Blue Thunder

Blue Thunder (1983)

7 corrected entries

(4 votes)

Corrected entry: When the SWAT officers are piling out of the van to get into the helicopters to chase Blue Thunder, the lead SWAT officers hair is too long at the back. Allowances are made for plain clothes officers, but not for uniformed officers. (01:19:10)

Correction: In most police agencies SWAT is an on-call unit comprised of officers from throughout the department who have received special training and work their regular jobs (road patrol, detective bureau, etc) until there is a SWAT call-out. In other words, you don't have a group of officers whose only job is SWAT; they would be sitting around - possibly for days - waiting for a SWAT call. The officers of the SWAT unit can be from any section, including vice and other undercover units that are allowed to wear long hair, beards, or whatever else is needed to function undercover. Very possible for the long-haired officer to be from a vice unit.

BocaDavie

Corrected entry: At the end when Blue thunder is being destroyed, the distance that Murphy is from the helicopter is totally ludicrous. Even an Olympic sprinter would be hard pressed to get that far in such short time. And Murphy didn't look like he made any effort to run at all.

Gavin Jackson

Correction: It is not a continuous sequence. We don't see him get out of the helicopter, just walking away from it, and we have no idea how long it was between his exit and the first time we see him walking. Films don't show every second in real time - we'd have some long, boring films if they did.

Correction: You saw Murphy in the helicopter staring straight at the oncoming train. No way he could have made that distance so quick. The mistake is correct.

Gavin Jackson

Corrected entry: When Roy Scheider's partner is run over and killed, we later see him being zipped up in the body bag. If you look closely, you can see him slowly lower his own head to the ground after being zipped. Hardly the actions of a dead man. (01:11:20)

Gavin Jackson

Correction: The man in a dark suit uses his right hand to lift Lymangood's head, then slips the back of his left hand under and slowly lowers it into the bag, and then pulls his hand out. No error.

johnrosa

Corrected entry: Before Limangood is run over, the car chasing him runs into a parked car. The passenger headlights have stopped working due to the crash, but in the next shot, they are working again, and in later shots they go out or only one of the twin headlights work.

Correction: When headlights are bashed as in an accident like that, they don't necessarily get completely broken. Often, a wire can be pinched running to the lights, which will cause them to behave exactly as they do in the movie, going off and on depending if the wires are shorting, or making a connection.

Corrected entry: When Roy's Partner is chased (with his hands tied behind his back) by the car of bad guys, he chooses to run down a dark lonely alley. He could have easily slipped into one of the open stores along the street, and thus avoid being killed.

Correction: Fatal character mistake, not a movie mistake. People do not behave rationally during a crisis.

Corrected entry: When Alf Hewitt first introduces himself to Candy Clark at the TV station, look at the first shot where him, Clark and the evil government agent are standing together. You can see the front of a camera lens at the far right.

Gavin Jackson

Correction: Arguable. Since they are in a TV station it could be one of their cameras and not one used for making the movie.

Mister Ed

Corrected entry: Cochrane's chopper has a 12.7mm or 20mm cannon on the side (it can't be a 7.62mm as it has already been shown that Blue Thunder is armoured against small arms rounds), The round that punched through the glass should have torn Murphy's arm off.

Grumpy Scot

Correction: It's entirely possible the round was deflected when it came through the window, and Murphy was struck by a shard of the window material instead.

johnrosa

Other mistake: Murphy lands the helicopter on a railway line so an oncoming train will destroy it completely, and this happens exactly on cue with huge, dramatic explosions and flying debris. Apparently the train driver doesn't think this is important enough to interrupt his busy schedule - he doesn't stop the train. We do not hear brakes being applied - the wheels would make a noise like the sky coming down - and the train doesn't slow down at all - it just keeps on going.

More mistakes in Blue Thunder

Col. F.E. Cochrane: You threatening me, Murphy?
Frank Murphy: No, I'm telling you. Back off.

More quotes from Blue Thunder

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.

More trivia for Blue Thunder

Question: Near the end, Cochrane wants to kill Murphy. Why do it in the air? Even if Cochrane did wipe him out, the only way he would have to do that was to destroy the helicopter completely when he had the chance; instead, he injured Murphy and disabled the cannon somewhat, which is painful to watch and understandable, for fear of collatoral damage or simply because he did not want to blast it out of the sky and foot the bill. But the helicopter costs '$5 million', and even if Cochrane had the money, it would have been cheaper to take Murphy out on land instead of in public and in broad daylight.

Allister Cooper, 2011

Chosen answer: Murphy has been deemed a threat to the public at large by the authorities, having "snapped" and stolen an armed helicopter. Cochrane is using that determination as cover to finally kill Murphy, whom he's long despised. Killing Murphy on the ground would be harder to get away with. He would not be responsible for paying for the helicopter anymore than the Air Force or the other police helicopter crews would be had they sucessfully knocked Blue Thunder down.

johnrosa

More questions & answers from Blue Thunder

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