HOLLYWOOD HORROR

7/23/1982 - In the early morning darkness at the Indian Dunes of Santa Clarita, California, a popular 600 acre film park of hills, flat plains, dense woodlands, and creek and river beds near Los Angeles that features a 30-mile zone where photography can take place without any city lights being seen, and that can stand in for distant locations like Brazil, Afghanistan, Africa, Germany, Central America, France, Burma, and Vietnam, 31-year-old director John Landis calls for action ... and gets more than he bargained for, action that kills three actors, injures six people, sets off almost a decade of criminal and civil law suits, and changes the way Hollywood makes pictures.

Dukes Of Hazard Stunt - Indian Dunes

John Landis

Born into the Jewish family of Shirley Levine Magaziner and Marshall Landis on 8/3/1950 in Chicago, Illinois, Landis gets the movie bug after his parents relocate to Los Angeles, and in 1958, he sees the Ray Harryhausen classic, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, for the first time and hooked, the young boy decides he wants to become a director.  Beginning as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox, Landis moves from a studio "go-fer" through various other production jobs until he gets his big break while working on Kelly's Heroes in Europe, stepping in to the role of assistant director when the man assigned the job becomes too ill to continue and is sent home.  One step away from his goal of directing, he works on Sergio Leone's epic spaghetti western, Once Upon a Time in the West, John Guillermin's El Condor, while also writing, acting, and doing stunts.  In 1973, at only 21, he gets the green light to film and act in the horror comedy he has also written, Schlock ... which is exactly what the film is. 

Schlock Movie Poster - And Yes,
Landis Is The Monster

Schlock a dud, Landis acts in Battle of the Planet of the Apes and Death Race 2000, before getting his next chance to direct, helming the anthology comedy film, The Kentucky Fried Movie in 1977 ... a modest success that gets Landis the recommendation to film a comedy about warring college fraternities for Universal Pictures, and when 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House hits (filmed for $2.8 million, the film gathers a gross of over $141 million on its first theatrical release) ... Landis hits too, becoming Hollywood's latest wonder kid.  Moving from success to success, Landis directs, writes, and acts in The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London, directs, produces, and writes a documentary about Universal's legendary movie monsters narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis called Coming Soon, and has yet another comedy hit when he directs Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places.  For his next project, Landis decides he wants to produce (along with Steven Spielberg) and direct an anthology movie based on one of his favorite TV shows when he was growing up (and also write the prologue and one of the tales) ... a big budget, Hollywood production of Twilight Zone: The Movie (it stars Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, features narration from Burgess Meredith, and has sections directed by Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller).

National Lampoon's Animal House

Three old Twilight Zone episodes told again and a fourth new tale, Landis takes on the new story, writing, producing, and directing a story of racism, changed identities and time travel he calls Time Out, starring 53-year-old Vic Morrow (a veteran of both TV and movies, his most famous role is on ABC-TV's 60s show, Combat, playing Sgt. Chip Saunders).  Moving from the present time, back to Nazi Germany, on to the rural American South of the 1950s, then into the Vietnam War, before returning to present times, the Bull Connor racist character played by Morrow is redeemed when he saves the lives of two Vietnamese children ... at least that was the plan.  Violating numerous labor laws for the state of California (ignored required permits, under the table payments, no special wavers for night work by children), and shrugging off warnings about the danger of the special effects he wants on screen, at around 2:30 on the Friday morning of 7/23/1982, it is time to film the big rescue (and mocking the Fates, that don't like to be mocked, Landis makes a joke about maybe losing the chopper he is flying in).  

Movie Poster

Morrow As Sgt. Saunders

Morrow escaping across a river with two Vietnamese children in tow (child actors, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen ... with the parents nearby on the set, and told not to tell any of the firefighters present that children are involved in the scene), mortar effects are set off with the helicopter filming the scene (a Bell UH1 Iroquois only 25 feet off the ground piloted by Vietnam veteran, Dorcey Wingo ... at trial, there will be testimony that Landis calls for it to go even lower right before the carnage takes place) overhead, but too close to the explosions and the blast of pyrotechnics causes the chopper's tail rotor to first fail, and then fall off ... and in falling, it's blades cut off the heads of Morrow and Le, and crush Chen to death (incredibly, Morrow is scripted to say, "I'll keep you safe, kids.  I promise.  Nothing will hurt you, I swear to God.")  Meanwhile, the damaged chopper spins out of control and crash lands on the bank of the river, injuring the six occupants aboard, including Landis.  Disaster ... and there are two many witnesses to cover up what has happened, and also, it is all on film.

