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Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego, and the Twilight Zone Case
On July 23, 1982, on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie, an explosion kills two children and actor Vic Morrow. Here is the dramatic story of the people and events that lead to the exposure of the greedy underbelly of the world's most glamorous profession.
363 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1988
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September 7, 2009
"When people think of decapitation," Californian Deputy District Attorney Lea D'Agostino was once quoted as saying, "they think of the guillotine and a neat severed head. But these decapitations weren't like that."
In D'Agostino's office, during the mid-1980s, there was a cork board with graphic images of death pinned to it. Combat! actor Vic Morrow, along with two industry-unknown "child extras," were the subjects of the photography. All three had been killed suddenly when a helicopter fell from the explosive-laden skies of director John Landis' set for Twilight Zone: The Movie. One child had been crushed, while the other child and Morrow himself were beheaded by the rotating blades of the downed chopper. The accident itself was unforeseeable - at least, according to the defendants - by all but Morrow himself, who felt the ominous scene playing out in his life years before it actually happened.
Vic Morrow, it was said, somehow knew that his life would end in a helicopter crash.
Although many rules and regulations had been thrown aside for the sake of the perfect shot (the children were on the set long after the mandated curfew for minor actors had passed, right alongside some of the most spectacular "special effect" explosions in motion picture history to that point), the case to be proven was that the subsequent deaths were not merely the result of a "freak accident," but of willful disregard for safety which ended in manslaughter.
Or, as many had suggested, sheer "outrageous conduct" on the part of John Landis.
Outrageous Conduct betrays a decidedly hostile slant toward the director - and a softer one against the movie industry as a whole - as it was written by a duo of former entertainment critics without the familiar Hollywood propinquity of their peers. The book not only touches on the basic aspects of the trial, but delves into the primary arguments made by both sides, and criticizes them both with perfect 20/20 hindsight. Landis directly rejected the sworn testimonies of dozens of witnesses and experts. D'Agostino allowed her own histrionic bent to make a mockery of herself (plunging a straw into a raw potato during her closing arguments, for example, to illustrate how easy it would be to crash a helicopter with a similar projectile).
However, the book goes beyond the headlines of the case, and investigates the early years of John Landis, thus humanizing a larger-than-life figure. Farber and Green look into the rise and fall of Vic Morrow, and bring to life the details of the two young children who were killed as a result of the disregard for the established rules. Undoubtedly, one of the most thoroughly-researched presentations of a Hollywood trial outside of the courtroom, Outrageous Conduct establishes the key players, introduces a variety of explanations as to what, exactly, went wrong, and condenses the six-year debacle into the confines of an almost 400-page tome.
Outrageous Conduct does not present an unbiased recounting of events - a fact obvious, perhaps, from the title and byline itself. What it does achieve, though, is an approachable narrative of events which successfully details the primary points without casting aside the memory of those who had died.
In D'Agostino's office, during the mid-1980s, there was a cork board with graphic images of death pinned to it. Combat! actor Vic Morrow, along with two industry-unknown "child extras," were the subjects of the photography. All three had been killed suddenly when a helicopter fell from the explosive-laden skies of director John Landis' set for Twilight Zone: The Movie. One child had been crushed, while the other child and Morrow himself were beheaded by the rotating blades of the downed chopper. The accident itself was unforeseeable - at least, according to the defendants - by all but Morrow himself, who felt the ominous scene playing out in his life years before it actually happened.
Vic Morrow, it was said, somehow knew that his life would end in a helicopter crash.
Although many rules and regulations had been thrown aside for the sake of the perfect shot (the children were on the set long after the mandated curfew for minor actors had passed, right alongside some of the most spectacular "special effect" explosions in motion picture history to that point), the case to be proven was that the subsequent deaths were not merely the result of a "freak accident," but of willful disregard for safety which ended in manslaughter.
Or, as many had suggested, sheer "outrageous conduct" on the part of John Landis.
