My fever-dream insights concerning the neck shot that tragically ended the life of Charlie Kirk were confirmed most bizarrely, just the other day, when I re-watched Blue Thunder (1983). Here is how the story goes.

By Emad Aysha
Roy Scheider plays Frank Murphy, a helicopter cop and Vietnam vet who reports something suspicious from his chopper: a derelict car minus a license plate parked in a posh suburb. Shortly after, a local politician, an African American woman, is murdered by supposed rapists. And they gun her down, and specifically in the neck!

The newsmen themselves explain that even if she had survived, she would have been paralysed for life. Then it clicked. The killing of Charlie Kirk was more than bloody revenge. It was meant to make an 'example' out of him, silencing him for life (if he had survived) and so silencing anyone like him through fear.

The jury is still out on the motive behind these machinations, and what exactly Tyler Robinson’s role is in all this remains unclear. Still, even Charlie Kirk’s constituency does not believe the official story. The internet chatting between Robinson and his supposed boyfriend sounds antiquated, and even ChatGPT doesn’t trust it.

GUERILLA TACTICS: The helicopter was made for 'crowd control' from the sky, a lesson learned from Vietnam. Thank heavens technology is a double-edged sword!

The fact that the bullet didn’t ‘tear’ through him and exit from his back is also being laughed at – the doctor called him the ‘man of steel’. Kirk may even have been shot from behind, with the neck being an exit wound. (Roger Stone says Reagan was hit from behind, too, and Kennedy had a neck wound).

New material, and confessions, that have been emerging thanks to the heroic efforts of Candace Owens also indicate a possible second shooter, also from the front - meaning Robinson was a decoy all along. And don’t forget the weird hand signals behind him – even the FBI is suspicious now.

The man in the unmarked car in the movie was also on lookout duty, signalling the thugs who were after the local politician. Look a little closer, and you find that the instant before Kirk is shot, he talks about gang-related violence.

Wouldn’t you know it, the local politician who got iced was investigating the Hispanic community. She discovered with the help of informants that Hispanic gangs were being deliberately stirred up as a pretext for project THOR – using military helicopter technology for ‘crowd control’.

That’s where the helicopter Blue Thunder comes in, with the forthcoming Olympic Games in LA used as an excuse – everybody from terrorists to lone nuts could pose a threat. Murphy is strong-armed into test-flying it and up against an old wartime rival, Cochrane, played by the quintessentially evil Englishman Malcolm McDowell.

LABELLING THEORY: Daniel Stern [right] and Roy Scheider, a pairing of 'Home Alone' with 'Jaws' - people not content to be mere observers.

During his test run, Murphy and his copilot follow Cochrane and use the superior surveillance equipment onboard to eavesdrop on a secret meeting where they talk about killing the politician, and taking out Murphy – all recorded, thank heavens.

The bad guys find out and kill the copilot, but the young man had stashed the tape. Murphy steals the helicopter and gets his single mom girlfriend, played by Candy Clark, to retrieve the tape and take it to the TV news, blowing the conspiracy wide open.

They send F-16s after him – imagine that, scrambling jets quickly for a change – with heat-seekers, but he tricks them. (They blow up a BBQ joint in Little Tokyo, masking his heat signature.) He also outmanoeuvres police helicopters, flying under bridges long before James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

Then Cochrane comes after him in a helicopter gunship. Being British is meant to make him look like a snob, but ultimately, he’s a reflection of what’s wrong with the system in the US. He’s a Yesman, which is how he got promoted compared to Murphy.

Not coincidentally, Murphy’s ill-fated copilot, played lovingly by Daniel Stern of Home Alone fame, is given the nickname JAFO – Just Another Fucking Observer. (He ‘observers’ naked women in posh neighbourhoods too, from up and above.)

SWEET TOOTH: Murphy's better half (Candy Clark) is not content to be a love interest. She wants to ground him in the family... of the nation!

Candy Clark (from American Graffiti) is the assertive woman, if not an assertive public. She drives in the opposite direction on a one-way street in one scene, setting the stage for what she does later to evade the cops, proving that she sets her own path in life. (Her performance is over-the-top but heartwarming.)

But that path includes finding the right man to raise her kid, which is why she keeps going back to Murphy, consummate bachelor that he is. She also invites him to family get-togethers. (Him living alone makes him paranoid, almost gunning her down when we first see her.) Train tracks are a ‘path’ motif; hence, Murphy destroys the helicopter in the end with a train wreck.

The movie is a beauty, and not just for the incredible aerial battles or the anticipation of the militarisation of law enforcement, with drones now taking the place of helicopters. The dialogue is snappy and gritty, with characters who are completely un-clichéd.

The pacing and structure of the movie are slick and sexy, with the opening sequence conveying all we need to know about the hero and the reality of bureaucratic police work. (JAFO loses all his papers on the airfield.)

The soundtrack is excellent, featuring a lot of synth and techno, which is perfect for the themes on display and the action sequences. The cinematography is positively gorgeous, with an elevated perspective that makes you feel weightless before a single copter even gets off the ground. Sources of light are also magnified by smoke, particularly at night.

The movie is both subtle and straightforward, with Murphy going to a Spanish-speaking friend to read a page from the slain politician’s report, the real target of the thugs. He also correctly observes that the crowd control from the sky didn’t work in Vietnam, meaning America’s war crimes are washing up on its shores.

Even Murphy and Cochrane have much in common, both of whom drive sports cars – a shared love of speed and self-control. Luckily, Murphy is a risk-taker, turning the copter full circle to take out Cochrane, who is too much of a team player to think out of the box.

INDOOR INTRIGUE: Blue Thunder comes with all of the optional features, such as domestic surveillance of everything from nudes models to racist conspirators.

Outsmarting the heat-seekers is no coincidence, as it proves that technology is a double-edged sword – ultimately, it can be a hindrance. (That’s why he destroys the chopper.) And the Japanese are immigrants too; Murphy’s Irish himself. Wrapping meaning into entertainment used to be what Hollywood was good at.

The battles between extreme left and extreme right in the aftermath of the Kirk assassination don’t portend well; the Jimmy Kimmel and illegal immigration controversies.

Democracy is on a downward slope.