Roy Scheider

Top notch ‘Blue Thunder’ gets treated well in new DVD

[rating=3]Starring: Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, Daniel Stern, Malcolm McDowell
Director(s): John Badham
Writer(s): Dan O’Bannon, Don Jakoby

'Blue Thunder' helicopter flies over Los Angeles
‘Blue Thunder’ helicopter flies over Los Angeles

There something fun about going back to movies that you remember from your childhood and revisiting them as an adult. I’ve been fascinated by some 80s action flicks in the last few months, I suppose mostly through nostalgia more than anything else. It’s funny how over the top so many of them are, and whileBlue Thunder is better than most, its ending is a little much.

The story has Roy Scheider at the peak of his fame, this time playing a burned out helicopter pilot with the Los Angeles Police Department’s air unit. This is a familiar site to most people who either live in or have seen moves featuring the west coast city, but at the time it was relatively new. The helicopters assist police officers on the ground to track down criminals and monitor the city. Scheider’s Officer Frank Murphy is one of the best, but suffers from post-traumatic stress from Vietnam (this movie was made in 1983).

Read moreTop notch ‘Blue Thunder’ gets treated well in new DVD

‘Jaws’ looks beautiful in 30th Anniversary Edition

[rating=4]Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton
Director(s): Steven Spielberg
Writer(s): Screenplay by Peter Benchley & Carl Gottlieb; Based upon the novel by Peter Benchley

Roy Scheider (l.) and Robert Shaw hunt a man-eating shark in Steven Spielberg’s classic, 'Jaws'
Roy Scheider (l.) and Robert Shaw hunt a man-eating shark in Steven Spielberg’s classic, ‘Jaws’

You know what the best thing about the release of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Jaws is? It gives me an excuse to talk about one of my all-time favorite movies, and arguably one of the greatest films of all time.

Kind of odd how a film about a big killer fish can somehow be considered a classic, but Jaws is exactly that: a classic. It’s a well crafted story with terrific characters and great dialogue. It’s visually beautiful, with music that’s powerful but also adds tension to a film that defines exactly what the soundtrack to a film is supposed to do. I mean, in how many cases is the music just as famous as the movie itself?

Read more‘Jaws’ looks beautiful in 30th Anniversary Edition