Outrageous Conduct betrays a decidedly hostile slant toward the director - and a softer one against the movie industry as a whole - as it was written by a duo of former entertainment critics without the familiar Hollywood propinquity of their peers. The book not only touches on the basic aspects of the trial, but delves into the primary arguments made by both sides, and criticizes them both with perfect 20/20 hindsight. Landis directly rejected the sworn testimonies of dozens of witnesses and experts. D'Agostino allowed her own histrionic bent to make a mockery of herself (plunging a straw into a raw potato during her closing arguments, for example, to illustrate how easy it would be to crash a helicopter with a similar projectile).
However, the book goes beyond the headlines of the case, and investigates the early years of John Landis, thus humanizing a larger-than-life figure. Farber and Green look into the rise and fall of Vic Morrow, and bring to life the details of the two young children who were killed as a result of the disregard for the established rules. Undoubtedly, one of the most thoroughly-researched presentations of a Hollywood trial outside of the courtroom, Outrageous Conduct establishes the key players, introduces a variety of explanations as to what, exactly, went wrong, and condenses the six-year debacle into the confines of an almost 400-page tome.
Outrageous Conduct does not present an unbiased recounting of events - a fact obvious, perhaps, from the title and byline itself. What it does achieve, though, is an approachable narrative of events which successfully details the primary points without casting aside the memory of those who had died.
February 3, 2021
it's fucking despicable they ever let this piece of shit make a movie ever again.
August 11, 2019
A must-read if you love being really, really mad— and it’s 2019, so I must assume you do— especially at arrogant men and the capitalistic institutions that support them. You’ll probably have to get it through an interlibrary loan because it’s unforgivably out of print and prohibitively expensive to procure, but worth the wait. Truly the Landis family has produced some real bummers of people.
It’s a small comfort to know that safety laws have tightened considerably since this incident, but significant to note that Landis was already in willful violation of existing child labor and safety laws. Every detail is a horror and not enough people know about it.
It’s a small comfort to know that safety laws have tightened considerably since this incident, but significant to note that Landis was already in willful violation of existing child labor and safety laws. Every detail is a horror and not enough people know about it.
July 16, 2019
giving this five stars purely as I feel John Landis, Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall should have gone to jail for holding a night shoot in a tight space with explosives and a helicopter with a pilot who wasn't an industry worker twenty-five feet above an aging actor and two kids, two of whom got their heads chopped off by the rotors and the other getting crushed by the skids when the helicopter went the only place a hovering helicopter can go, down. soon as the accident happened, Spielberg asked for a car and skedaddled, Marshall spent the next three years "scouting locations overseas for Mr. Spielberg", avoiding a subpoena until the statute of limitations ran out and he could return to the US to resume his career. as opposed to Landis, who barely cast kids at all in his films, both of these men earned their lives' work off movies about children; naturally, Warner Brothers tied itself into knots trying to keep their names distanced from illegally-contracted kids dying barbarously on the set of their movie.
William Friedkin is quoted a couple of times in the book, as he shot with a helicopter at the same location and said with a wind machine and good cutting there was no need to even have the actors in the same place, let alone actually underneath the thing; he also said there would have been more honour in it for Landis to say he felt responsible instead of claiming ignorance of what was a blatantly excessive and dangerous set-up. Landis hasn't made a widely-seen film since 1988 but that probably owes more to waning creative energies than his pariah status as he works in an industry that would give Jeffrey Dahmer a deal if he made them money.
the book itself is a three-star affair and is divided into two parts: first the accident and its lead-up, which is excellent; second, the trial, which is a slog you could easily skim over until the closing chapters on Landis' cross-examination, the verdict and the fall-out (or lack thereof), which give you a good resumé of the bungled trial anyway so you won't miss anything. the case was badly botched by a prosecutor who called numerous extraneous witnesses (even having her prosecution predecessor on the stand to accuse him of perjury, which was massively destructive); too, in general both the writers of the book and the jury found her theatricality a bit too much, which has a serious whiff of woman being held to standards that would have been let to slide in the case of a man. all of this is reflected in the trial section, which could have been trimmed by 50 pages easily, though the book is well worth it for the first half alone.
