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The Twilight Zone Disaster

Posted on 5/29/25 at 11:13 pm
Posted by athenslife101
Member since Feb 2013
20256 posts
Posted on 5/29/25 at 11:13 pm
John Landis made one of my favorite movies of all time (An American Werewolf in London) and he’s made plenty of other well regarded movies.

But frick him.

I just saw a video of the helicopter accident where the three people died. Thankfully it isn’t graphic. They’re there one second and then they’re gone. What is extremely obvious is this accident happened due to extreme negligence.

The explosion was wayyyyyyy too big. There is no way the exosion that size should have been near to the helicopter and the actors in such a windy condition.

I know he wasn’t convicted. And there’s been a lot of finger pointing. But at the end of the day, incompetence caused tragedy.
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
155580 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 6:41 am to
How in the world have you just now seen this?

I like Landis’s stuff fine, but that whole situation was so incredibly unfortunate and could've been avoided. I do think it was a true accident though. Was there some negligence on the part of the crew? I think so. But IIRC it's not like they were ignoring safety things in place. And I believe new safety standards were created afterwards as well.

ETA: maybe I am misremembering and things were worse than I thought.
This post was edited on 5/30/25 at 8:11 pm
Posted by TheFonz
Somewhere in Louisiana
Member since Jul 2016
22811 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 6:51 am to
This the one where Vic Morrow had his head lobbed off?
Posted by FredBear
Georgia
Member since Aug 2017
16992 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 7:20 am to
I mentioned this before in a thread from awhile back but Vic Morrow's daughter is Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stacy from Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Posted by VoxDawg
Glory, Glory
Member since Sep 2012
75440 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 8:46 am to
quote:

Vic Morrow's daughter is Jennifer Jason Leigh

I didn't realize that.
Posted by Donkus
Shreveport
Member since Feb 2013
1479 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 9:09 am to
I think the fact that Landis was so flippant in his desire to film that he disregarded several laws and regulations, makes it look as though the accident could've been avoided. To have 3 people die and broken labor laws on your set, it's almost unbelievable he wasn't convicted of something.
Posted by dblwall
Member since Jul 2017
1165 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 9:12 am to
quote:

This the one where Vic Morrow had his head lobbed off?


Vic Morrow please call lost and found.
Posted by JW
Los Angeles
Member since Jul 2004
5173 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 9:16 am to
I sat next to that a-hole a few months ago at an event .... and he's still smug and was making remarks about the speakers at said event.

If you can find 'Outrageous Conduct', it's a great read about the incident and trail
Posted by PuertoRicanBlaze
Book Board Admin
Member since Apr 2024
7106 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 10:26 am to
quote:

incompetence caused tragedy


You'd be surprised at how little safety is regarded on most modern sets.

Incompetence is 100% the reason a certain stunt man died a few years ago on a certain AMC production that I was working. Heads should have fricking rolled but instead, everyone responsible lived happily ever after aside from the company losing a little pocket change in a lawsuit. But every piece utter dog shite responsible, namely the stunt coordinator whose initials are M.S. can rot in fricking hell.
This post was edited on 5/30/25 at 10:30 am
Posted by pevetohead
lurking behind sonic
Member since Apr 2017
3532 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 11:13 am to
This podcast does a great job going on a deep dive of the whole incident, fallout and aftermath. Definitely worth a listen. Discussion starts around 18 minute mark.

This post was edited on 5/30/25 at 11:14 am
Posted by JoeHackett
Member since Aug 2016
5114 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 11:52 am to
If you want to go down the rabbit hole on unsafe movies you should watch or read some stuff about Roar. Jan de Bont was scalped by a lion and about half the crew were injured at some point.
Posted by guzziguy
Lake Forest
Member since Jun 2022
781 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 12:06 pm to
I remember the fact that the kids weren't supposed to be on set.
Something about being after the allotted hours given to child actors.

Landis wanted the chopper to come in closer for a better shot.

The explosion was too large.
Posted by Sun God
Member since Jul 2009
50137 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 12:46 pm to
quote:

Incompetence is 100% the reason a certain stunt man died a few years ago on a certain AMC production that I was working

Was it the guy who got his foot chopped off by a lawnmower in Mad Men?
Posted by JW
Los Angeles
Member since Jul 2004
5173 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 1:45 pm to
I'm guessing you are referring the tragic passing of John B ... a NOLA based stuntman and really good guy. Terrible tragedy.
Posted by IggyReilly
New Orleans, LA
Member since Dec 2015
174 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 7:50 pm to
quote:

I remember the fact that the kids weren't supposed to be on set.
Something about being after the allotted hours given to child actors.



It wasn't just that it was an after-hours shoot. They didn't follow the proper procedure or get the proper permits for hiring child actors and the kids were being paid under the table. Landis circumnavigated the rules in-part because he didn't think the he'd get permission to have young children on set for such a stunt. Per the wikipedia on the accident:

quote:

Filmmaker John Landis, who directed this first segment, violated California's child labor laws by hiring 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen without the required permits. Landis and members of his staff were responsible for a number of labor violations connected with other people involved in the accident, which came to light afterwards.

Le and Chen were being paid under the table to circumvent state law, which did not permit children to work at night. Landis opted not to seek a special waiver, either because he did not think that he would get permission for such a late hour or because he knew that he would not get approval to have young children in a scene with a large number of explosives. Casting agents were unaware that the children would be involved in the scene. Associate producer George Folsey Jr. told the children's parents not to tell any firefighters on the set that the children were part of the scene and hid them from a fire safety officer who also worked as a welfare worker. A fire safety officer was concerned that the blasts would cause a crash, but he did not tell Landis of his concerns.


They also apparently didn't tell the parents that the children would be involved in a scene involving explosives and multiple crew members testified that Landis keep pushing them to fly the helicopter lower and lower despite their misgivings. Landis did some undeniably fricky things and got 3 people killed, two of which were children.
Posted by Napoleon
Kenna
Member since Dec 2007
73258 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 12:44 pm to
Vic Morrow. Father of Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The main female character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Posted by drizztiger
Deal With it!
Member since Mar 2007
45140 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 1:06 pm to
quote:

The main female character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Posted by Napoleon
Kenna
Member since Dec 2007
73258 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 2:56 pm to
She's the hot supporting actress the movie is about Stacey and Rat, Linda is barely in it.
Posted by drizztiger
Deal With it!
Member since Mar 2007
45140 posts
Posted on 5/31/25 at 5:20 pm to
quote:

She's the hot supporting actress the movie is about Stacey and Rat, Linda is barely in it.
Relax man, I was just leveraging your post to drop the picture of Phoebe.
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