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We've GOT to STEAL It! Firefox, Blue Thunder & Airwolf

chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
edited February 2013 in General Movies & TV Posts: 17,801
Firefox & Airwolf are sort of spy-stuff, Blue Thunder just a wrong man gig, but all three feature military aircraft that someone believes resides in the wrong hands, and must be STOLEN!

Any fond memories here?

Comments

  • GambitGambit
    Posts: 40
    I have Firefox on DVD one of my favorite Clint Eastwood movies, I used to watch Airwolf every Saturday night when I was a kid. I never liked Blue Thunder.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    First comes a joke: I have Firefox on my laptop. It's the best internet browser I've ever used.

    Now, serious: I've only ever seen bits and pieces of Airwolf, never heard of Firefox, and the most I've seen of Blue Thunder was a commercial about it airing on WGN on a Saturday. Airwolf, I'll say, was decent, but when it comes to TV shows from the 80s (that I saw as reruns, during the 90s, with my dad), I've always preferred talking cars and military men framed for a crime they didn't commit. I could watch Airwolf at anytime, because my dad owns the whole thing on DVD, but I'm sure that I'd get bored of it (watching a super-chopper lift off and chase somebody every episode gets extremely tired after the first ten times, much the same as the car jumping over randomly placed city equipment/vehicles/stuff after Michael presses the "turbo boost" button).
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Gambit wrote:
    I never liked Blue Thunder.
    The TV series sucked big time, but the movie was excellent IMO.
    Agent007391 wrote:
    I could watch Airwolf at anytime, because my dad owns the whole thing on DVD, but I'm sure that I'd get bored of it (watching a super-chopper lift off and chase somebody every episode gets extremely tired after the first ten times
    Airwolf's first season (11 episodes) was the only one worth watching- it was great, but the network demanded 'family-friendly' episodes for subsequent seasons. A shame.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    Firefox the movie was an excellent spythriller with some good effects at the end, too bad they never did film the sequel novel.
  • ChevronChevron Northern Ireland
    edited February 2013 Posts: 370
    For more on Firefox the book(s) let me put in a blatant plug for my website www.craigthomascompanion.co.uk

    Hope putting in a link is not breaking forum rules.
  • fire_and_icefire_and_ice
    edited February 2013 Posts: 6,432
    Love Blue Thunder recently watched it again, Blue Thunder and War Games by the same director were films i watched to death as a kid. Dog fight at the end of Blue Thunder stands up well. Plus it stars the great Roy Schieder :-)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    fire_and_ice wrote:
    Dog fight at the end of Blue Thunder stands up well. Plus it stars the great Roy Schieder :-)
    As much as I love Firefox & Airwolf, I believe Blue Thunder is the best of the three, just a great movie.
  • fire_and_icefire_and_ice
    Posts: 6,432
    chrisisall wrote:
    fire_and_ice wrote:
    Dog fight at the end of Blue Thunder stands up well. Plus it stars the great Roy Schieder :-)
    As much as I love Firefox & Airwolf, I believe Blue Thunder is the best of the three, just a great movie.

    Ends with a great image as the Train smashes through the Hi tech Blue Thunder. Like War Games it was a film that warned against the impending hi tech world and over reliance on technology or technology replacing man all together.
  • SharkBaitSharkBait
    Posts: 2,107
    Don't remember the other two, but I do own Firefox on dvd. Loaned it a couple of times from my friendly neighborhood library and soon after I had to buy it into my own collection. I think it's sort of a 'what if' if Clint Eastwood, one of the coolest actors living, would play James Bond in very serious manner.
  • fire_and_icefire_and_ice
    edited February 2013 Posts: 6,432
    Not watched Firefox for probably 20 years, have a vague memory of it. Recall watching Firefox around the time i watched Sudden Impact and TightRope on Beta max lol make that 30 years. :-)
  • GambitGambit
    Posts: 40
    chrisisall wrote:
    Gambit wrote:
    I never liked Blue Thunder.
    The TV series sucked big time, but the movie was excellent IMO.
    Agent007391 wrote:
    I could watch Airwolf at anytime, because my dad owns the whole thing on DVD, but I'm sure that I'd get bored of it (watching a super-chopper lift off and chase somebody every episode gets extremely tired after the first ten times
    Airwolf's first season (11 episodes) was the only one worth watching- it was great, but the network demanded 'family-friendly' episodes for subsequent seasons. A shame.

    I was thinking of the TV series I've never seen the Blue Thunder movie, I'll have to track it down I'm a fan of Roy Schieder's work.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I recently discovered Airwolf and watched the complete series. Season 1 was great and it started going down in quality after when Season 2 and 3 started. Season 4 was bad. All and all it's an alright Series. I love the music though and Ernest Borgnine is always a pleasure to see.

