Blue Thunder [Limited Edition]
4.7 | 1,920 ratings
Price: 49.95
Last update: 03-04-2026
Product details
- MPAA rating : R (Restricted)
- Product Dimensions : 6.73 x 5.31 x 0.51 inches; 3.88 ounces
- Director : John Badham
- Media Format : 4K
- Run time : 1 hour and 49 minutes
- Release date : May 5, 2026
- Actors : Candy Clark, Roy Scheider, Warren Oates
- Studio : Arrow Video
- ASIN : B0GQJ8JR3M
- Best Sellers Rank:#9 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- Drama Blu-ray Discs
- Customer Reviews:4.74.7 out of 5 stars(1,918)
Top reviews from the United States
- SciFi-Kaiju-Guy"A dozen of these things and you could run the whole country." Cautionary action-adventure film about 'Big Brother' in the sky.BOTTOM LINE: Been a fan of this film since it first splashed across cineplex screens. I've owned it on tape, two different DVDs version and now this Blu-ray. BLUE THUNDER is a solid action film, thrilling and highly entertaining from start to finish. Roy Scheider is excellent as is the rest of the cast. I enjoy revisiting this movie every so often, like an old friend. The audio/video improvements in this new 1080p format make it a recommended upgrade. This spiffy new BLUE THUNDER Blu scores a solid 4 STARS from me.
THE STORY: U.S. government develops a highly-specialized prototype helicopter gunship, nick-named Blue Thunder. The copter sports impressive firepower, is heavily armored and loaded to the rotors with all manner of high-tech, stealthy surveillance gizmos. It is assigned to Los Angeles police department's Astro Division to test its real-world capabilities, in anticipation of using it to possibly quell unrest & potential trouble during the upcoming 1984 Summer Olympics. Loner pilot Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) draws the short straw and together with his newly-assigned partner Richard Lymangood, (a young, gangly Daniel Stern), the duo takes to the skies. Soon afterward, Murphy uncovers a sinister plot by a handful of corrupt government officials within the Blue Thunder program to turn the super-duper chopper into an unchallenged master of the not-so-friendly skies. When these creeps discover that Murphy knows, (a terrific "Oh, crap!" moment), he suddenly becomes Target Number One.
THOUGHTS: Lifting off in early summer of 1983, BLUE THUNDER is a slick allegory about Big Brother-type evils, a too powerful government and advanced technology getting ahead of our ability to use it properly and ethically. Rough-edged everyman actor Roy Schieder is perfectly cast here as Vietnam vet Frank Murphy, an idealistic but world-weary (and slightly damaged) man still suffering bouts of post traumatic stress disorder due to some deeply disturbing events he experienced while serving in 'Nam. Despite his desire to live a normal life the horrors of war are never far from his mind, often haunting the tortured ex-soldier in his dreams. Frank has few he can call friends. Among them are the Chief of the Astro Division (the late, great Warren Oates, in his last screen role), a mean as a snake, tough as saddle leather type who takes no crap but has a genuine soft spot for Murphy. Cute-as-a-button Candy Clark is Frank's ditzy, off-again/on-again girlfriend. New to the fold as Murphy's eyes & ears while aboard Blue Thunder, Daniel Stern's turn as Lymangood is a joy as he brings a genuine, earnest, goggle-eyed and eager to please energy to the role. You like him almost immediately. Lymangood, ("JAFO" to the boys in Astro), also brings a valuable skill set to the table, making him an integral part of the narrative and not just a shell or red herring. Rounding out the cast as Frank's nemesis (and old war "buddy"), is Malcolm McDowell as callus retired Army colonel F.E. Cochrane. McDowell crafts a smug, slimy, unhinged, slick & irritating character in Cochrane. Seriously, you just want to kick this guy in the nuts every time he's on screen.
F/X-wise, the full-scale Blue Thunder chopper itself is pretty impressive but sadly outdated in today's real world of ultra-sophisticated gunships like the Apache & Cobra, and their Super versions. Still at the time this came out, it was a cool yet also frightening concept: something that could blow away most anything in the air and at the same time be capable of silently hovering undetected outside your window and stealthily recording everything you say & do. Big Brother in the air? Scary stuff - and rather prophetic. (Although the airborne eyes & ears that we must contend with and worry about today are tiny remote-controlled drones rather than huge manned gunships.) The movie's SFX miniatures look good but the optical composite work is rather lacking; (the shots of the Air Force jets are kinda lame). They work well enough to service the story, and if you've gotten into the movie and are rooting for Frank during the film's tense, climactic airborne confrontation then the jet F/X wonkiness won't even matter.
THE BLU-RAY: Mill Creek gives us a really nice quality transfer. The movie has never looked or sounded better than it does on this Blu-ray, but be advised that this disc has ZERO extra features. If you've got the Special Edition DVD then you'll want to hang onto it for the bonus content. Even without the goodies, this Blu-ray is worth the double-dip for the improved video & audio. - Arnold BriscoeGreat show.Great movie!
- NosidinoA Fantastic Film!I'm the 110th person to give this film Five Stars and the 194th person to review it.
I forgot how much I loved this movie. I saw it in theatres in a third run discount theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and so loved the movie. I love it even more now.
This film has just enough plot to keep us interested but not enough to whet our appetite. For instance, what were the Hispanic men trying to accomplish when they waylaid councilwoman McNeely in Brentwood? How were the police notified so quickly? The cruisers arrived almost immediately after the assault began! I've called the police myself in nice neighborhoods and it took 10 minutes for the bastards to arrive. These cops were on the scene like they'd been teleported there. What were the criminals trying to do? They clearly were not hit men and they were not attempting to rape her as was reported in the film. And had they been hit men they would have slain her immediately and not roughed her up to the point where she screamed for help and drew attention to herself and the ongoing crime. Hit men would have used a sound suppressed pistol to kill her and yet that's not what was done. These guys did nothing but get themselves killed for no reason (They Accomplished Nothing). The film offers vague allusions as to some secret cadre of government officials wanting to start riots so as to have Blue Thunder's capabilities demonstrated. Unfortunately this is not explored too much in the film. Despite this I enjoyed the film and was surprised by a plot element that was revealed at the end of the film during one of Frank Murphy's flashbacks while engaged in aerial combat.
The aerial photography in this film was incredible! It had aerial chases galore as well as good old fashioned ground car chases. This makes the film unique for the time period. The fact that there was little computer generated imagery (F-16's Notwithstanding) in the film appealed to me. It is ironic that the technology depicted in this film is now available to us all at the consumer level! In the 1980s it was all cutting edge. Today it is par for the course gear that we all take for granted.
Frank Murphy was a realistic character. He's a man we admire who suffers from PTSD. He seems to be a loner except that his girlfriend Candy comes back into his life and brings joy along with angst. She's the everyday lady next door raising a ten-year-old boy. I liked their on again off again relationship but I really loved the loyalty they showed to one another. If only every guy could have a woman like her.
I won't go too much into the storyline. Others have done a better job at that. I will say this, however. If you like Airwolf and Blue Thunder I recommend this DVD highly. This edition is in print but is fill screen. The widescreen special edition is out of print. If you can find it, buy it. Otherwise you will have to make due with the full screen version. I'd love to see a remake of this film.
A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.