Tragedy In The Twilight Zone Part 1

If you are roaming around Indian Dunes Park in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, like everything else out there, it has the shades of a movie set look. Big, wide open spaces intersect with the intimacy of the seeker. One of the big attractions of the area is its seclusion. You can literally create your own little world here. And, in the dead of night---well after midnight, say--- you can feel the eeriness of the ghosts around you. Evil spirits walking among the walking living. If you were there in the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, you would have beheld a strange sight. Helicopters flying around with explosions and balls of fire streaming towards the sky. The listener would be mesmerized by all of the visuals. Suddenly, the visuals and air ballet would cease. There would be a moment of silence. And, then, the far away listener would hear the piercing shrieks of horror........ John Landis was a rising talent in 1982. He had directed two highly successful comedies, ''Animal House'' and ''The Blues Brothers,'' and was the hot, young comedy director in Hollywood. Landis, only 31, was good friends with another fellow wunderkind filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, and both men would talk movies and favorite TV shows of their youths. A personal favorite of both men was the Rod Serling classic sci-fi show, ''The Twilight Zone''. This macabre show was required viewing for several years to its audience. And, it found an even more loyal audience in reruns. It was one of those shows that seemed to get more popular with new generations. In early 1982, Landis and Spielberg decided to do a big screen version of the show. They would ask two fellow directors, Joe Dante and George Miller, to work on the movie with them. Each man would take a twenty minute segment. Spielberg, Dante, and Miller all picked old episodes of the show to bring to the screen. John Landis decided to go another direction. He conceived a new story, centered around a bigot. The bigot would start off the segment in a bar, complaining to his friends about all sorts of ethnic groups and the successes they all had, while he went from failure to failure. Then, the bigot would walk out of the bar and would find himself in the ''Twilight Zone''. The bigot would swing time eras, from Nazi Germany to the Deep South of the Klu Klux Klan, and, finally, to the Vietnam War. Along the way, he became the hunted one for his prejudices. Finally, seeing the light, the bigot would redeem his life by saving the lives of two Asian children, promising them he would protect them. In the late spring of 1982, pre-production started on the movie. Actor Vic Morrow, a journeyman character actor, was cast as the bigot. Along with the secondary roles, a casting call was put out for two small Asian children to play the orphans in the movie...... John Landis and his producer, George Folsey Jr., began looking for the children in June 1982. The problem wasn't so much finding child actors, but, the scene they were gonna work in. The scene was a battle sequence, with explosions and helicoptors flying overhead. The bigot, named Bill Connor in the film, would save the lives of the Asian children in the middle of this battle. Normally, such a scene is dangerous for an adult to be around filming, let alone two small children. Child labor laws forbid any child to work in unsafe conditions. Also, there was the issue of the scene taking place at night. The shot would have to be done deep into the evening hours, after midnight. This, too, was frowned upon by the child labor group. Landis and Folsey were well aware of this tricky bit of dancing around the law. They came up with a simple solution: they would break the law. The hiring of the children would be illegal. The families of the little kids would be paid in cash, so, they would not show up in the movie's accounting books. When asked about this closely guarded secret by a co-worker, Folsey laughed out loud and said, ''We will probably all go to jail!'........ In mid-July, 1982, filming commenced. It was expected to be a quick shoot, no more than a couple of weeks. The early stages went well, on time and on budget. The bigot, Connor, was shown in his unflattering light, scorning all those not like him. Landis was happy with progress of the film. Vic Morrow was not. His career was in a slump. While never a genuine movie star, he still showed good acting chops and had his supporters in the industry. But, his career was down and he knew it. Normally, he would not have chosen to take such a role but he needed the work. He didn't think much of the role or of the director, John Landis. Morrow thought of Landis like most people who had worked with him: he was an arrogant, reckless egomaniac. He was one of those directors who didn't give a damn about a person's feelings. He was only interested in his movie. This was, by no means, unusual in Hollywood. Many directors are tyrants on the set. And, many are not. Landis found himself in the former, and not,  the latter category. Still, Morrow was a trouper and a professional. He showed up every day on the set, prepared and easy to work with. But, he had one worry during this time. The last scene of his segment, the scene with his character rescuing the two small children. It wasn't what the scene was about that worried him but how dangerous it was going to be to film. His bigot character was supposed to grab the small children under his arms, run across a shallow lake, with bombs going off all around him, and a big helicopter swinging directly above him. This didn't sound safe to him. And, he was right to think this...... A few days before the scene was scheduled to be filmed, producer George Folsey had finally found the small Asian children. They were six year old Renee Chen and seven year old My-Ca Le. The Asian parents of both the children--- who did not know each other--- barely spoke English. But, they understand the crux of what the children were being hired to do and they were excited to be in a big Hollywood movie. They families were paid in cash, as kind of a movie slush fund, to be there for two nights of filming [And, to buy their silence]. The kids were excited and the parents were thrilled to be meeting such an important man as John Landis, who immediately approved their casting....... On July 21, 1982, the battle scene was set up. It was scheduled to take two nights to shoot, with all of the special effects involved. Action scenes are notorious for taking a very long time. This was explained to the children's parents, who watched in awe as things were blown up and huts around the river bed were destroyed. My-Ca Le's father, Daniel, was horrified. The explosions were so authentic that it reminded him of actually being in Vietnam during the war. The first night was kind of a dry-run for the filming the following night. It was a test. A few minor scenes were filmed.  