Directed by: John Badham
Starring: Daniel Stern, Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark
Revealing mistake: Right after a fleeing felon is shot dead and falls into the pool (whereupon Murphy says "He's bought it"), he appears to be swimming to stay afloat. (00:12:10)
Revealing mistake: When the van gets flipped over outside the BBQ chicken place, you can see the cannon that flips the van over. (01:32:20)
Plot hole: Apart from the impressive pyrotechnics, what is the point of destroying the Blue Thunder helicopter? By far the most expensive, time consuming and technically complex part of producing any aircraft is the design and development phase - once the prototype is in the air production is relatively straightforward. The bad guys can make new Blue Thunders any time they like, and Murphy has destroyed the only evidence he has that there was a criminal conspiracy behind the whole programme - the 'videotape' he has of blurry, false coloured characters will convince nobody. Without the helicopter to back him up that tape is of no value to him.
Frank Murphy: Catch ya later.
Trivia: The registration number N77GH is visible on a gold placard on right surveillance camera' but only civilian aircraft are given November numbers. Military helicopters only have a series of numbers like on the tail. You aren't supposed to notice Blue Thunder's real "N" number, but it is there throughout the movie making it known it was truly a civilian helicopter.
Question: Why didn't Murphy tell his boss about Cochrane's plan to kill him? He tries to when he gets back, but notices some strange behaviour and walks off. Is it because he (a) doesn't trust the department and thinks the boss is in on it (b) doesn't think he will believe him (since Lymangood hid the proof) (c) decides to deal with it himself (d) just the writers' way of advancing the plot.
Answer: Yes to A, B, and C.
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Suggested correction: The Blue Thunder is caught on camera by a TV helicopter during the aquaduct chase which is evidence it existed.
A helicopter is filmed on CCTV, yes, which gives no detail at all to its use, where it came from, or anything about the conspiracy behind it. The helicopter is proof of the sinister plot and Murphy just destroyed it.
Suggested correction: What you are forgetting is Murphy is already a criminal with or without the helicopter. He stole blue thunder, destroyed two police helicopters, a jet and a police car, endangered civilians lives and finally killed Cochrane. Even if he could prove the conspiracy, there was no way he was avoiding jail. When he walks off at the end, he knows the future is bleak for him.
Gavin Jackson
In no way does that correct the posting. Murphy would have an open-and-shut defence against all "criminal" charges if he could show he was acting against a much larger criminal conspiracy, which he now cannot do. Not only has he scuppered his own chances of defending himself he has handed the real criminals a Get Out Of Jail Free card. The posting is absolutely correct.