THE SKIES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!

L.A. cop and helicopter pilot Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) is ordered to attend a demonstration of a new advanced helicopter called ”Blue Thunder”; while impressed, he’s also wary of what it can do…

Our hero suffers from PTSD symptoms while uncovering a conspiracy, ultimately battling an old enemy from the Vietnam War up in the skies. It’s a thriller with a serious theme under the hood – what are the limits to surveillance and militarizing the police?

Worth a look; the film provides some tension and an intense final half-hour with chases in and around Los Angeles.

1983-U.S. 109 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by John Badham. Screenplay: Dan O’Bannon, Don Jakoby. Editing: Frank Moriss, Edward M. Abroms. Cast: Roy Scheider (Frank Murphy), Malcolm McDowell (F.E. Cochrane), Daniel Stern (Richard Lymangood), Candy Clark, Warren Oates, Joe Santos.

Trivia: Later a TV series, Blue Thunder (1984).