Caught on Film: The Fall Guy Ep That Caused Chaos on Set

the early 80s were all about the action so the Fall Guy may have been the perfect show for the decade but with that amped up action came danger and in 1983 a near fatal accident while filming the show's 49th episode resulted in life-changing injuries for the stunt and Camera Crews including the late legendary stunt man Mickey Gilbert let's dive into the episode that cost the producers including Lee Majors dearly and try to find out how this happened on F guy not once but twice it's the Fall Guy stunts gone wrong next on dark 2 TV's Wicked history presented by best EPS when Glenn Larson walked into the ABC offices in 1981 all he had to do was sing the theme song for The Fall Guy and the show got picked up casting a bankable hero and $6 million Manar Lee Majors may have been icing on the proverbial action cake because the Fall Guy was the top 20 show right out of the gate during the 8182 season the entire premise Colt sers is a Hollywood stuntman by day and a bounty hunter by night man action was built into the show's DNA each week producers tried to top themselves by having CT pull off stunts of ever increasing spectacle some of the stunts seen on the show were simply clips from Hollywood movies with Majors filmed to seem as if he'd performed them other stunts on the show were performed by by Majors himself given his interest in stunt performing and his stunt experience on The Big Valley and $6 million man but after a mishap in early 1983 when splinters from a balsawood door left Majors with stitches and an eye injury producers relied more on the show's in-house Allstar team of legendary stunt men and women nearly 50 Rough and Tumble stunt vets dubbed the black and blue crew routinely put their bodies on the line for the sake of ratings these included Bill catching Alan olley Jean leel Lauren James Dar Robinson and one of filmdom's most legendary Fall Guys the late Mickey Gilbert you might recognize him from this famous scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that's Mickey standing in for Robert Redford on the left and it was Gilbert who conceptualized this super cool stunt from The Fall Guys third episode made iconic with its inclusion into the opening credits heck it's even Gilbert behind the wheel there with such credentials it's not surprising that by the time shooting on the third season began Gilbert then 47 had risen to the position of second unit director as well as stunt coordinator stepping behind the camera to personally direct his complex stunts by all accounts Gilbert was a stunt Savant able to see exactly how his stunt could work and where it would end up he was also extremely careful never taking unnecessary risks and refusing stunts that simply wouldn't be safe for his unknown stuntman but on August 31st 1983 despite his precautions and better judgment something went horribly wrong the show's fourth episode of its third season Bakers Dozen called for cult to investigate a desert Resort run by a group of ex-military guys when it came to desert-like settings location Scouts knew the perfect place for shooting was New Hall Ranch in Valencia 30 Mi outside of Hollywood the 8 Team Chips Dukes even the $6 million man you name the show it filmed sequences there somewhere within its 38,000 Acres but it's also the location of the infamous Twilight Zone helicopter crash occurring one year before Baker's Dozen was filmed but on August 31st 1983 the Fall Guy crew was at Indian Dunes Park inside the ranch normally on Fall Guy the writers would simply write into the script action scene here but for whatever reason the Bakers doesen script written by Howard Burke called for a scene in which a quote open Jeep likee car unquote seers is chasing to roll over as It sped uphill but for Gilbert it was a pretty straightforward gag as stunt performers called them until Lee Majors asked Gilbert for favor see Major's friend and stunt performer Larry Holt was eager to join the show's stable of 50 plus stunt performers so Majors asked Gilbert if Holt could take the wheel for the flipping Jeep Gilbert conferred with Holt who assured him he'd flipped Vehicles before so he could handle the stunt no problem but as Holt set himself up in the Jeep Gilbert's son Tim called him on the walkie-talkie there was a problem Holt was declining to wear a chest harness during the gag opting instead for a lap belt and a strap in the passenger seat so he could grab onto it thereby keeping himself tucked down during the flip Gilbert wasn't keen on this setup but he knew Hol wasn't some rookie Daredevil he was a veteran of countless C from being Paul Newman's double in the Towering Inferno to doing loads of stunts for Return of the Jedi so even though Gilbert thought Holt's setup might be unsafe he deferred and he even agreed to record the stunt with Holt's personal video camera as he wrote in his excellent Memoir me and my saddle pal my gut was telling me something bad was about to happen Gilbert called together his camera operators and told them he was changing the camera setup moving the equipment out of the Jeep's way for safety sake with the cameras moved however Gilbert decided he would watch from a spot right where the cameras had just been in order to tape the Jeep flip with Holt's camera talk about stupid he wrote at about 4 in the afternoon Gilbert called action and his worst fears came true this is a stunt from the show Hunter here you can see a pipe ramp set up the idea is for the car to hit the pipe ramp on the inside of the tire causing it to flip but on that day at Indian Dunes Holt's Jeep hit the pipe ramp square on it didn't flip it just jumped it landed hard on its wheels and continued on kening out of control with Larry Holt bent over into the passenger seat gripping that safety strap not able to see where he was going Gilbert said he looked up from the camera's viewfinder to see the Jeep's Grill bearing down on him he tried to get out of the way but his feet went out from under him which may have saved his life the Jeep ran over Gilbert the undercarriage bolts connecting the Jeep's axle tore off his sh shirt and cut him open from head to toe but he survived with stitches and a concussion this was a miracle in my life Gilbert wrote later the eight other crew members standing behind Gilbert however weren't as lucky after the Jeep rolled over Gilbert it veered to the right plowing into a crowd of crew members who were watching on the show's Scenic artist Peter vanel 23 suffered deep lacerations on his scalp and thigh that required surgery to close