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.
During the earthquake, a flock of quail becomes disoriented and smashes into the windshield of an Aerospatiale SA341G Gazelle helicopter in use for logging operations.
The helicopter's pilot, Otis Kaylor (Ron O'Neal), makes a successful emergency landing, only to be accused of nearly killing a group of loggers.
Upon arriving in the small town of Cougar, he quickly befriends Linda Steele (Cassie Yates), a single mother who works as a waitress at a restaurant named Whittaker's Inn.
Meanwhile, the 83-year-old owner of the Mount St. Helens Lodge, Harry R. Truman (Art Carney), has a defiant attitude toward the idea of leaving his home on the slopes of the volcano.
Presumably on the day before the eruption, David packs Linda and her son off to safety and stays behind for the scientific work he still needs to do on a ridge a few miles north of the volcano.
Pyroclastic flows destroy everything in their path, and lahars sweep down into the valley of the North Fork Toutle River, taking houses, trees, and bridges with them.
The film ends with a scene of a small tree growing amidst the barren moonscape of the posteruption North Fork Toutle River valley.
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.
Gerri Whiting, the sister of lodge owner Harry Truman, served as a historical consultant for the film.
"[5] Johnston's mother stated that the film had misrepresented many aspects of the eruption and had depicted her son falsely as "a rebel" with "a history of disciplinary trouble.