The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper 1981

On a clear day in 1971, the hijacker parachutes from the rear exit of a passenger airliner and disappears into the Washington state forest. The man is later identified as Jim Meade, a military veteran with big dreams. The manhunt is led by Gruen, an insurance investigator who was Meade’s army sergeant, and by Remson, Meade’s old army buddy who recalls the conversations about hijacking.

Meade escapes the growing manhunt by using a Jeep he had stashed in the forest and conceals the stolen cash inside a deer’s carcass. He then reconnects with his estranged wife, Hannah, who runs a river-rafting company, and the pair press onward as authorities close in.

Gruen and Remson pursue them across the country, following a trail of stolen cars as they dart through towns and open landscapes. Gruen, fired by his employer but undeterred, pushes the chase forward in a bid to claim the money for himself.

At an aircraft boneyard near Tucson, Arizona, the Meades acquire a hot-air balloon, giving them a new means of escape. In a bold twist, Gruen steals the cash from Hannah, shifting the balance of the pursuit.

To recover the funds, Meade takes to the skies again in a barely functional Boeing-Stearman PT-17 cropduster. He manages to run Gruen off the road, but a fierce crash follows for both aircraft.

After the wrecks, with Gruen’s pistol in hand, the two men briefly discuss how Gruen deduced that the hijack operation could only have been mounted by someone with intimate knowledge of the crew and the aircraft—clues drawn from their shared Army days. The discussion reinforces the idea that only Meade could have carried out such a feat.

Meade leaves Gruen with a few bundles of the cash and walks away with the rest, to be collected by Hannah. With Gruen abandoning the chase, Remson heads toward a crossroads where he believes the Meades’ truck will reappear, only to find a look-alike instead. The credits roll as Meade and Hannah continue down the road toward an uncertain, but freer, future.