first assistant director Frank Crawford 55 was airlifted to Holy Cross hospital with broken ribs after his chest was crushed when the Jeep hit him Teamster mechanic Robert MCC 37 suffered a fractured pelvis hip and femur while six others including director Mike lanch suffered minor cuts and bruises the driver Larry Holt was uninjured as Lee major and his fellow castmates headed to the hospital to visit their fallen co-workers the show's Studio 20th Century Fox launched an internal investigation into the accident with Studio spokesman Chuck Panama initially telling reporters a jammed accelerator was to blame California's occupational safety and health administration also sent someone to investigate but OSHA's findings were that the production Personnel committed a quote serious violation of the state Safety Code serious being one rung down from willful on OSHA's infraction scale Fox was find $150 for the infraction a year earlier production of The Twilight Zone movie was fin $62,000 for its deadly helicopter crash and yet Fox planned to appeal that $150 ruling insisted Fox rep Jerry Greenberg of the ruling we've done over 50 episodes of Fall Guy and all of them required a tremendous amount of stunt work and this is the first time that anything has happened that anyone needed any treatment at all Greenberg said it was not a result of any negligence by the company meanwhile producers and editors piece together Baker's Dozen without that Jeep flip having the chase scene end when the Jeep goes uphill and then they refilm the slower Jeep turnover in place of the boulder jump the episode itself which aired on October 19th 1983 is only slightly above average when it comes to matched quality for the series but its terrible Legacy would be remembered just two years later to the day on October 30th 1985 while the Fall Guy was filming on Woodley Avenue in Nino California for this fifth season episode and titled sers Dead or Alive the script called for a spectacular stunt in which a sedan jumps over a stationary big rig now by the show's Fifth Season it had sagged in the ratings to midway between first and worst to combat those lower ratings it's possible producers tried to up the Annie by adding increasing amounts of danger and spectacle to the show's stunts but it should be pointed out that a fox spokesperson told UPI at the time that this particular gag was quote well prepared and rehearsed unquote a car was supposed to fly over a 40ft truck and land before getting to a stop outside the Donald Tillman Water Reclamation plant but after action was called just after 11:00 a.m. something went wrong an accident during location filming of ABC's the Fall Guy left three people injured a stunt man was severely burned and two members of the camera crew suffered broken legs after a car successfully jumped a truck then went out of control when the car landed harder than expected it skidded sideways and veered out of control it kened straight toward cameraman Don McQuade and his Lookout stuntman Rob King the two men tried to run out of the way of the car but were unsuccessful the car slammed into King carrying him on the hood for 100t before slamming into a curb this threw King clear and the car came to a stop in a cornfield as crew members sat stunned the car burst into flames with Stunt Driver John Cade still behind the wheel before the crew could get him free Cade suffered second-degree burns to his face arms and back King and mcade each suffered a broken leg in the mishap now as Cade McQuade and King were being taken to a hospital by ambulance the set's security officers had to break up fist fights amongst the crew members who were all pointing the blame at each other as security guard John armor told the media it was a really sad sight everybody's questioning everybody about what went wrong I don't think anything went wrong it was just an accident however according to police on the scene the sedan suspension may have failed possibly due to the mechanical modifications made to the sedan for the jump they had it beefed up LAPD officer Jim Van Biber told the LA times but the whole car sagged in the middle The Screen Actors Guild sent a safety rep out to investigate but he too determined it an accident and allowed filming to continue that very day the scene of the accident was eventually included in sers Dead or Alive which are December 14th 1985 you can see the car make the J jump but when it lands it slightly veers straight to the camera and for a split second you can see the camera pan left as if the operator was trying to get out of the way that is kind of terrifying knowing in mere seconds it would plow into the two men filming the shot however before the episode aired editors then cut away to a different insert shot of the same car skidding to a stop 3 years after this accident both director Frank Crawford and mechanic Bob McLean sued 20th Century Fox along with producers Glenn Larsson and Lee Majors for injuries sustained in the first crash in 1983 eventually Fox settled paying mlan $300,000 and Crawford half a million as for Lee major series it was cancelled by ABC at the end of that Fifth Season not due to these mishaps but rather due to Falling ratings at the end of the 8586 season the show was coming in dead last according to the neelon if it's any consolation in May of 6 ABC also cancelled such TV stalwarts as Different Strokes the loveboat Benson Ripley Believe It or Not and a personal fave Hard Castle and McCormick though the Fall Guy is today considered a quintessential 80s TV show after its cancellation it was kind of all but forgotten until 2013 when DreamWorks announced it was planning a feature film adaptation starring Dwayne Johnson when asked by reporters Glen Larsson said he was excited about the reboot but he sadly never got to see it he passed away in 2014 and though The Rock's take on the unknown stunt man never did get off the ground fans in 2024 can finally look forward to the adventures of Colt sers with Ryan Gosling in the driver's seat thanks for watching

Channel: Best Eps

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Keywords: Fall guy, behind the scenes, emily blunt, gmc truck, i’m just ken, lee majors, ryan gosling, the fall guy, the fall guy film, the fall guy full episodes, the fall guy movie trailer, the fall guy official movie trailer, the fall guy official trailer, the fall guy review, the fall guy ryan gosling, the fall guy scene, the fall guy trailer, the fall guy tv series

Id: HzDbdcxNrnM

Length: 13min 37sec (817 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 04 2024