William Friedkin is quoted a couple of times in the book, as he shot with a helicopter at the same location and said with a wind machine and good cutting there was no need to even have the actors in the same place, let alone actually underneath the thing; he also said there would have been more honour in it for Landis to say he felt responsible instead of claiming ignorance of what was a blatantly excessive and dangerous set-up. Landis hasn't made a widely-seen film since 1988 but that probably owes more to waning creative energies than his pariah status as he works in an industry that would give Jeffrey Dahmer a deal if he made them money.
the book itself is a three-star affair and is divided into two parts: first the accident and its lead-up, which is excellent; second, the trial, which is a slog you could easily skim over until the closing chapters on Landis' cross-examination, the verdict and the fall-out (or lack thereof), which give you a good resumé of the bungled trial anyway so you won't miss anything. the case was badly botched by a prosecutor who called numerous extraneous witnesses (even having her prosecution predecessor on the stand to accuse him of perjury, which was massively destructive); too, in general both the writers of the book and the jury found her theatricality a bit too much, which has a serious whiff of woman being held to standards that would have been let to slide in the case of a man. all of this is reflected in the trial section, which could have been trimmed by 50 pages easily, though the book is well worth it for the first half alone.
May 9, 2009
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 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.
April 14, 2023
I have been talking about this book to anyone who will listen. This is a must read for both movie buffs and for people who work in the film & television industry. Watch the Shudder documentary and then read this book for a more in-depth study of a horrific tragedy which was all the more heartbreaking because it was preventable.
November 5, 2015
A terrifically articulate and raw account of a completely avoidable tragedy. Many of the major directors who began their rise to prominence in the 70's eventually suffered calamitous career disasters as a result of egos run amok. Think Spielberg's 1941, Scorsese's New York, New York, Friedkin's Sorcerer. In the case of John Landis, that careless and unchallenged ego resulted in the deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese children.
May 7, 2019
The chapters on the trial became a little monotonous, but overall a fascinating look at a specific era of movie-making that even I, far from a movie buff, found enjoyable and interesting.
April 21, 2024
John Landis you arrogant son of a bitch. Great book.
December 28, 2025
Outrageous conduct indeed. A thorough examination of an infuriating accident caused by pure negligence and greed.
June 3, 2025
You know you messed up when William Friedkin is offering measured advice about safety in filmmaking.
January 22, 2025
I heard it described as a book you read if you want to get mad, and it a fairly apt description.
How cavalier Landis and the other defendants were, and reading about how totalitarian Landis acted on set was actually disgusting.
A really great summary of both everything that led up to the trial, the trial itself and the fallout.
How cavalier Landis and the other defendants were, and reading about how totalitarian Landis acted on set was actually disgusting.
A really great summary of both everything that led up to the trial, the trial itself and the fallout.
July 29, 2018
Talk about infuriating. This book is an excellent contemporary account of one of Hollywood's darkest chapters, but it left me furious.
I'd always been vaguely aware that some actors were killed on the Twilight Zone movie set, but I had assumed it was one of those tragic accidents. Turns out it was an "accident" only in that it wasn't literally premeditated murder. John Landis and his co-producers and staff had stuntmen setting off explosions that were too big, beneath a helicopter that was flying too low, and with Vic Morrow and two child actors right in the middle of all of it. The only surprising part is that they didn't manage to kill a lot more than three people.
The other distressing thing is that it sounds like Landis & co. were acquitted not just because they were rich and famous, but because of sexist perceptions against the prosecutor, Lea D'Agostino. Don't get me wrong -- she made some mistakes in terms of prosecutorial strategy, but it sounds like her main mistake was that she failed to be sufficiently demure and ladylike in dealing with people who she quite rightly felt had murdered children. The writers seem vaguely aware sexism was an issue in the trial, but also call her something like shrill, abrasive or feisty every other page. The 80s were not a good time to be a professional woman.
If you're even vaguely interested in true crime and Hollywood history, this is worth tracing down a copy of.
I'd always been vaguely aware that some actors were killed on the Twilight Zone movie set, but I had assumed it was one of those tragic accidents. Turns out it was an "accident" only in that it wasn't literally premeditated murder. John Landis and his co-producers and staff had stuntmen setting off explosions that were too big, beneath a helicopter that was flying too low, and with Vic Morrow and two child actors right in the middle of all of it. The only surprising part is that they didn't manage to kill a lot more than three people.