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Sounds a bit like GoldenEye with the stealing of the Tigre here!

    I think I may have seen bits of Firefox on TV many years ago. I'll have to try to track these films down, then.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    I just got the European theatrical cut of Airwolf for Christmas, and I have to say it's a must-have for any severe Airwolf fan to see what a stand-alone film version of the series pilot would be like. F-bombs and all, it's a cool look at a theatrical R-rated version. Yes it's cut, but there are a few good little additions & changes- some extra dialogue as well as some missing. I really like that they left out the goofy music in Blaze's scene, and the transitions are nice; no black screen for commercials. Some of the swearing is unnecessary, but some is funny IMO. It's just interesting to see it as a stand-alone & not the beginning of a series. Plus the sound is better than the series DVDs, and the picture is better in spots (but also worse in others- I guess it was to be expected from a completely different print than the one they used for the series). Casual fans can pass on it, but nuts like me...? Gottagetacopy!
    And they dropped the end with Michael asking if she suffered. Too bad, but they were going for that Firefox ending. In fact, it really feels A LOT MORE like Firefox in this version.
  • WillyGaloreWillyGalore
    edited December 2013 Posts: 6,396
    I remember watching Firefox on television back in the mid 80s. Last watched it a couple of years ago. I always found the film to be very mundane until Eastwood steals the MIG. Then the last 40 minutes or so are fantastic.

    "Think Russian!"

    Here's the fantastic theme tune:



    Atari released a laserdisc videogame (one of the very few they produced) for the arcades in 82.

  • LeChiffreLeChiffre
    Posts: 1,548
    I recently bought the complete Airwolf collection which I shall shortly be dipping into. Brilliant theme tune. In terms of tech-based 80's shows I still prefer Knight Rider though.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    WillyGalore wrote:
    Atari released a laserdisc videogame (one of the very few they produced) for the arcades in 82.
    Hey now, that's pretty cool.
    :)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    I was curious to see if any of you UK peeps have Airwolf on Blu Ray? It's not available here on BR yet, but I was wondering if the picture was just better, or WAAAAY better?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I have never seen Airwolf, but saw the other two at the cinema when they came out, and thought they were awesome.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Blue Thunder on Blu Ray is pretty amazing.
  • Campbell2Campbell2 Epsilon Rho Rho house, Bending State University
    Posts: 299
    I once read the Firefox novel and Firefox Down, good stuff. Never caught the film though. Air wolf was too goofy for me, much like Knight Rider.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Campbell2 wrote: »
    Air wolf was too goofy for me, much like Knight Rider.
    2nd & 3rd seasons, yeah, definitely. But 1st season (actually a half season- 13 episodes) was dead serious.
  • Campbell2Campbell2 Epsilon Rho Rho house, Bending State University
    Posts: 299
    Never saw the whole, perhaps I'll pick up the early episodes on a rerun.
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,008
    It's funny but the Airwolf TV show was a blatant rip-off of the Blue Thunder film. A year after Blue Thunder was released a TV show about a hi-tec Helicopter appears!

    Love the Blue Thunder film. Great cast with Schneider, Warren Oates, Malcolm McDowell and Candy Clark.

    Great action and a very good score.

    I found Firefox dead slow when I saw it at the cinema. It's an ok film but nothing special.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    LeonardPine wrote: »
    I found Firefox dead slow when I saw it at the cinema. It's an ok film but nothing special.
    The star of the movie is that plane! Wow was it pretty.

  • Major_BoothroydMajor_Boothroyd Republic of Isthmus
    Posts: 2,722
    Blue Thunder - I must have seen that film five times and only once by choice. It used to play on tv here in my youth and it was on high rotation at the birthday parties I went to as a kid back in the day. I remember Malcom Macdowell's evil visage. The spying on people at night. And Daniel stern getting run over - that was pretty traumatic. I really like Schnieder in most things - particularly around this time - jaws, marathon man and especially All That Jazz.
  • Mathis1Mathis1
    Posts: 7,430
    Blue Thunder is a great film. John Badham could do no wrong back then (wonder where he is now?) what with this and WarGames the same year. The aerial chase through the dry river bed was superbly done, as was the climax. Malcolm McDowell was a superb boo hiss villain, and lets not forget the great Warren Oates as Scheiders boss "if i get up out of this chair and i have no ass, its cos it just got chewed off!"
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,008
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Blue Thunder is a great film. John Badham could do no wrong back then (wonder where he is now?) what with this and WarGames the same year. The aerial chase through the dry river bed was superbly done, as was the climax. Malcolm McDowell was a superb boo hiss villain, and lets not forget the great Warren Oates as Scheiders boss "if i get up out of this chair and i have no ass, its cos it just got chewed off!"

    Badham writes and directs for TV now according to IMDb.

    War Games was a great movie as well.
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