close at hand, but I could not locate the source, until I looked up. Passing overhead at about 200 meters was a Chinook helicopter, the type with two rotors, and fuselage that looks kind of like a banana. Normally, the rotor noise on these cargo helicopters will rattle windows, but this baby was tip-toeing out of town very quietly. If I had been indoors, I never would have heard it. This made me completely rethink the sequence where the helicopter was hovering right outside of a building, and the people inside couldn't hear it! I took it for artistic license at the time, but the demonstration I witnessed of "whisper mode" made it seem entirely feasible.

This film appealed to me strongly, for several reasons. I am a techno freak, to begin with, and I love anything that flies. Also, the characters in the movie are amazingly human, kooky, (especially the lead characters wife,) and easy to identify with. And the kind of shenanigans the Feds were trying to pull seem all too realistic to me, in light of some of the things that they have been caught doing! And I loved the response of sending a couple of F-15's armed with missiles after the renegade, when he is stooging around in downtown Los Angeles. Missiles are not known for being highly selective when they are of the heat seeking type, and urban areas are rich with thermal signatures which can confuse the tiny brain packed into an air-to-air missile. The filmmakers actually downplayed the havoc that could result from launching such weapons in a downtown area.

I found the film to be an enjoyable, realistic, thought provoking experience, which I would recommend to most people. The hardware is not the star, thanks to the excellent work of Roy Scheider and his supporting cast, and the dialog is tight and realistic. When informed that one of the suspects in a liquor store robbery is wearing a Hawiian shirt and a cowboy hat, Scheider's character says, "What ever happened to being inconspicuous?"

I first saw Blue Thunder as a kid at the time of its release and enjoyed it purely as a slice of action/adventure typical of its time. I could name many films from the early 80s of a similar ilk, but this one stuck in my mind as a real favourite and it was only when I re-watched it recently that I understood why.

Unlike other films in the genre, Blue Thunder always strikes me as having been thought about and crafted in a very careful way. In fact I didn't remember there being as little action as there is. Instead we are given far more character development than we might be accustomed to, thereby enhancing the final aerial drama because we do care about the people involved.

Roy Scheider(who I must confess is my favourite actor of his era) gives a standout performance. His portrayal of Murphy with its wry humour & very human lapses shares more than a little with a certain Chief Brody, but the use of an aging rebel with little cause as the main character in a technological thriller is still refreshing now.

Malcolm McDowell gives the sort of OTT villainous performance that only he can (why has no-one ever cast him as a Bond villain?) and special mention must go to Warren Oates as Scheider's long-suffering boss.

The helicopter looks awesome with cool gadgets aplenty but it isn't the star here, Scheider is. Move over Top Gun, Airwolf, Wings of the Apache, et al; this is the number 1 fly-boy in town.

I was dying to see this when I was 13 but I was too young to get in at the pictures. I saw the trailer when I went to see Superman 3. I finally hired it on video and loved it. I think at the time, it was the look of the helicopter that I was drawn too. Big bulky and menacing. (The scene where we first see Blue Thunder with the sun rising behind it is sheer class.) I've got the DVD and always enjoy watching this film, I love Roy Scheider in most films he's in and he's excellent in this one. Also thought Daniel Stern was great as Murphy's observer. The series was quite cheezy but enjoyable in it's own way. Universal latched on to the super hi-tech helicopter theme as Airwolf followed soon afterwards. The helicopter in Airwolf was a Bell 222 whereas Blue Thunder was a converted Gazelle helicopter that was given a facelift to make it look bulky and menacing, a little bit like an Apache. Back to the movie. The plot is quite thin and there are a couple of scenes that are a bit far fetched but if you're looking for a film with good helicopter chase sequences in it, they don't come much better than this. Catch you later.

A helicopter is developed for police work using full surveillance technology, stealth modes etc. Officer Murphy and his partner are trained to fly it for street tests. However Murphy suspects that it has more sinister uses when he finds that the man in charge is Colonel Cochrane – who he has a history with in Vietnam. The battle between the two men heads for a showdown as Murphy gets evidence to back up his suspicions.

Made as a film but turned into an inferior tv show this film is entertaining but no more than that. The plot is interesting – with plenty of conspiracy stuff but the action is sometimes forced. Because most of the helicopter shenanigans are save for the climax we are given car chases etc to help fill the time. The helicopter itself is very cool and well used and the final battle above the city is exciting if formulaic. The morals of a `big brother' helicopter, able to pry everywhere isn't examined as well as could have been but it's still interesting.

Scheider is always good to watch and does well, as do Warren Oates and a young Daniel Stern. However the show is stolen and the film made by a great baddie from Malcolm McDowell (catch you later!) who is menace incarnate for me.

Overall an enjoyable thriller but it really only sticks in the memory due to the TV series that followed – worth watching for McDowell though.