The other distressing thing is that it sounds like Landis & co. were acquitted not just because they were rich and famous, but because of sexist perceptions against the prosecutor, Lea D'Agostino. Don't get me wrong -- she made some mistakes in terms of prosecutorial strategy, but it sounds like her main mistake was that she failed to be sufficiently demure and ladylike in dealing with people who she quite rightly felt had murdered children. The writers seem vaguely aware sexism was an issue in the trial, but also call her something like shrill, abrasive or feisty every other page. The 80s were not a good time to be a professional woman.
If you're even vaguely interested in true crime and Hollywood history, this is worth tracing down a copy of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2011
This is a great book about the tragedy behind Twilight Zone - The Movie. After reading this book it is hard to come away with the opinion that John Landis should not have been put in jail for something. When all was said and done the multiple egos involved, whether it be legal egos or Hollywood egos, meant that justice wasn't done. Today the movie industry is a lot more safe, but it was the advent of CGI effects that brought this about, not the case against John Landis.
July 6, 2019
The trial chapters go a little too in-depth and lose some of the momentum of the first 2/3 of the book.
John Landis should be in jail and it shouldn’t be so hard to find a copy of this book.
John Landis should be in jail and it shouldn’t be so hard to find a copy of this book.
March 23, 2021
horrifying and utterly depressing. john landis is a monster, and someone whose films will never deserve my attention
July 24, 2024
Infuriating read. There are a number of John Landis movies that I really enjoy, but he really is an insensitive prick.
May 21, 2020
4.5/5
"The whole notion of artistic freedom for moviemakers has to be weighed against more elementary life-and-death imperatives. Box-office success is no substitute for maturity in determining ultimate authority on a set. Perhaps John Landis deserves the right of creative autonomy if he is directing a comedy about a fraternity house, where the most dangerous prop is a can of beer. But when a major movie studio put him in charge of deadly machinery and two tiny children, and gave no one authority to gainsay him, something was clearly haywire." (p. 373)
Outrageous Conduct is an fairly extensively researched chronicle - both for the people involved in this horrible accident/possible/arguable crime, and the lawyers and people involved with the eventual trial for manslaughter on the case of the Twilight Zone segment directed by John Landis in August of 1982 - and this mostly for the best. I knew only cursory details, that one actor (Vic Morrow) and to non-professional East-Asian children (Chen and Lee) were decapitated by a helicopter when it plunged through a chaotic mishap following several mishaps and failures of leadership and (at least) communication and planning. What I didn't fully know was to the extent of how much of an asshole John Landis was at the height of his powers. But then again he was at that point seemingly untouchable, following Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and An American Werewolf in London (all movies I've seen many times).
I think this is a very good book for the first half, in particular when Farber and Green are chronicling the backstories of Landis and the other main members of the crew (plus Morrow himself, and even Rod Serling). A couple of these backstories, like the one for Serling, run a bit long or maybe too detailed for what's necessary for this story, but ultimately I found as the book went on these actually helped laid the groundwork for what all of these people get into once the criminal case and subsequent trial unfolds (this also includes the prosecutor who, at some point, isn't anymore and gets into his own unrelated problems, Kesselman, and the pilot of the actual helicopter, Mr. Delcy Wingo, who is one of the handful of sympathetic characters in this saga). But the very full and exhaustive chronicling of the behind the scenes nuts-and-bolts of the filmmaking and studio choices behind the Landis segment - such as it was the bosses who had the say in telling Landis to change the script so that it included something more hopeful, which led to the bit with the kids and the helicopter - and the actual night itself and the many, many perspectives taken into account.
Once the trial unfolds in full, which is a good hundred and some odd maybe twenty pages of this, it really becomes a gripping, darkly funny, sobering, sad and insightful look into the process of a trial, most especially for that prosecutor D'Agostino and her ups and downs in taking this on by herself (not to mention the whole, you know, crime of hiring underage kids without the proper permits or allowances for a film shoot, which ends up getting overlooked as the prosecutors go for broke on manslaughter). I completely understood why the verdict came out as it did by the end of this, and could sympathize with many sides, including the jury itself. This whole story underscores how volatile and crazy the film industry can be in Hollywood, or really at the crux of it how someone sees as "danger" can be variable, and that can be a problem. I even understood why Landis was the way he was at the end of the day, giant ego and all, as someone with a metric shit-ton of confidence but not enough humility to say when he was wrong and apologize (that Grand Jury segment of this story, oof).
