St. Helens (1982)

Interesting facts

St. Helens is a 1981 made-for-cable HBO television film directed by Ernest Pintoff, and starring David Huffman, Art Carney, Cassie Yates, and Albert Salmi. The film centers on the events leading up to the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington, with the story beginning on the day volcanic activity started on March 20, 1980, and ending on the day of the eruption, May 18, 1980. The film premiered on May 18, 1981, on the first anniversary of the eruption.

Production

The entire movie was shot on location in Bend, Oregon, and at Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon's Cascade Range. In the film, both Mount Bachelor and the South Sister (of the Three Sisters volcanic chain) served as the pre-eruption Mount St. Helens, and the film opens with a picture of Mount Bachelor and the Central Oregon Cascades.

The setting for the pre-eruption Spirit Lake was actually Sparks Lake, located west of Mount Bachelor.

The setting for the Mount St. Helens Lodge was Elk Lake Lodge, located about 30 miles (48 km) from Bend along Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway.

The film used Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway (Cascade Lakes Highway) to depict Washington State Route 504 (known now as the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway).

The photos during the depiction of the May 18, 1980, eruption showing the north face of Mount St. Helens collapsing and exploding were taken by an amateur photographer at the Bear Meadow campsite 11 miles (18 km) northeast of the peak. The photographer, Gary Rosenquist, became a household name shortly after the eruption, and his photo sequence was widely used by the scientific community to reconstruct the events that led to the eruption.

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