Blue Thunder (1983)

A helicopter pilot (Roy Scheider) who does air surveillance for the Los Angeles Police Department is chosen to test a new high tech chopper for the federal government. But it isn't long before he discovers the true sinister intentions that the chopper will be put to use. Directed by John Badham (SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER), this is an implausible action/thriller. To enjoy it requires an enormous suspension of disbelief and I do mean enormous. The aerial sequences are top notch and the action is intense but the script leaves precious little devoted to characterization. One has to wonder what the film makers were thinking with the wholesale destruction of property and casual attitude toward the loss of innocent lives. I mean the entire side of a skyscraper is blown away and my first thought was how many people were in that building but to the movie, it was just a "wow" moment. Times have changed since 1983 and I don't think audiences today would think it's funny when Scheider and Daniel Stern (as his sidekick) use the surveillance to peek into people's homes or listen in to hear sexual activity! A big yes to the action sequences, no to just about everything else. With Warren Oates, Malcolm McDowell, Candy Clark and Jason Bernard.