The Legend of D.B. Cooper in Pop Culture

"D.B. Cooper was 43 when we first heard his name, 47 miles away from where he fell down to his fame.  But he told me that the hardest part wasn't really jumping out of that plane.  It was spending the night, watching police lights shine down through the pouring rain."

Todd Snider - "D.B. Cooper"

The legend that is D.B. Cooper reached the Kentucky Sports Radio airwaves on Monday as Matt, Ryan and Shannon discussed the strange disappearance. On November 24, 1971, a man who purchased his airline ticket with the name "Dan Cooper" extorted a $200,000 ransom and jumped out of a plane to never be seen again. In 1980, $5,800 in bills from the ransom money was found, which piqued interest in Cooper once again, but just led to more questions. Over the years, many suspects have been brought forward, many of which are looking for publicity or making a dying declaration.  However, most of the suspects have been ruled out over the years.  You can listen to Matt talk about the story of D.B. Cooper on the second hour of yesterday's podcast by clicking here.

The legend of D.B. Cooper is so fantastical that it brings so many possibilities to the table in the world of television and cinema.  Many times over the years, Hollywood has drawn from the D.B. Cooper story.  Episodes involving D.B. Cooper have taken place in shows such as Charlie's Angels, Quincy M.E., The Fall Guy, Barnaby Jones and Numb3rs, just to name a few. However, there are some shows and movies that took the D.B. Cooper story to further lengths.

Without A Paddle (2004)

After Matt discussed the D.B. Cooper story at the top of the second hour on Monday, many callers phoned the show to let him know about the movie, Without a Paddle. The premise behind the movie is that three friends go on the hunt for D. B. Cooper in honor of a friend who recently died.  They run into a mountain man named Del, played by Burt Reynolds who claims to have been Cooper's partner before the disappearance. The guys eventually discovered the Cooper burned the money to keep himself warm. The movie received a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, and while it's not Plan 9 From Outer Space bad, it's pretty serviceable as most mid-range comedies were in the 2003-2006 period.

Prison Break (2005-2009)

I will argue with anyone that disagrees that Prison Break season one might be one of the greatest individual television seasons of all time.  Prison Break was a drama on Fox in which a brother planned to get himself put in prison in order to break his sibling out of death row. Covered in tattoos with a cryptic map of the prison on his body, Michael Scofield spends the first season using those tattoos to break his way out.  Over the course of the season, Scofield makes necessary allies, one of which goes by the name Charles Westmoreland, who claims to be D.B. Cooper.  In a plot point to give season two a reason, during an escape attempt, Westmoreland says that it was actually $5 Million he stole in the 1971 hijacking, and told the boys where it was buried.  Again, if you haven't watched season one of Prison Break, stop reading and come back after you've finished... we've got time.

NewsRadio (1998)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc87pbvSoBE In a sad season of NewsRadio, season five was the final season after losing Phil Hartman. During season five, NewsRadio did a three episode story arc where the station owner, Jimmy James (Stephen Root) was accused and arrested as D.B. Cooper. Over the arc, Jimmy escapes jail and goes on "The Lam".  In the final episode of the arc, Jimmy is cleared of the charges when Adam West, playing himself, confesses to the crime.  While NewsRadio was never the same after losing Hartman, this story arc was a nice bit in the final season.

30 Rock

Despite a terrible Tumblr gif of the scene being the only image to add from 30 Rock, there was a nice nod to Cooper from the Fey vehicle.  In an episode, NBC page, Kenneth Ellen Parcell noted that all of his suits belong to his late father.  At which point he opened the inside of the jacket to show a patch that said D.B. Cooper.  It was a fitting touch to the character of Kenneth, who was as mysterious as any character in television history.

D.B. Cooper in Music

D.B. Cooper has popped up in a number of songs since 1971.  There was a song written by a Washington singer named Judy Sword called "D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?" just weeks after the incident happened.  Cooper also is named in Kid Rock's Bawitdaba, as mentioned on KSR yesterday morning.  Kid Rock, as he's talking about all the things that "this is for" says, "and for D.B. Cooper and the money he took."  Rock Band "Senses Fail" also wrote a song on their album "Life is Not A Waiting Room" called D.B. Cooper, while not being about Cooper himself, but rather about someone who is miserable and wants to jump out of a plane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIU_0DG_xAU However, my personal favorite is Todd Snider's "D.B. Cooper", which was quoted in the top of the post, as well as the video above.  The story of D.B. Cooper being the only person in America to presumably get away with a plane hijacking/theft is incredible.  It's such an amazing tale that you hope that the mystery lives on forever, because those types of folklore are necessary in the world. So I'll leave you with my feelings on D.B. Cooper, via the words of Todd Snider.

Now, some people say that he died up there, somewhere in the rain in the wind
Other people say that he got away, but then his girlfriend did him in
The law men say if he is out there, some day they're going to drag him in
But as for me, I hope they never see ole' D.B. Cooper again.

Todd Snider - "D.B. Cooper"