This book is kind of hard to find in circulation nowadays - I assume it must have gone to paperback at some point, but now 30 years on since it was published I could only find it in hardcover, and not at a price that was workable until I could get it as a gift over the holidays last year - but if you think you are someone who would find this particular subject interesting, be it Landis or Hollywood or true crime stories that are a little off the usual track (as is made clear, this wasn't a case of "we'll kill them mwahaha" but rather total negligence on not just Landis but many parties), it should hit the spot. It's quite incredible too as a piece of film history that if people remember today it's only in the broadest strokes - i.e. when Max Landis gets brought up on Twitter, odds are his dad will be too (and jokes like "well he was a HELICOPTER DAD" LOL) - without knowing what went into this mad episode of modern history. I'm only surprised the story hasn't been adapted into one of those True Crime podcasts, maybe with an actor reenacting some of Landis's choice bits.
"The whole notion of artistic freedom for moviemakers has to be weighed against more elementary life-and-death imperatives. Box-office success is no substitute for maturity in determining ultimate authority on a set. Perhaps John Landis deserves the right of creative autonomy if he is directing a comedy about a fraternity house, where the most dangerous prop is a can of beer. But when a major movie studio put him in charge of deadly machinery and two tiny children, and gave no one authority to gainsay him, something was clearly haywire." (p. 373)
Outrageous Conduct is an fairly extensively researched chronicle - both for the people involved in this horrible accident/possible/arguable crime, and the lawyers and people involved with the eventual trial for manslaughter on the case of the Twilight Zone segment directed by John Landis in August of 1982 - and this mostly for the best. I knew only cursory details, that one actor (Vic Morrow) and to non-professional East-Asian children (Chen and Lee) were decapitated by a helicopter when it plunged through a chaotic mishap following several mishaps and failures of leadership and (at least) communication and planning. What I didn't fully know was to the extent of how much of an asshole John Landis was at the height of his powers. But then again he was at that point seemingly untouchable, following Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and An American Werewolf in London (all movies I've seen many times).
I think this is a very good book for the first half, in particular when Farber and Green are chronicling the backstories of Landis and the other main members of the crew (plus Morrow himself, and even Rod Serling). A couple of these backstories, like the one for Serling, run a bit long or maybe too detailed for what's necessary for this story, but ultimately I found as the book went on these actually helped laid the groundwork for what all of these people get into once the criminal case and subsequent trial unfolds (this also includes the prosecutor who, at some point, isn't anymore and gets into his own unrelated problems, Kesselman, and the pilot of the actual helicopter, Mr. Delcy Wingo, who is one of the handful of sympathetic characters in this saga). But the very full and exhaustive chronicling of the behind the scenes nuts-and-bolts of the filmmaking and studio choices behind the Landis segment - such as it was the bosses who had the say in telling Landis to change the script so that it included something more hopeful, which led to the bit with the kids and the helicopter - and the actual night itself and the many, many perspectives taken into account.
Once the trial unfolds in full, which is a good hundred and some odd maybe twenty pages of this, it really becomes a gripping, darkly funny, sobering, sad and insightful look into the process of a trial, most especially for that prosecutor D'Agostino and her ups and downs in taking this on by herself (not to mention the whole, you know, crime of hiring underage kids without the proper permits or allowances for a film shoot, which ends up getting overlooked as the prosecutors go for broke on manslaughter). I completely understood why the verdict came out as it did by the end of this, and could sympathize with many sides, including the jury itself. This whole story underscores how volatile and crazy the film industry can be in Hollywood, or really at the crux of it how someone sees as "danger" can be variable, and that can be a problem. I even understood why Landis was the way he was at the end of the day, giant ego and all, as someone with a metric shit-ton of confidence but not enough humility to say when he was wrong and apologize (that Grand Jury segment of this story, oof).
