Plot
Francis McNeil "Frank" Murphy (Roy Scheider) is a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) helicopter-pilot-officer and troubled Vietnam War veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His field partner is the newly assigned Richard Lymangood (Daniel Stern), who is given the nickname "JAFO". The two patrol Los Angeles at night and give assistance to police cars below.
Murphy is selected to pilot the world's most advanced helicopter, nicknamed "Blue Thunder," which is essentially a military-style combat helicopter intended for police use in surveillance and large-scale civic disobedience. With powerful armament, stealth technology that allows it to fly virtually undetected, and other accoutrements (such as infrared scanners, powerful microphones and cameras, and a U-Matic VCR), Blue Thunder appears to be a formidable tool in the war on crime.
But when the death of city councilwoman Diane McNeely turns out to be more than just a random murder, Murphy begins his own covert investigation. He discovers that a subversive action group, using the acronym THOR (Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response, the "proposed use of military helicopters to quell disorder"), is intending instead to use Blue Thunder to carry out an evil mission of their own, one that involves the secret elimination of political undesirables.
Murphy suspects the involvement of his old wartime nemesis, former United States Army Colonel F.E. Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell), the primary test pilot for Blue Thunder. After using the technology aboard Blue Thunder to record a meeting Cochrane has with other high-powered government officials planning to use the helicopter for nefarious purposes, Murphy tries to get the video tape to a television station before he is killed, as Lymangood has already been. Frank Murphy succeeds in giving the video tape to his girlfriend, who sends the tape to the television station.
A final showdown between Murphy and Cochrane, who flies a heavily armed Hughes 500 helicopter, takes place over downtown Los Angeles. It includes an initial battle with two Air National Guard F-16 fighters with one being shot down. By pulling off a spectacular 360° loop through use of Blue Thunder's turbine boost function, Murphy shoots down Cochrane. He then destroys Blue Thunder by landing it in front of an approaching freight train, having deemed the tactical helicopter too dangerous to be used by anyone else.
Read more about this topic: Blue Thunder
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