Vietnam War Scene
There is a very gloomy cloud that hangs over The Twilight Zone, despite the fact that viewers and producers keep returning to it. Some recall the catchy theme song. Others recall images of the three actors who died as a result of The Twilight Zone, including a man and two children.
In the movie’s final sequence, which is John Landis’s section of the four-part film, Wingo was piloting his helicopter early on July 23, 1982, above the Indian Dunes Park. Wingo’s helicopter was abruptly destroyed by a big special effects explosion while it was in the middle of a Vietnam War scene.
Vic Morrow, an actor who was 53 years old, Myca Dinh Le, a seven-year-old, and Renee Chen, a six-year-old, were all beheaded when the helicopter crashed. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) moved to suspend Wingo’s pilot’s license when he was accused of criminal homicide. According to one of his attorneys, Wingo was completely distraught by the turn of events because he was “the most famous helicopter pilot in the country.”
A Fatal Turn
The crew watched in horror as the chopper started to twist and plummet erratically. Wingo made every effort to control it, but there was only so much he could do without a rear rotor. In a fit of panic, Morrow threw the little girl into the ocean, and as he reached out to save her, the helicopter crashed on top of all three of them.
One of its skids crushed Renee, while Myca and Morrow were both beheaded by the rotor blades, which were still whirling. They all perished at the same time. The crew promptly dropped everything and left the set as Landis frantically requested that the cameras stop filming.
All Were Acquitted
While John Landis continued to succeed in Hollywood after the disaster, Wingo battled to rebuild his life and career. Coming to America, Landis’s 1988 comedy, had one of the highest opening weeks in box office history, grossing over $100 million.
A little over a year after the expensive criminal trial was over, the director won at the box office. The charges of involuntary manslaughter against Landis, Wingo, and three other defendants-associate producer George Folsey Jr., unit production manager Dan Allingham, and special effects coordinator Paul Stewart-were dropped in May 1987.
Illegal Hirings
The children were employed illegally and under sketchy circumstances, as they lacked the required licenses and weren’t under the supervision of a certified teacher or welfare worker.
The California child labor regulations prohibiting children from working past a specific hour were communicated to the film’s production by the Fenton-Feinberg Casting agency. It was obvious that Landis faced a challenge because the scene had to be shot in the dead of night. Either he needed to entirely rework the filming schedule or he needed to come up with another idea.
The Parents
Among the 71 witnesses that were interrogated were the parents of Renee and Myca. Daniel Lee, Myca’s father, said in his testimony that he overheard Landis telling the chopper to go lower. Additionally, none of the four parents claimed that anyone informed them that the set would contain bombs or helicopters.
The parents stated that they had been informed that there would be “just noise,” and not any threat. Even more tragically, Lee and his wife immigrated to America after surviving the Vietnam War. When the on-set explosions started, Lee was scared as the wartime memories flooded back.
There will forever be a tragic image connected to The Twilight Zone. But with the sketchy decisions made and the under-the-table deals, the production was doomed from the start. Luckily, a lot was learned from this event and on-set safety has greatly improved since.