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Blue Thunder
 (1983) - the ultimate helicopter movie,
John Badham's airborne thriller about testing new military technology above the streets of Los Angeles (ostensibly
for crowd control at the 1984 Olympics) has the most exciting urban rotary action of all time, as burnt-out
Vietnam veteran Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider), a troubled flyer
with the L.A.P.D.'s Astro Division, battles with a rival US Army pilot, Colonel Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell), for
control of the city's skies, using the hijacked super-weapon of title. There are some excellent aerial stunts,
including flying under bridges, Blue Thunder's dogfights with two enemy (Hughes 500) gunships among the skyscrapers,
and the near disaster of air strikes from a pair of F-16 jet fighters.
Blue Thunder also has the super-helicopter being used
for airborne surveillance with hi-tech spying gadgets (audio, video and thermograph, plus online database access)
built into the aircraft's onboard systems. Apart from the helicopter's espionage capabilities (which include stealth
recon), what's particularly scary in this slick, contemporary sci-fi drama is the right-wing conspiracy scenario that
Murhpy unwittingly discovers one night while he's tracking the sinister Cochrane to a clandestine meeting. After
eavesdropping on the villains' plot concerning Project THOR (Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response), Murphy and
his tech partner "JAFO" Lymangood (Daniel Stern) become the targets of some ruthless killers, and that's
when the heroic Murphy starts fighting back...
A short-lived TV series followed in 1984 - starring James Farentino - but, without the original film's impressive
visual style or high quality production values, this spinoff was a failure compared to superior TV show Airwolf,
and it only lasted for 11 episodes.
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"The Blue Thunder helicopter was
originally an Aerospatiale SA341G Gazelle, built in 1973, and once flown by a coal mining
company in the 1970s before Columbia Studios bought it. There were actually two Gazelles
used in the Blue Thunder production, of course. After the movie wrapped, the first
Gazelle was sold to an aviation salvage company in New Mexico, who leased it to a film
company making the ABC TV mini-series Amerika (1987). Later, the salvager dismantled
the machine for valuable spare parts. The second Gazelle is on display at MGM Studios in
Florida (pictured in 2002), and can be seen on the backlot bus tour. It is in fairly poor
condition."
- NATHAN DECKER
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