Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

tdberry-33-366271 This movie purports to be a true story, but other than some geographic references, it is true only in that Mount St. Helens erupted violently and two of the fatalities. While the differing perspectives of innkeeper Harry Truman and geologist David Johnston on the peril posed by the volcano could have made for a compelling human interest drama; but while the acting is generally acceptable, this isn't it. The special effects are laughably cheesy, even given the state of the art in 1981, and the music is screwy. Much of the geologic phenomena that the movie associates with the eruptions are pure fantasy, and the sequence of the eruptive events before the final blast is entirely wrong. The actions of the local logging industry as conditions became more dangerous are misrepresented, as is the response in towns affected by ashfall. The climactic line of the movie is yelled without any context to indicate what the actor is talking about. As someone who has studied the events at Mt. St. Helens, the only way I would recommend this fiasco is to fans of Art Carney, who valiantly tries to carry the film. The stock footage of the St. Helens eruption is better seen in a context that rightly explains the eruption, rather than exploiting it in such absurd terms.

Woodyanders 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.

krorie 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.

jcarter-1 With its low-key acting, and real, believable characters, this film was a superb re-enactment of what became a nightmare for those closest to it. At first, no one is able to believe what is predicted to be coming. Gradually, the reality becomes inescapable. Art Carney, as Harry S. Truman, is completely believable, and understandable, as a man set in his ways and content with his life, unwilling to run away and perhaps unable to comprehend the totality of the disaster that is looming. How very human! We would all like terribly realities to go away, but often they are worse even than the forecasts. In light of 9/11, the poignancy of the human relationships in this film is even greater. We are so vulnerable in the face of many of the events of life, and the most important things we have to cling to are each other, and our relationships to the people we love, and to life itself. A haunting, under-rated film.