Blue Thunder (1983) on Netflix
Frank Murphy, a Los Angeles helicopter pilot, and observer Richard Lymangood test Blue Thunder, a heavily armed surveillance aircraft. The program's lead pilot is a Vietnam nemesis of Murphy's.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Frank Murphy flies helicopter patrol for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Police. A Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, he is paired with a new observer, rookie officer Richard Lymangood. The two work the city from the air, assisting officers on the ground. After an evening patrol they are suspended over allegations of voyeurism during a mugging in which councilwoman Diana McNeely was killed. Captain Jack Braddock brings Murphy back for a sunrise demonstration at a government weapons facility in the Mojave Desert, where he is chosen to fly an armored experimental helicopter called Blue Thunder, fitted with infrared scanners, long-range microphones and a cannon and intended for surveillance and for civil disorder during the 1984 Summer Olympics. The program's lead pilot is Colonel F.E. Cochrane, a nemesis from Murphy's Vietnam tours.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Blue Thunder (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Roy Scheider, then known mainly for playing Chief Martin Brody in the first two Jaws movies, had no desire to make a third: "Mephistopheles ... couldn't talk me into doing [it]. ... They knew better than to even ask." He took Blue Thunder partly to ensure his unavailability for Jaws III.
- Malcolm McDowell, who portrayed antagonist F. E. Cochrane, has an intense fear of flying in real life, and not even his then-wife Mary Steenburgen could persuade him to overcome the phobia. Badham told Starlog in 1983: "He was terrified. He used to get out and throw up after a flight."
- Co-writers Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby began developing the plot while living together in a Hollywood apartment in the late 1970s, where low-flying police helicopters woke them on a regular basis.
- Although the film was shot in Los Angeles and real neighborhoods are mentioned, the LAPD allowed no references to itself, so the force became the generic "Metropolitan Police" and Frank Murphy was put in the fictional "ASTRO Division" rather than the real Air Support Division.
