Season 2: Episode 48 - BOOK TO SCREEN: Helter Skelter (1976)

Helter Skelter (1976)

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Based on the book written by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry, they would come together with JP Miller to write the screenplay about the Manson Murders.  The crime that shook the country and is known for killing the hippy movement in two nights.

 

Tom Gries would direct this two part television film that would shock and stun American audiences for upping the violence and sex on primetime television.  This was also broadcast seven years after the initial crimes which was a gamble CBS was willing to take.  It was a hit in the ratings and would be released outside America with extra violence and nudity to theatres to become a theatrical blockbuster. 

 

The film shocked and stunned audience with its excellent star turns from Steve Railsback as Charles Manson and Marilyn (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Burns portraying Linda Kasabian.  The film would be nominated for numerous awards and win the Edgar Allen Poe for best miniseries.

 

Opening Credits (.20); Introduction (6.43); Forming the Plot (17.44); Page to Page (18.33); Film Trailer (1:26.05); Lights, Camera, Action (1:31.28); Epilogue (2:25.04); End Credits (2:26.52); Closing Credits (2:28.18)

 

Opening Credit – Cease to Exist – by Charles Manson – taken from the album Lie:  The Love and Terror Cult

 

Closing Credits – Unworthy of Your Love – by Greg Germann as John Hinckley Jr and Annie Golden as Squeaky Fromme – taken from the original Broadway cast recording of Steven Sondheim’s Assassins.

 

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