This book is kind of hard to find in circulation nowadays - I assume it must have gone to paperback at some point, but now 30 years on since it was published I could only find it in hardcover, and not at a price that was workable until I could get it as a gift over the holidays last year - but if you think you are someone who would find this particular subject interesting, be it Landis or Hollywood or true crime stories that are a little off the usual track (as is made clear, this wasn't a case of "we'll kill them mwahaha" but rather total negligence on not just Landis but many parties), it should hit the spot. It's quite incredible too as a piece of film history that if people remember today it's only in the broadest strokes - i.e. when Max Landis gets brought up on Twitter, odds are his dad will be too (and jokes like "well he was a HELICOPTER DAD" LOL) - without knowing what went into this mad episode of modern history. I'm only surprised the story hasn't been adapted into one of those True Crime podcasts, maybe with an actor reenacting some of Landis's choice bits.
January 29, 2024
A BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT HOLLYWOOD, JUST LIKE AN EPISODE OF “ENTOURAGE”! EXCEPT A KID GETS THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! MOVIE MAGIC BABY!
January 28, 2019
Really good coverage of the Twilight Zone 'incident', from the lead up to the filming, until the end of the court case 1987. Also includes backgrounds on Vic Morrow and John Landis.
Being written in 1988, the book also gives a good snapshot of Hollywood at the time. Spielberg, Landis etc are not put on pedestals like they are today.
The writer seems a little biased against Landis and his 'ego' early in the book, but also gives good coverage of the bungled prosecution during the trial.
Highly recommend tracking down a copy, as there is lots of information in here that you wouldn't find online.
Hopefully someone makes the subject into a documentary one day!
Being written in 1988, the book also gives a good snapshot of Hollywood at the time. Spielberg, Landis etc are not put on pedestals like they are today.
The writer seems a little biased against Landis and his 'ego' early in the book, but also gives good coverage of the bungled prosecution during the trial.
Highly recommend tracking down a copy, as there is lots of information in here that you wouldn't find online.
Hopefully someone makes the subject into a documentary one day!
June 17, 2020
More than one reviewer has mentioned once we get to the court case part of the book, that it slows down a bit and while I do agree with that I also feel that it does not take away from the fact that this is without a doubt a five-star book. A true disappointment that it’s so difficult (and expensive) to track down because it’s essential reading for true crime lovers, Hollywood history aficionados, and Twilight Zone completists.
Hey Ryan Murphy! If you’re listening, please turn this into a season of American Crime Story!
Hey Ryan Murphy! If you’re listening, please turn this into a season of American Crime Story!
September 20, 2019
This book starts with a bang and then immediately pulls back into a ploddingly detailed account of the trial and events leading to it. I finally found a copy on the shelf of a law library, and I see why--it would be interesting to a lawyer, maybe, but anyone else would probably appreciate having the story condensed into a shorter format.
March 1, 2019
Man, John Landis really should be in jail for getting a guy and two little kids killed
August 2, 2019
John Landis and George Folsey should be in prison.
November 7, 2021
This is quite the rabbit hole.
I devoured this book. So fascinating! If you can find yourself a copy (it's out of print unfortunately) do yourself a favor and read it.
I devoured this book. So fascinating! If you can find yourself a copy (it's out of print unfortunately) do yourself a favor and read it.
June 6, 2025
Great book to make your blood boil. Absolutely essential study on filmmaking in the 1980s.
Outrageous Conduct extensively covers the tragic helicopter crash on the early morning of July 23rd, 1982 that killed actor Vic Murrow and two child actors Myca Le and Renee Chen on the set of John Landis’ segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. The child actors were illegally paid under the table and worked overnight.
I can’t think of any other book that neutralizes Hollywood egos quite like this book. Key figures got off lucky. Some are downright cowards. The book names them. It goes beyond the information available on google. The book explores before and after the accident, interviews with other directors on the subject (Sidney Pollack, William Friedkin and James L Brooks etc) and covers the whole nine month trial in detail.