A Bell UH1 Iroquois

Le (L) & Chen (R)
 
Seconds Before

Morning's Light

Three dead and six people injured in the "accident," the incident sets off almost ten years of criminal and civil actions that result in settlements out of court for the heirs of Morrow and the parents of Le and Chen, and Landis, Wingo, associate producer George Folsey, Jr., production manager Dan Allingham, and explosives expert Paul Stewart all being tried (it takes nine months) and somehow acquitted of manslaughter charges (District Attorney Lee D'Agostino, the losing prosecutor, will accuse Landis over believing he is above the law) ... just a big ooops for those involved and lets move on, the director makes more Hollywood bucks by directing another Eddie Murphy comedy in 1988, Coming to America as he puts the tragedy in his rear view mirror (the tragedy however ends his friendship with Steven Spielberg).
 
Call Out The Big Guns And Get Me Off

Charming

Culpable cleared, there is a silver lining though ... determined to tighten up the industry's safety standards, Warner Brothers Vic President, John Silva, convenes a committee to create safety standards for every aspect of filmmaking, and the committee includes every Hollywood union and guild.  The committee's codicils were then collected into a set of employee bulletins known as the Injury and Illness Prevention Program by which the industry would police itself (the standards are re-evaluated and updated every time there is an accident ... for instance, when stuntman Dar Robinson ruptured his spleen and died at a remote filming location of the Million Dollar Mystery, guidelines were changed to mandate on-set ambulances),with insurance companies giving blessings and okays before production and on sets each day of filming (the Screen Actors Guild will create a 24-hour hotline and safety team for its members).  And there are now risk managers on sets who can evaluate the risks in a scene, and stop them if they deem it necessary ... whether the director likes it or not.  As Steven Spielberg will relate while remembering the tragedy and his lost friendship with Landis, "No movie is worth dying for.  I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much.  If something isn't safe, it's the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, 'Cut!'"  Amen to that!

Spielberg

PANCHO'S DEATH

7/20/1923 - Reaping what you sow, living and dying by the sword, nine lives used up, luck finally fully drained ... it all is evident on this day in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, when a band of assassins guns down Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula, better known to the world as the bandit and Mexican Revolution general, Francisco "Pancho" Villa.

Villa

Born as the oldest of five children on 6/5/1878 into a sharecropping family on Rancho de la Coyotada, one of the largest haciendas in the state of Durango, Villa receives a rudimentary education from the local church-run school, that ends when his father dies and he quits to help his mother and family ... working as sharecropper himself, bricklayer, butcher, muleskinner, railroad worker ... and a sometime bandit.  His first murder is said to be the killing of a hacienda owner named Agustin Lopez Negrete, a revenge killing for the man raping Villa's sister.  Outlawing out of the Sierra Madre Occidental region of Durango, he is captured in 1902, but instead of being executed, he is forcibly inducted into the Federal Army ... it does not take, and by 1903, he is going by the name of Pancho Villa, the nickname of La Cucaracha (The Cockroach), has killed an army officer and stolen the man's horse, and is again practicing mountain banditry.  Career path seemingly chosen, his life changes in 1910 when he is convinced by Abraham Gonzalez (educated at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana) that better days can be his if he and his outlaws, join the Mexican Revolution by marrying their activities into supporting wealthy hacienda owner turned politician, Francisco Madero, in his opposition to incumbent Mexican President, Porfirio Diaz.  Villa is thirty-two years old when his revolutionary activities begin.

Gonzalez

Madero

Diaz

Blood and betrayal, in the years that follow, Villa begins by capturing a Diaz supporting hacienda, captures a train of Federales, takes the town of San Andres, beats the Federal Army at Naica, Camargo, Pilar de Conchos, loses at Tecolote, is made a colonel in the Revolutionary Army, and disobeying orders, with the support of fellow revolutionary Pascual Orozco, captures the border town of Ciudad Juarez.  Diaz forced into exile, instead of retiring, in the insane machinations of the Mexican Revolution, when Orozco is unsatisfied with the spoils of victory and revolts against Madero, Villa is recruited to attack his former comrade, joining forces with the Federal Army of General Victoriano Huerta.  Orozco forced into exile in the United States, Huerta makes Villa an honorary brigadier general in the Federal Army, but then realizing he can't use Villa in his future plans for Mexico, arrests the bandit leader on hoses stealing charges and sentences him to death by firing squad ... an execution that almost happens, Villa takes his "last words" opportunity and talks and talks until he is pardoned by President Madero at the last minute, but not let loose.

Orozco

Huerta

Villa Talking To His Firing Squad

Imprisoned, Villa escapes on Christmas Day of 1912, and crosses into the United States at the beginning of 1913.  In Texas when Madero is forced to resign and then murdered by his enemy (his friend, Gonzalez, will also be murdered this period), Huerta, in yet another coup, with just seven men, some mules, and a handful of supplies, Villa crosses back into Mexico in April of 1913 ... and the Mexican Revolution continues.  Robbing and recruiting (there is a train robbery of 122 bars of Wells Fargo silver), joining forces with Venustiano Carranza, while Huerta also fights against the forces of Emiliano Zapata, Villa and his forces win victories at Ciudad Juarez, Tierra Blanca, Chihuahua, and Ojinaga.  Made revolutionary governor of Chihuahua, Villa prints his own currency, takes gold from the regions banks, signs a Hollywood contract to have is exploits filmed (the first feature movie of legendary Hollywood director, Raoul Walsh), meets American General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and creates the most powerful military unit in all of Mexico, the Division of the North, which wins victories over the Federal Army at Gomez Palacio, Torreon, and then, defying orders from Carranza, the battle that forces Huerta to flee the country, Zacatecas, in June of 1914.

