St. Helens (1982)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

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.

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?

Dramatic re-creation of the events leading up to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens and the unsuccessful efforts to evacuate the area even with so many warning signs. Special effects combined with actual footage give added reality.

Like most docu-drama disaster flicks, this film is pretty boring and has little to note. About all it has going for it is the fact that you know how the film is going to end... in disaster. The only reason you keep watching this is the morbid curiosity of which characters are going to die.