It becomes clear why the prosecution lost and the jurors returned with a “not guilty” verdict on the charges of involuntary manslaughter. Court books aren’t really my thing, but I was shocked at how everything unfolded. The district attorney’s office never charged Landis, Folsey, and Allingham with violating child labor laws which the involuntarily manslaughter charges was based on.
All of it is infuriating. Excellent book. Well written and researched by Steven Farber and Marc Green. Unfortunately it’s long out of print and expensive on eBay. I had a saved search for a year until I got a good copy. It was worth the $50 I paid, but I wish it was widely available.
Outrageous Conduct extensively covers the tragic helicopter crash on the early morning of July 23rd, 1982 that killed actor Vic Murrow and two child actors Myca Le and Renee Chen on the set of John Landis’ segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. The child actors were illegally paid under the table and worked overnight.
I can’t think of any other book that neutralizes Hollywood egos quite like this book. Key figures got off lucky. Some are downright cowards. The book names them. It goes beyond the information available on google. The book explores before and after the accident, interviews with other directors on the subject (Sidney Pollack, William Friedkin and James L Brooks etc) and covers the whole nine month trial in detail.
It becomes clear why the prosecution lost and the jurors returned with a “not guilty” verdict on the charges of involuntary manslaughter. Court books aren’t really my thing, but I was shocked at how everything unfolded. The district attorney’s office never charged Landis, Folsey, and Allingham with violating child labor laws which the involuntarily manslaughter charges was based on.
All of it is infuriating. Excellent book. Well written and researched by Steven Farber and Marc Green. Unfortunately it’s long out of print and expensive on eBay. I had a saved search for a year until I got a good copy. It was worth the $50 I paid, but I wish it was widely available.
August 26, 2019
It’s a shame this book is hard to find because it certainly wasn’t worth its $50 price tag used. The big problem with Farber and Green’s thesis is that it’s arguing that pretty much all young directors are John Landis—immature tyrants who care more about visual effects than storytelling. There’s a reasonable argument to be made about Steven Spielberg’s culpability in the Twilight Zone tragedy, but like the prosecutor they scapegoat, Lea D’Agostino, the authors are guilty of overkill in making their arguments. Those arguments look even worse today as Spielberg, far from being the sentimental boy wonder with an eye towards special effects, created a string of enduring classics and then matured to make more classics.
The Twilight Zone case is important, and a lot of people, particularly Landis who clearly never had any remorse for his actions or behavior (like father like son), got away with manslaughter. There’s a bigger picture here that isn’t about renegade auteurs or blockbuster spectacle but about entrenched power and a justice system that is overmatched. And what happened to Vic Morrow, Renee Chen, and Myca Lee shouldn’t be forgotten. But nor should their deaths be used to make a flimsy argument about hiring practices as if John Landis was the first egomaniac with a special effects budget.
Anyway, if you can check this out at a library, then great, but don’t go out of your way to buy a copy unless it somehow gets released as an e-book or something.
The Twilight Zone case is important, and a lot of people, particularly Landis who clearly never had any remorse for his actions or behavior (like father like son), got away with manslaughter. There’s a bigger picture here that isn’t about renegade auteurs or blockbuster spectacle but about entrenched power and a justice system that is overmatched. And what happened to Vic Morrow, Renee Chen, and Myca Lee shouldn’t be forgotten. But nor should their deaths be used to make a flimsy argument about hiring practices as if John Landis was the first egomaniac with a special effects budget.
Anyway, if you can check this out at a library, then great, but don’t go out of your way to buy a copy unless it somehow gets released as an e-book or something.
March 7, 2022
Farber gives a very detailed, thorough description of the events and people involved in the infamous disaster on the set of TWILIGHT ZONE: The Movie--specifically the segment directed by John Landis. While the discussion is detailed and interesting, it's also slanted heavily by Farber's feelings for the case, particularly his seeming vehemence for Landis, which results in a number of petty descriptions that would have been better edited out.
A few thoughts:
- The technical details in the book are fascinating, and this would make an excellent case study reading for budding directors.
- Very few people get positive light in the book. I suppose as far as a disaster story goes, that's not too surprising, but still.
- Despite Farber's aggressive tone, his clarity of facts about the trial is superb. It's mind-boggling that the case was resolved as it was.
