I witnessed Tom Cruise save Elizabeth Shue’s life, for real. I was the aerial camera operator for the movie “Cocktail.” We were filming the scene from a helicopter, where Tom and Elizabeth are riding horses along the beach.  We were shooting film, but I had a video recorder in the helicopter to record the camera’s video tap images. After a couple takes, the pilot would land the helicopter on the beach, and Tom and Elizabeth would come over to watch the shot recordings and get notes from the Director. The only monitor was at my operating position in the left front seat of the helicopter. Because we were only going to be on the ground for a couple of minutes, the pilot would let the engine continue to run with the rotors turning. It was also quite loud, and you had to shout to be heard over the noise of the engine.
You have to know, when you are working around helicopters, that the area at the back of the helicopter, where the tail rotor is spinning, is deadly. The rotor is invisible when it is spinning, and if you walk into it, it will kill you instantly. It is a totally “no go“ area when working around helicopters.
So, after we had landed for the second or third time, Tom and Elizabeth came over, I opened the side door of the helicopter and they leaned in to watch the shot on the monitor. The Director gave them a couple notes, and Elizabeth, getting quite excited, took off suddenly, running towards the BACK of the helicopter.  I was strapped in with a five point harness, so I couldn’t do anything, but I leaned out and screamed, STOP!!” Just at that same moment that Tom saw where Elizabeth was going. Tom is a pilot, rated in both airplanes and helicopters, and instantly saw the danger. He lunged after her, but only was able grab her legs, tackling her to the ground.
He rolled her over, dragging her at the same time, and you could see the momentary anger on her face while she was yelling “Why did you do that?” But by that time he is pointing at the tail rotor which is now a couple feet away, screaming at her that she almost died. At that point she turned white, and he pulled her back towards the front of the helicopter and they walked away. All of us in the helicopter, we’re quite shaken up by the close call, but there was nothing to be said. Tom had, in that instant truly saved her life.
This was long ago, 1987, and mandatory safety meetings were not commonly done at that time. If it were the current day, there would’ve been a very formal safety meeting that would take place before the helicopter ever arrived, discussing all the dangers of working around helicopters.
