History Film / BlueThunder

-->"This whole ship is heavily armored with Nordoc NATO armor, one inch thick. This ship is equipped with a forward-mounted, twenty-millimeter electric cannon. Its six barrels are capable of firing ''four thousand rounds'' of ammunition per minute. And ''that'', gentlemen, is one ''hell'' of a shit-storm in anybody's language!"

-->"Who are you fooling with that phony radio bullshit? Jesus Christ, Frank, that went out three days after Marconi invented the fucking thing!"

-->'''Kate'': Goddamn your [[OfficerOHara black Irish heart]], Frances [=McNeil=] Murphy! If you left without saying goodbye, so help me-!

** Cochrane's first and middle initals, F.E. - [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]] by Murphy:
--> '''Lymangood:''' "F.E. - What's the F.E stand for?"
--> '''Murphy:''' "Fuck Everbody"

-->'''Fletcher''': One civilian dead for every ten terrorists. That's an acceptable ratio.\\
'''Frank Murphy''': [''turns to Captain Braddock, [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]]''] Unless you're one of the civilians!

* PowerPerversionPotential: A variant -- the Astro Division has a penchant for peeking in windows, and Murphy taking Lymangood to [[ThePeepingTom visit]] the "girl in Encino" (who happens to be quite fond of nude yoga and has a very large picture window) is what gets him grounded the first time.

[-''''' "Catch ya later..." '''''-]

''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 action film about a police helicopter pilot who discovers a GovernmentConspiracy to use an experimental BlackHelicopter for urban riot control. It earned an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for Best Film Editing and [[FollowTheLeader kicked off a subgenre]] of [[CoolPlane Cool Helicopter]] shows including a short-lived 1984 TV series of the same name [[DuelingShows and the enormously more popular]] ''Series/{{Airwolf}}''.

Frank Murphy (Creator/RoyScheider) is a Vietnam War veteran who flies helicopters for the Metropolitan Police Astro Division in Los Angeles. In his time off, he deals with a failed relationship and his fears of going crazy, based on flashbacks he keeps getting to a traumatic 'Nam mission. In the course of training a new observer, rookie Richard Lymangood (Creator/DanielStern), he witnesses what appears to be the planned murder of a city councilwoman, but when he tries to report his suspicions, he's grounded due to earlier "extracurricular" activities.

** Murphy's reputation for looping a helicopter ([[JustPlaneWrong supposedly an aerodynamically impossible feat]] comes into play [[spoiler:in the climactic showdown with Cochrane]].

* Awesome: Murphy wins the day by taking Blue Thunder in a 360 degree loop the loop to defeat the villain.

** Discussed during Blue Thunder's demonstration, in which Murphy points out that all of the "terrorist" targets have been destroyed and some "civilian" targets as well as collateral damage (and it's left unsaid [[LudicrousGibs they were all shot]] with [[{{BFG}} a 20mm cannon]]:

* AMillionIsAStatistic: The presumably high casualty count from a heat-seeking missile hitting a ''skyscraper'' is barely acknowledged. Either that or it's a ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding. Frame-by-frame will reveal a large number of missing windows, but is it abandoned or slipshod SpecialEffects?