Jon Voight Praises 'Hero' Daniel Penny, Blasts 'Sick' Luigi Mangione

Jon Voight is calling on Americans to realize the difference between right and wrong ... taking a minute to praise Daniel Penny -- who was found not guilty in the fatal choking of Jordan Neely -- and slam Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer in Brian Thompson's murder.

We caught up with the actor following the big updates in Penny and Mangione's respective New York cases ... and Angelina Jolie's dad made his opinions crystal clear on the highly discussed true-crime stories.

As Voight put it ... Penny should be hailed as a hero, and applauded the Marine veteran for having "the guts" to do what he did.

He continued ... "Holy smokes, that's a big deal. I don't know if I would be as brave as him ... The guy did an extraordinary thing. There are heroes among us."

As TMZ previously reported, Penny was acquitted after standing trial in the death of a 30-year-old homeless man named Jordan Neely, who had reportedly been threatening passengers on a NYC subway before DP put him in a fatal chokehold.

While Voight was all for building up Penny in the aftermath of his not-guilty verdict, he was not interested in giving Mangione a similar time of day. He blasted the Ivy League grad, who has been called a hero by some after being charged with murder in the UnitedHealthcare CEO killing ... as he called the shooting "a sick thing."

Voight even took a moment to defend the differences in the two cases ... noting it's "very important that people have some kind of sense of right and wrong."

He added ... "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."

It's clear Voight feels this is an apples-and-oranges type of scenario ... and he may have a point, FWIW.