And, all of the tests passed without incident. Still, some in the crew felt alarm. It was too real, too scary, and too dangerous. These concerns were brought to Landis. John Landis laughed it off and said, ''You ain't seen nothing yet!''.......... The following evening, July 22, brought the real thing. All things were set up and all of the key people were put in place. Among them was special effects man, Paul Stewart, unit production manager, Dan Allingham, and helicopter pilot, DorceyWingo. All of these men had spent many a time in the movie trenches. They knew their jobs. And, by knowing their jobs, they also knew the pitfalls. And, this scene seemed to have many. Stewart and Wingo were both deeply worried about the explosions around the humans and of the balls of fire that would be sent up into the air, near the helicopter. If the fire reached the helicopter, then pilot Wingo stood a good chance of being burned to death. Also, the scene called for Morrow's character to throw a stick at the helicopter as he escaped across the river. Wingo worried that the stick could hit the rotor and send the copter out of control. These concerns by both men were brought to the attention of unit manager, Allingham, who said that Landis wanted what he wanted and would not bend. The scene, dangerous as it might be, would go on as planned....... It was after midnight,  July 23, that the kids showed up on the set. To ease the children's nervousness, Vic Morrow made funny faces, therebye, relaxing the kids. Soon, they were laughing. And, they continued to laugh as Landis yelled, ''Action!'', destroying the takes. The first part of the scene, of the helicoptor heading towards the fake village, was filmed with no problem. Dorcey Wingo, with Dan Allingham beside him in the helicopter, did his job. Allingham was riding along because he was shining a spotlight on the village from above....... Vic Morrow was ready. He was standing in the river awaiting his cue. Around him, the world was exploding. Technicinas fired guns, the special effects people set off the bombs. And, flames flew up towards the helicoptor. Dorcey Wingo would later say that the heat burn was overwhelming and he could not see clearly. Below, the fire inspectors, who were legally required to be on the set, look at each other with alarm. The helicopter may crash or explode with all of this craziness going on around. However, nothing was mentioned to Landis. Later on, when asked why no one said anything about the danger, fire safety officer, Richard Ebentheuer,said, ''That is not how the chain of command works in the department...... George Folsey went to the trailer of the kids. They were sleeping. Folsey told the parents if anyone on the set asked them who they were, he wanted them to say they weren't working on the movie, that they were friends of his. Not really grasping all of this, the parents, nonetheless, agreed. ....... ''Action!' yelled John Landis. Vic Morrow went into his action. He was carrying the kids under each of his arms. The helicopter was hovering overhead. The explosions were set off. Soon, the night was alive with fire. Landis yelled through his bullhorn, ''Lower! Lower!'' to the helicopter. As Morrow and the kids went across the small lake, through the wind and the water and the dust, the helicopter was getting lower. But, pilot Wingo was having trouble controlling his copter. It seemed to take on a life of its own. Wingo could not see through the fireballs. Unit manager Dan Allingham was terrified next to him. He told the pilot to get the hell out of there......... On the ground, the explosions and fireballs were coming fast and furious. It became a fire hell. But, no one on the ground knew that the helicopter was in trouble. James Camomile, acting on his instructions, detonated two bombs together. And, those were the two bombs that got the helicopter........ Dorcey Wingo lost control of his helicopter and it went crashing down. Below it, Vic Morrow dropped Renee Chen. He grabbed at her but was unable to reach her in time. The helicopter's right skid slammed into the girl, killing her. Then, its whirling main rotor took off the heads of Vic Morrow and My-Ca Le, instantly killing them.......John Landis, standing just a few yards away, was unhurt. But, he had seen it all up close. He was speechless and horrified. There was a few moments of unbelievable stunned silence all around. This silence was broken. One of the production people, standing in the river, happened to look over in the water. He saw Vic Morrow's head, eyes open, vacantly staring at him. The production aide sent up a shrieking wail into the Indian Dunes Park night...........''That's a wrap!'' Landis shouted into his bullhorn, ''everyone please go home!'' But, they could not just leave. The mother of Renee Chen and the father of My-Ca Le had witnessed their children's deaths. They were, naturally, screaming hysterically. Soon, they would be taken to a nearby hospital, treated for shock. Afterwords, they would be driven home...... The cast and crew left, going home. There has been a rumor, unproven but strong, that Steven Spielberg was on the set that night, had witnessed the tragedy, and immediately had himself driven home. Landis, Spielberg, and many others say he wasn't there that night. But, many crew members maintain he was there. If he wasn't, very soon that early morning, he would become aware of what had happened. As would the rest of the world, when this movie scene became a death scene.........