Blue Thunder

I was always more of a Blue Thunder guy than an Airwolf guy. Released in 1983, Blue Thunder starred Roy Scheider as a police helicopter pilot who uncovers a murderous conspiracy when he's given the chance to test pilot a high-tech chopper, designed for surveillance and legally-questionable (and quite murderous) use against civic disobedience, which is planned to be released during the 1984 Olympics.

After discovering a secret that could get him killed, Murphy (Scheider) steals Blue Thunder and becomes hunted by friend and foe attempting to shoot him down. A young Daniel Stern co-stars as our protagonist's wet-behind-the-ears copilot and Malcolm McDowell is our film's sociopathic baddie who has a history with Murphy dating back to their time together in Vietnam (which is shown in flashbacks).

The 4K includes a new restoration of the film and both new and previously released featurettes including a new interview from director John Badham. More than 40 years later , the film's look holds up pretty well with the high-tech helicopter being arguably as big a star as Scheider, especially once it's stolen and we get Murphy's various dogfights over Los Angeles. Despite some average action flick plot goofiness (such as no sane individual would ever put McDowell in charge of the murder copter), the film was a critical and box office success leading to both a video game and a mostly forgotten television series that recast James Farentino as Murphy.

• Title: Blue Thunder
• IMDb: link