St. Helens (1982)

Truly Dreadful Film

One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

(Mild Spoilers) True modern day Don Quixote like story of a somewhat nutty old man Harold known as "Give em Hell Harry" Truman, Art Carney, who against everyones advice stayed steadfast at his Mt. St. Helena Inn that he's been the caretaker of for over the last 50 years. The hard as nails Harry is waiting for the end to come together with his fitfully pooch and a years supply of bourbon to keep him both warn and happy. That's as Mt. Saint Helena is about to blow sky high and flatten everything within as much of 50 miles around it!This real life drama began on March 20, 1980 as Mt. St. Helena started to rumble and churn out hot lava causing the people living around it to become concern that it might just erupt for the first time in over 100 years. With handsome geologist David Jackson, David Huffman, sent by the US Government to check the mountain out he comes to the shocking conclusion that the mountain is very likely to blow it's top at any moment. David urges the local Sheriff of Couger on the foot of Mt. St. Helena Wayne Temple, Tim Thomerson, to evacuate the ares before the now active volcano ends up vaporizing the town with everyone in it.Harry for his part is totally unafraid of what's about to happen in his determination to stick it out and ride out the storm or volcanic eruption even if it ends up killing him! There's also the owner of the Whittaker Inn and local logging company Clyde Wittaker, Albert Salmi, who despite warning of impeding doom refuses to closed down his inn and timber business putting profits ahead of people like the true money grubbing and unfeeling, for his fellow human being, capitalist swine that he is!The drama of the St. Helena eruption that everyone watching the movie knows is going to happened since it was broadcast around the clock,for some six weeks, at the time it did is seen in stages as the mountain continued to rumble and grumble as the pressure builds up inside of it for it's massive and powerhouse eruption! An explosion that has the destructive power of, God help us all, at least 500 Hiroshima like atomic bombs!We also have in the movie David Jackson's love interest single mom Linda Steele, Cassi Yates, who works at the Whittaker Inn who by the time the movie is over falls in love with David who instead of returning the favor leaves her to take photos of the big once in a lifetime eruption despite the danger he's to face photographing it. There's also the butt kicking and karate black belt helicopter pilot Otis Kaylor played by Ron "Superfly" O'Neal who together with David flies into the belly of the beast, Mt. St. Helena, to check out if its about to blow that almost cost him and David their lives! We also have as comic relief, if you can call it that, this whacked out Reverend Dr.Lucus Romarantin, Biff Manard, who in an effort to keep Mt. St.Helena from erupting is willing to offer up to it a human sacrifice, not himself of course, of a virgin from his congregation Pamala, Julie Phillips, in order to placate the God Vulcan. It's Vulcan that Dr.Romarantin feels is the reason that the mountain is acting so angry toward the world or better yet the state of Washingon and its surroundings!***SPOILERS*** As the fateful day-May 18, 1980-approaches it's old man Harry Truman who turns out to be the real hero of this end of the world earth shaking drama. With Harry not giving as much as an inch to the mountain that's about to bury him he and his dog go out for a days fishing at Spirit Lake that by the time the movie is finally over would be vaporized together with Harry and 59 other people as the big bad and angry Mt. Saint. Helena lets off the steam, as well as fire and brimstone, that's been building up in it for over the last 100 years!!

Renegade geologist David Jackson (an excellent and engaging performance by David Houffman) tries to warn people about the impending eruption of the volcano Mt. St. Helens while crusty and stubborn old-timer Harry Truman (a wonderfully ornery portrayal by Art Carney) refuses to leave his lodge home despite the fact that he lives in the immediate proximity of the volcano. Director Ernest Pintoff, working from an absorbing script by Larry Ferguson and Peter Bellwood, relates the compelling story at a steady pace, ably creates and sustains an ominous atmosphere of slowly mounting dread, and presents believable characters who are firmly grounded in a totally plausible everyday reality. This movie further benefits from sound acting by a top-drawer cast: Carney and Huffman excel in the lead roles, with bang-up support from Cassie Yates as the sweet Linda Steele, Albert Salmi as mean and greedy local mill boss Clyde Whittacker, Ron O'Neal as tough Vietnam vet helicopter pilot Otis Kaylor, Tim Thomerson as the amiable Sheriff Wayne Temple, Bill McKinney as belligerent lumberjack Kilpatrick, and Henry Darrow as arrogant scientist Lloyd Wagner. The climactic eruption is genuinely exciting and makes effective use of actual newsreel footage. Jacques Haitkin's striking cinematography offers plenty of breathtaking aerial shots and equally stunning panoramic depictions of the ripely verdant sylvan landscape. The shivery score by Goblin does the shuddery trick. Only some shoddy optical special effects of the deadly billowing clouds of volcanic ash fail to impress. A worthwhile and enjoyable picture.

This is a superior made for TV movie about one of the worst natural disasters in the history of North America. The film centers on the crusty old mountain man Harry Truman played by the fine actor Art Carney who gives one of his best performances. Harry was a cracker barrel philosopher of sorts who loved all the attention given him my the media. Determined to stay put come hell or high water or a mountain blowing up in his face, Harry represents the stubborn American type who wants to hang on to cherished memories of his wife and daughter at any cost, choosing to die with his canine companion than to face an uncertain future elsewhere in a world he doesn't know. Art Cartney captures the spirit and essence of this eccentric oddity out of place in the present high-tech world he never made.The weakest aspect of this film is the awful music. Who ever tried to write the country and western songs had absolutely no feel for the genre. (The Italian rock band Goblin is credited.) The lyrics are cold and lifeless, the melodies hackneyed and bland. Too bad they couldn't have got someone of the caliber of Merle Haggard or Dolly Parton to give the flick some real s**t-kicking hoedowns and barroom crying in your beer songs.The cast other than Art Carney is adequate. David Huffman and Cassie Yates make a cute couple of opposites attracting, he a professional geologist, she an uneducated waitress with a failed marriage and a son. But they make the relationship believable and the ending probable. Of special note is the appearance of Bill McKinney as one of the loggers Kilpatrick. He is perhaps the most famous villain in screen history because of his work as the Mountain Man in "Deliverance." In "St. Helens" he gets the short end of the stick.The on-location photography is an added attraction with actual shots of the Mt. St. Helens eruption inserted. The scene toward the end where Harry is fishing as the mountain spews forth its load is harrowing. The attentive viewer will come away from this picture with new questions concerning the meaning of life and its brevity.

The movie St. Helens was a bit slow, especially how the film was drawing up the timelines. Simply I knew what I was waiting for during the whole time was May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m. for the "big explosion." Needless to say, the film was a bit dull but that is almost an unfair comparison when its compared to witnessing Mt. St. Helens unleash her fury in real life. What mountain is next?