40 Years Ago, John Landis Was Tried for Manslaughter Over the Deaths of 2 Children
· Vice
Prior to his involvement with 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie, John Landis was primarily known for directing comedies like National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and Trading Places.
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For Twilight Zone, which was, of course, a big-screen adaptation of the classic 1960s anthology series of the same name, Landis directed both the prologue and the first segment, entitled “Time Out.” The story revolves around Bill Connor (as played by Vic Morrow), a loudmouth bigot who decides to let off some steam at a local bar after a Jewish co-worker gets the promotion he was hoping for. When his racist tirade starts making people uncomfortable, Bill storms out in anger.
This being the Twilight Zone, walking out of the bar transports Bill to Nazi-occupied France, where he’s mistaken for a Jewish man. He manages to escape, but finds himself in the Jim Crow South, about to be lynched by Ku Klux Klan members who think he’s black. Bill then dives into a pond, only to resurface in the middle of the Vietnam War, being hunted and fired upon by American soldiers. Finally, Bill ends up back in Europe, which results in him getting shipped off to a concentration camp by the SS officers who’d been pursuing him earlier.
The Unfortunate Accident That Cost the Lives of 2 Children
But there was another scene from “Time Out” that didn’t make it into the final film. At one point, Bill was supposed to have redeemed himself by rescuing two Vietnamese children as a helicopter destroyed their village.
While filming the sequence in question, poorly timed special effects explosions disabled the helicopter, causing it to come crashing down onto Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le, 7, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, 6. Morrow and Le were decapitated by the rotor blades, and Chen was crushed to death.
Le and Chen had reportedly been hired illegally and were working without the necessary permits required by the state of California. The accident led to Landis being charged with involuntary manslaughter, along with helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo, associate producer George Folsey Jr., unit production manager Dan Allingham, and special effects coordinator Paul Stewart.
Landis also became the first director to be indicted on criminal charges in connection with a movie fatality.
On May 29, 1987, all five defendants were acquitted of the charges against them. The defense argued that the tragedy was an unfortunate accident that occurred due to “unforeseen and unforeseeable” circumstances.
The rest of the footage Morrow shot remained in the movie because Landis felt that it would be “outrageous” to cut it out completely.
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