Chopper Down: Helicopter Deaths in the Movies

Awfully sad but truth, helicopter accidents on movie sets were a dangerous trend in the 1980's and this video project proves and examines such issue. It came in the wake of two accidental crashes that took place close to each other, the films "The Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection" and "Braddock: Missing in Action III", coincidentally enough both were Chuck Norris vehicles made by Cannon Films and it was all on a short matter of time hence why the makers of this project felt the urge to discuss those themes and find reasonings behind such tragic events happening on movie sets.

But before reaching out to those tragedies, showing the interviews with survivors, witnesses and a lawyer from the entertainment business, the film makes mention of the most infamous and notorious helicopter accident that happened years before in John Landis segment from "The Twilight Zone: The Movie" when a pyrotechnique malfunction alligned with a low-flying helicopter made it crash and kill leading star Vic Morrow and two children, and at the time of this documentary the trial against Landis and others was finally coming to a verdict.

Unlike the two Cannon crashes which weren't filmed, the "Twilight Zone" one was caught on tape and the video is presented here fully, unlike the edited version broadcast on TV stations during the trial. It's a shocking moment, it's certainly causes an impact on viewers but the makers of the documentary should have left out without using "The End" by The Doors as a soundtrack. It was awfully tasteless and indecent. The horror by itself is enough.

What did we learn from here, or at least what did Hollywood learn after those tragedies? No movie worths risking a life and safety must always come first. While incidents on set still cause harm and deaths on set, from "The Crow" to "Rust", similar ones like the ones featured here never happened again revolving aircrafts or helicopters, can't think of one happening and most of what happens are stunts that go wrong. Hollywood took notice and learned that safe environments are mandatory, and budgetary constrainsts can't never be an issue to cut costs and get a perfect shot done. You spend what you have in order to protect everyone and get your movie done. 8/10.