Stephen Farber

On July 23, 1982, John Landis, a movie director known more for his manipulation of special effects than his character development, was directing an episode of The Twilight Zone--The Movie. Vic Morrow and two small children were to simulate a rescue scene underneath a helicopter in a Vietnamese village. What happened was not in the script. As Landis ordered the helicopter lower and lower for most dramatic effect, a special effects bomb engulfed the helicopter in flames causing the pilot to lose control and to fall on the actors below, decapitating Morrow and one child, crushing the other. Two recent books examine the episode and the trial that followed. (Outrageous Conduct by Stephen Farber and Marc Green and [b:Special Effects by Ron LaBrecque] The authors' finding might well be used as evidence to prove that the law protects those Hollywood figures whose movies make money. Despite abundant evidence that the children were illegally employed and that special effects men and the helicopter pilot were improperly prepared and rehearsed, Landis and all others charged were acquitted of all criminal charges. Both books are stunning contributions to courtroom literature--a genre including Presumed Innocent and The Pizza Connection with brilliant reenactments of courtroom strategies and critiques of a legal system which dispenses career opportunities more often than justice. The people portrayed are those who confuse fantasy with real. Little wonder Landis had the hubris to eulogize Morrow by saying, in essence, if he had to die, at least he died heroically while making a great film! For the record, according to Farber's book, the critics almost unanimously reviled the episode of the Twilight Zone in question, making the tragedy monstrously obscene.
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