 |
| images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Within minutes of beginning Blue Thunder, you’ll be reminded of two other movies. One of them is Top Gun. The cold open shows helicopter pilots getting ready to take to the streets of Los Angeles from the air. There are closeups of helmets, switches, and exhaust pipes kicking out a mirage of fumes that distort a sky so soaked in orange hues that it had me wondering if Top Gun’s Jeffrey Kimball was the cinematographer. He is not, for the record; in his stead we get the amazing John A. Alonzo, who certainly knows a thing or two about making cityscapes glow like exotic tropical locales; he also filmed Scarface that same year. The second movie you’ll be reminded of is Wargames, as the computerized graphics type the movie’s opening title on the screen. Coincidentally enough, the director of the latter is at the helm of this 43 year old masterpiece: John Badham, a man whose filmography is so diverse and full of classics that his name deserves to be included in any conversation about the best directors of all time.
From Saturday Night Fever to Short Circuit to his cult classic interpretation of Dracula, Badham’s work always had a knack for knowing exactly how to tell a story with maximum efficiency and minimal panache, which becomes its own sort of signature brilliance. His visual style has a way of stealing your awareness that you’re watching a movie. Consider the lighting in the police captain’s office early in the film. Using what appears to be practical lights on set, it gives one the sense they’re watching a documentary. The night scape behind Warren Oates is dark and murky, yet alive with the pulsating bokeh of moving cars. There are no hair lights to separate the actors from the darkness that surrounds them, as if they’re in danger of it closing in at any moment. It feels utterly real, and that’s one of the main reasons why Blue Thunder is such a stunning piece of action filmmaking. By the time Badham stages a breathless aerial game of cat and mouse at the end, we’re completely invested in this universe.
 |
| images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Roy Scheider, desperate to avoid another round as Brody in Jaws 3D (I think he made the right call), plays Murphy: Vietnam veteran with PTSD who moonlights as a surveillance pilot for the LAPD. He’s introduced to Lymangood (a very young Daniel Stern) as his new co-pilot early in the film, and they take a pleasure cruise that conveniently places them outside the window of a stunning woman performing naked yoga for a few minutes. Sure, this could be seen as your obligatory 1980s nude scene for the male gaze, but Blue Thunder isn’t your typical paint by numbers action flick. Badham and his screenwriters, the great Dan O’Bannon (Alien) and Don Jakoby (Vampires), have deeper and more cutting observations about the police state, surveillance, privacy, and the military industrial complex as a whole. Sometimes the most insightful movies appear to be playing by the rules while exercising some exquisite sleight of hand, sort of like how the real plot of Blue Thunder is kicking off right under our heroes’ noses while they’re enamored with the sight of Anna Forrest’s down under forest.
While some things in Blue Thunder aren’t at all what they appear to be, some are exactly what you think they are. Enter Malcolm McDowell, who is so exuberantly sleazy as the pilot of the film’s eponymous military tech that we practically massage our hands in anticipation of the scum and villainy that’s afoot. He doesn’t disappoint, and neither does the film. Between McDowell, Scheider, and Oates, we have a trifecta of the best character actors of the 1970s all working together in a 1983 classic that I had shamefully all but forgotten. Revisiting it on this incredible transfer from Arrow Video was like finding a $100 bill in my pocket. Not only is it a surprise, but it’s a lot more than I remembered.
 |
| images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Under Badham’s direction, the film is effortlessly carried by the performances, bolstered by impeccable stunt work, and stunning cinematography and practical effects that must have inspired Michael Bay. The first shot of the Blue Thunder helicopter flying toward the camera with the sun behind it is something Bay (and virtually every other action director) has ripped off and recycled. All of this is stitched together by an airtight script that never over explains or wastes a single moment. Even throwaway action cliches are used to establish character traits that have payoffs later in the film, such as when Kate (Candy Clark) pulls a U-turn into oncoming traffic because she misses her exit. When the conspiracy surrounding Scheider has seen numerous casualties and he has no choice but to call Clark into the fold, it’s completely believable and in tune with her character. Even the masturbatory tech exposition dump of Blue Thunder's numerous abilities carries a foreboding sense of cautious awe that undercuts the scene, and we find ourselves thinking about how all this tech could be turned on the unsuspecting and innocent. That, my friends, is damn good writing.
I could go into detail about the plot and the social commentary, but that would rob you of the experience of seeing Blue Thunder unfold for yourselves, and I highly recommend that you do. This is a movie so muscularly constructed from practical stunt work and sheer guts that it feels like the spiritual godfather to Top Gun: Maverick. The excitement in the final scenes is palpable because everything we are seeing was either done completely authentic or accomplished with visual effects lightyears beyond what you would expect from 1983. John Badham was a true craftsman, and I pray that new releases like this will renew interest in his work so that he can take his rightful place in the higher echelons of the best directors ever. As such, I must proclaim that Blue Thunder is one of the best action films of all time, and thanks to Arrow Video we can now enjoy it how it was truly meant to be seen.
- Blake O. Kleiner