Villa (Center) And Troops

Villa In Action

And then, in control in Mexico City, another falling out of the revolutionary leaders takes place, this time with Villa and Zapata opposing Carranza and General Alvaro Obregon (who retreat to Vera Cruz) ... better tactics used, more revenue raised, portrayed as a bandit sociopath in the press, defeats, and the Division's men accepting amnesty, by 1915, Villa goes from national leader to a guerrilla hiding in the mountains with only two hundred men (Zapata is murdered in 1919) ... where he plans to raise money and men, by crossing the border and attacking the town of Columbus, New Mexico.  Border breached, Villa spends the period between 1916 and 1920 avoiding the expeditionary force of General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and those of Carranza, while continuing to rob and raid for money and resources.  More betrayal, on 5/21/1920, Obregon has Carranza and his top advisers and supporters murdered, and seizes power, opening the door for Villa to negotiate a peace settlement with the government (interim President Adolfo de la Huerta before Obregon is elected President of Mexico on 12/1/1920)  in which for ending hostilities, the former guerrilla is granted a 25,000 acre hacienda in Canutillo, near Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua where he can live with his 200 remaining men (50 are allowed to become his bodyguards), while enjoying a pension of 500,000 gold pesos.  Living the life of a wealthy landowner, with friends and family nearby, it appears Villa will end his story peacefully, but  such is not to be the case.

Villa (L) & Zapata (R)

Murdered Zapata

Carranza

General Obregon   

Many enemies still upright, making rumbles about getting involved in the 1924 elections, surrounded by loyalists, guard down after several years of living peacefully in the region, on the Friday morning of 7/20/1923, taking only Colonel Miguel Trillo (who serves as chauffeur), Claro Huertado (bodyguard), Rafael Madreno (main personal bodyguard), Danie Tamayo (Villa's personal secretary), and Ramon Contreas (bodyguard) along, Villa journeys into Parral in a black 1919 Dodge touring car.to pick up a consignment of gold from the bank to pay his Canutillo ranch staff.  Funds received, the party is headed back through town when they pass a local school and a pumpkin seed vendor runs at the car and shouts "Viva Villa" ... the signal to nearby killers that Villa is in the front seat of the car (two "Viva" shouts would designate he is in the backseat).  Message received (the telegraph service to the ranch is conveniently cut at the same time), from out of concealment seven assassins step into the road and open up on the occupants of the touring car.  Overkill, over forty bullets are fired into the car, including nine dumdum rounds that hit Villa in the head and chest, killing him instantly ... he is forty-five years old.  Only Ramon Contreras survives the fusillade, and though severely wounded, will manage to kill one of the assassins as the other killers flee the area.  Buried the next day, Villa is carried to his grave by two black horses and a military honor guard while a band plays in a ceremony that is attended by thousands.

Museum Piece - The Repaired Car

Murder

Villa

A state legislator from Durango at the time, the only man to be found guilty in the killing is Jesus Salas Barraza, who confesses to the crime, and is sentenced to twenty years behind bars ... a sentence which is commuted by the governor of Chihuahua after the admitted killer serves only three months in prison (after his release, Barraza will be made a colonel in the Mexican Army (supposed payback for whipping Barraza in a quarrel over a woman ... upon his death in 1951, his last words are "I'm not a murderer.  I rid humanity of a monster!").  Barraza never mentions who the other killers were and they are still unknown, with various theories being that Villa is killed by the last male member of the Herrera Family he has been engaging with in a deadly blood feud, by Meliton Lozoya, the former owner of Villa's ranch (to stop Villa from demanding payback over embezzled funds), and by the forces of Obregon and his pick for next president of Mexico, General Plutarco Elias Calles (Mexico's 40th President), to keep Villa from interfering in their election plans (conveniently, the federal troops of Felix Lara that guard Parral just happen to be out of town on the day of Villa's death).  What is known is that Villa is reburied in the Monument to the Mexican Revolution in Mexico City in 1976 ... missing his skull, which vanishes from his grave in 1926 (stolen and said to be sold to an eccentric millionaire who collected skulls of the famous), and that the man lives on in an assortment of books, magazines articles, and movies, and inherited memories ... La Cucaracha indeed!

Barraza

Calles

Death Mask And Pistol

Final Resting Place

Villa