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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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