Old movies have it hard on ImDb. They got pushed in this database without all the benefits modern movies have to artificially boost their initial user score. Publicity stunts, media spin, false "user" feedback... They got none of that. How many bad movies have you seen start at 8,5 and end up being turds. To remedy that, Blue Thunder gets a solid 8 from me. It is a typical 80's flick, sprinkled with sexist and racist bits nobody would dare to approach today. Movies reflect their epoch; here we find a pre-olympic L.A. not very far from it's race crisis. More important, we find real helicopters doing real stunts above and inside the city. No production will ever get a permit to do all this anymore and only for that, that movie is worth watching.