- Regarding the case itself, Farber reveals that the defendants were not charged with the lesser crimes they committed, presumably because the D.A. worried the jury might settle for the lesser charges. Of course, this made the trial an all-or-nothing affair and left Landis and others without any criminal resolution at all.
- Frank Marshall comes off equally bad, as he spent years and (presumably) thousands of dollars staying out of the country to avoid getting subpoenaed for the case.
Worth a read, though I may seek out another account, if there is one, that is a bit more even handed.
A few thoughts:
- The technical details in the book are fascinating, and this would make an excellent case study reading for budding directors.
- Very few people get positive light in the book. I suppose as far as a disaster story goes, that's not too surprising, but still.
- Despite Farber's aggressive tone, his clarity of facts about the trial is superb. It's mind-boggling that the case was resolved as it was.
- Regarding the case itself, Farber reveals that the defendants were not charged with the lesser crimes they committed, presumably because the D.A. worried the jury might settle for the lesser charges. Of course, this made the trial an all-or-nothing affair and left Landis and others without any criminal resolution at all.
- Frank Marshall comes off equally bad, as he spent years and (presumably) thousands of dollars staying out of the country to avoid getting subpoenaed for the case.
Worth a read, though I may seek out another account, if there is one, that is a bit more even handed.
July 19, 2023
An exposé about a Hollywood industry that places more importance on flash and image than safety. John Landis was a great director (before fizzling out), but after reading this book, one wonders if he should have ever been given the director’s chair again. In short, during filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, Landis illegally hired two child actors to perform in a dangerous scene at night with actor Vic Morrow. In his desire to get the gaudiest special effects possible, Landis had Morrow carry the two children across a river as a helicopter hovered above, surrounded by special effects explosions. The desire to use a real helicopter (needlessly, since cross-cutting could have worked) and an outrageous number of explosions (also needlessly, as editing could have done the trick as well), led to the tragedy of the helicopter crashing, killing Morrow and both child actors. The years-long trial was nothing more than all parties transferring blame, avoiding any repercussions, and taking no responsibility. In the end, the justice system failed. A sad story all around. I couldn’t help but also think of the tragic shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie – another example of cutting corners and pointlessly using real guns when any number of special effects could create the same result.
August 8, 2024
3.5/5
This is a really good breakdown of the tragedy and unfolding aftermath of what happened on Twilight Zone: The Movie’s set. I really liked the beginning as it painted the lead up with the big hitter of Landis and Spielberg through the fateful night.
A great portion of the book is almost a transcript of the nine month trial. There are a lot of names to remember and positions to know. It can feel daunting at times and dry.
But it was all interesting in how a trial and turn into a shit show.
An unexpected takeaway from this book is how I feel about Steven Spielberg. While I don’t think he was directly involved, based on the evidence provided, I do think the way he handled the situation was scummy and to pair it up with how his long time collaborator, Frank Marshall, handled the situation made it even worse.
I think the resounding horror from this part of cinematic history is how little things have changed today. Numerous times during the trial I found echos in recent history like Depp v Heard and the tragedy that happened on the set of Rust. Not much has changed, sadly.
Very glad I was able to read this. At times it was a difficult read.
This is a really good breakdown of the tragedy and unfolding aftermath of what happened on Twilight Zone: The Movie’s set. I really liked the beginning as it painted the lead up with the big hitter of Landis and Spielberg through the fateful night.
A great portion of the book is almost a transcript of the nine month trial. There are a lot of names to remember and positions to know. It can feel daunting at times and dry.
But it was all interesting in how a trial and turn into a shit show.
An unexpected takeaway from this book is how I feel about Steven Spielberg. While I don’t think he was directly involved, based on the evidence provided, I do think the way he handled the situation was scummy and to pair it up with how his long time collaborator, Frank Marshall, handled the situation made it even worse.
I think the resounding horror from this part of cinematic history is how little things have changed today. Numerous times during the trial I found echos in recent history like Depp v Heard and the tragedy that happened on the set of Rust. Not much has changed, sadly.
Very glad I was able to read this. At times it was a difficult read.
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