In a cruel twist of fate, the most ominous and tragic Twilight Zone-like scenario occurred in real life. Lending four imaginative directors of the time, Steven Spielberg, George Miller, Joe Dante, and John Landis, carte blanche on a segment for the anthological Twilight Zone: The Movie appeared to be a surefire success. In the end, this big-screen adaptation will only live on as the production where three actors were killed on set due to reckless stunt coordination. An enticing introduction from Rod Serling would be inappropriate, because this incident was caused out of sheer negligence and greed for power. In the 40-year timeframe since the tragedy, accountability was held to a minimum, and the dark side of Hollywood filmmaking would be forever unveiled.

What Happened on the Set of 'Twilight Zone: The Movie'

Vic Morrow in Twilight Zone: The Movie

The first segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie, directed by Landis, who flourished in comedies with Animal House and The Blues Brothers, and now established himself in the horror genre with An American Werewolf in London, entitled "Time Out," was about Bill Connor (Vic Morrow), who travels through time and ends up in the Vietnam War, and is forced to protect two Vietnamese children from American troops. For the shooting an intricate action set piece, involving a helicopter chasing after Morrow and the two children, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, through a shallow river amid explosions at nighttime. Landis' first illegal practice was the hiring of the child actors, who did not have the required permits to work. He paid their respective parents under the table to avoid California child labor laws, which did not permit the employment of children during nighttime hours. Aware of the danger of this stunt, which consisted of a low-flying helicopter following the actors in the proximity of pyrotechnics, associate producer George Folsey Jr. told the children's parents not to inform any firefighters on set that their kids were partaking in this scene.

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The scene of the harrowing accident called for Morrow's character to carry the two children through a river while an enemy helicopter chases after them. An explosive was to be detonated adjacent to the helicopter, which was operated by Vietnam War veteran Dorcey Wingo. However, the helicopter was too close to the explosive device on detonation, as its tail rotor was placed right above it. This caused the helicopter to spin out of control, and since the chopper was dangerously close to Morrow and the children as it was, this make-believe chase turned into a real-life race for survival. Before the detonation mishap, Wingo was told by production manager Dan Allingham that he was flying too low, but Landis shouted "get lower....lower!" over the radio. In a flash, the helicopter lost all control as Morrow and Le were decapitated by its rotor blades, while Chen was crushed to death by the weight of the helicopter. The defendants have openly admitted that the production violated child labor laws but maintained that the crash was an unavoidable accident.

The Aftermath of the 'Twilight Zone' Tragedy

The aftermath of the Twilight Zone: The Movie helicopter crash.
Image via AP

This tragedy is an instance where everyone can agree that the circumstances put in place that caused the accident was disgraceful. It appeared evident that Landis and Folsey were recklessly negligent with the safety of the set. Witnesses corroborated during the trial for the accident that Landis instructed Wingo to fly low, including camera operators and Le's father. According to camera operator Stephen Lydecker at the trial, Landis "shrugged off" warnings about the stunt being too dangerous. While new industry laws were enacted in place of the incident, including stricter enforcement of safety violations from the Director's Guild of America and contract clauses from the Screen Actors Guild regarding compliance from actors to partake in dangerous stunts, justice was not properly served. Landis, Folsey, Wingo, Allingham, and explosives specialist Paul Stewart were all acquitted on charges of manslaughter. Co-director of Twilight Zone: The Movie, Steven Spielberg, broke off his friendship with Landis following the accident. He took the on-set calamity personally, stating that "no movie is worth dying for."

What the 'Twilight Zone' Tragedy Says About Hollywood

Vic Morrow in Twilight Zone: The Movie

Despite new laws put in place and important figures like Spielberg recognizing the immorality of what occurred, John Landis never paid the price for his ill-advised filmmaking. He continued to direct films for years following, notably a major box office hit in Coming to America in 1988. Directors have been sentenced to the proverbial "director jail" for way lesser wrongdoings. In Hollywood, you are punished for making movies that don't produce a profit (whatever happened to Richard Kelly or Frank Darabont?) but not for involuntary manslaughter.

For as magical as Hollywood and filmmaking are on the exterior, the Twilight Zone tragedy spotlights the cursed nature of the business. In the cruelest manner, the negligence of the film's production was a cautionary tale of the state of filmmaking at the time. In 1982, when the film was shot, New Hollywood was at its tail end. The era of filmmaking that centered around filmmaker-controlled auteurism was being sidelined for bankable franchise blockbusters during the transition to the '80s. The most fateful consequence of awarding unbridled power to a visionary like Landis is what transpired on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie. This incident showed that directors have a much greater responsibility while directing movies beyond realizing their artistic vision. For this Twilight Zone segment, cast and crew safety ought to have been priority #1.

Sadly, fatalities on-set did not end with Twilight Zone: The Movie. Brandon Lee was shot and killed while filming The Crow when the lead tip of a bullet from a previous scene had stayed in the barrel of a handgun. According to an Associated Press report, at least 43 people have died on movie sets in the U.S. and more than 150 have been inflicted with life-altering injuries. The recent firearm mishap on the set of Rust, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, has continued to raise concerns about gun safety in film production. The deficient safety precautions put in place by Landis and the lack of accountability in the aftermath of Morrow and the two children's deaths was a low point for Hollywood. One would like to imagine that the industry learned its lesson as a result of the tragedy, but the last 40 years have shown that there is still an unsolved crisis regarding film production safety.