Viking Night: Blue Thunder
By Bruce Hall
March 26, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Sometimes it helps - psycho killers and terrorists both get caught on a regular basis using things like GPS, Internet activity and the fact that there are cameras literally everywhere now. On the other hand let's not forget Facebook - the world's biggest data mining operation, disguised as an innocent social networking site. Suppose someone wanted to use it against you? Suppose that someone was the police? You might be surprised to find these questions being asked as early as 1983 by director John Badham, best known for the techno-paranoia thriller WarGames.
Badham’s other big score that year was Blue Thunder, which is not a social networking site for sexual deviants, but a fictional attack helicopter used by the LAPD. It has state of the art (for 1983) electronic surveillance gear that allows it to hear through walls, see in the dark, and peep down a hooker’s blouse two thousand feet away. It has a stealth mode for sneaking up on things, a 20mm gatling gun and even an embryonic form of Internet, sophisticated enough to tell you what you had for breakfast. And, it looks like what Darth Vader probably flies to work every day.
If you’re thinking this doesn’t sound exactly legal you'd be right, and that’s precisely what bothers Officer Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider), chopper pilot for the (fictional) LAPD Astro Division. Murphy is a Vietnam vet who suffers from PTSD, making it hard to adjust to civilian life, and even harder to accept authority. He’s prone to the occasional in-flight flashback, and is on a first name basis with the department shrink. Although he takes his work seriously (if not his superiors), his rebellious streak soon sees himself and his copilot, computer nerd Richard Lymangood (Daniel Stern), grounded. So naturally, they are chosen as test pilots for the division's new experimental death machine.
As an added bonus, the team leader turns out to be an old nemesis of Murphy's, the sadistic Col. Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell). The two men butt heads from the start, and Murphy's instant cynicism toward the program makes for a doubly tense reunion. But crime is on the rise, and with the recent murder of a prominent councilwoman and the Olympics around the corner, our hero is advised to correct his attitude. This proves difficult when during their first test flight, Murphy and Lymangood decide to engage in a little mischief and use Blue Thunder to snoop on Cochrane. It’s all fun and games until they accidentally tape a secret conversation between him and a group of government bigwigs. It turns out the council woman's death wasn’t as random as it appeared, and someone has sinister plans for Blue Thunder - and only one man stands in their way.
I have to tell you, I hadn't seen this movie since I was a kid, so my expectations were pretty modest going in. As I recall, I spent my entire seventh grade year drawing Blue Thunder all over anything and everything I could put a pencil to. But there's a central theme of liberty vs. security that went right over my head as a boy, and sadly is almost as easy to overlook today. The script, written by Don Jakoby and the legendary Dan O'Bannon (Alien, Total Recall), underwent significant rewrites that - in my opinion - improved it significantly. But the point it tries to make is buried under a maze of overly complex subplots.
The first act focuses mainly on establishing Murphy as a tormented veteran, changed by war in a way that makes civilian life a different kind of hell. The second act centers around the shadowy conspiracy behind the helicopter, and the third act is an eyeball shattering half hour helicopter battle over Los Angeles that is single handedly responsible for me not learning a damn thing in school that year. Somewhere in there is an actual point, which is a surprisingly prescient paranoid freak out over privacy rights and the limits of government authority in the information age - one that remains relevant to this day. But the film is so concerned with justifying Murphy’s actions during that last act that it loses sight of itself a little too often.
Still, Badham does a fine job of infusing his picture with visual intrigue. Much of the story is shot at night, and scenes are consistently lit and set up in a way that makes you feel like a peeping tom. One scene in particular involves Murphy and Lymangood spying on a beautiful woman in her home at night. It’s wrong, of course, but you can’t help but feel stimulated by how luridly inappropriate it is (unless of course, you happen to be a woman). Cinematographer John Alonzo had his work cut out for him, making a film shot almost entirely in the city feel wide open and alive. But he succeeds, and his handheld work in particular makes you feel like you’re somewhere you shouldn’t be, seeing things that aren’t any of your business.
Oh, and did I mention the incredibly badass dogfight that takes up the entire third act and ruined my middle school career? The one with real helicopters weaving between buildings, blasting hot death at each other, blowing up barbecue shacks and making it rain chicken all over downtown Los Angeles? I wish every movie ended this way. But despite its supposed political leanings, most of Blue Thunder is primarily buildup for that explosive climax. Murphy’s PTSD, Cochrane’s dickishness, and even Murphy’s batshit crazy girlfriend (Candy Clark) exist only to play a specific role during the final action sequence. In other words, don’t go in expecting to be enlightened about your civil liberties.
And don’t expect a lot of it to make sense. We never get a satisfactory explanation as to why Cochrane and his pals feel that unleashing a military attack chopper on the city is the only answer to urban crime - especially puzzling when people start dying because of it. We’re never told why their first choice for test pilot was a burned out veteran who wakes up in the middle of the night screaming Vietnamese. And nobody ever mentions the hundreds of innocent people who must surely have been killed during that spectacular final battle. But at the end of the day, Blue Thunder is a slightly visionary, somewhat flawed but highly entertaining action flick that still holds up pretty well today. It’s not enough to overcome the horror of Googling yourself but it’s a great way to kill an afternoon, and if you’re an aging Gen X-er like me, it’s a great way to relive your childhood.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go draw some helicopters.