Angelina Jolie's dad Jon Voight makes shock comments on Luigi Mangione and Daniel Penny cases

Jon Voight left little doubt where he stands on the respective cases involving Luigi Mangione and Daniel Penny dominating the current headlines.

Voight, 85, the father of A-list staple Angelina Jolie, 49, chat Tuesday with TMZ about both cases, and why his opinion drastically differs on each man.

Voight, also known for his roles in the films Midnight Cowboy (1969), Deliverance (1972) and The Champ (1979), initially did not want to speak about Mangione, 26, who has been charged in the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan December 4.

'Let's not get into that, please, that's a sick thing - let's leave it as it is,' said Voight, the Academy Award-winning star of 1978's Coming Home.

Voight, who recently appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, was dismayed by the public's seemingly-favorable opinion of Mangione amid widespread resentment of the business practices of U.S. insurances companies.

'Look - it's very important that people have some kind of sense of right and wrong,' Voight said. 'And we've gotten a little away from that ... and people have got to go back to be being good citizens themselves and have a high standard for their behavior.

'And then, they'll be able to make a judgment on what's going on in front of them.'

Voight, an ardent supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, said that the public's sensibilities appeared to be warped.

'Right now we've got a lot of messed up people who've been given the microphone occasionally,' he said. 'Right and wrong is very, very important and we've lost out way a little but - let's get back to saying a little prayer before bed.'

Voight had a far more favorable view of Penny, the 26-year-old military veteran who was acquitted of homicide charges this week after fatally choking Jordan Neely, 30, in a New York City subway May 1, 2023.

Passengers who witnessed the incident said Neely - who was homeless, schizophrenic and had past assaulted people on the subway - had threatened to kill people and wasn't afraid of death or incarceration.

The outburst spurred Penny to apply a chokehold on the man for six minutes, that proved to be fatal.

'Well, he's a hero - listen to his testimony, you know,' Voight said of Penny, whose acquittal spurred protests from people who said Penny took things too far in the confrontation.

Voight added, 'If you're in that situation, I can easily put myself in that situation ... I don't know if I would have had the guts that he had to confront, when somebody says, "I'm gonna kill somebody here" ... and you know the other people are not gonna be able to defend themselves.'

'Holy smokes, that's a big deal - I don't know if I would be as brave as he was ... there are people in the military who are supposed to be able to stand up to things, and here's an example of a somebody who did.'

Voight, who was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President-elect Donald Trump in 2019, was noncommittal toward Penny being honored by Trump in his return to the White House in January.

'I don't know about that stuff,' Voight said. 'I just know the guy did an extraordinary thing - it's good for people to have - there are heroes among us.'

Penny, a Marine for four years, told Fox News Monday that he didn't regret placing himself in a 'very vulnerable position' physically and legally to thwart the potential attack Neely was threatening.

'I'll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me, just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed,' Penny said.

Penny said he's 'not a confrontational person,' but would have felt guilty if Neely 'did do what he was threatening to do' and he didn't take action.

'If I just let him go, I'm on my back now, he could just turn around and start doing what he said to me ... killing, hurting,' he added.