Elayne Heilveil Movies
- 1984
The made-for-TV Shattered Vows stars Valerie Bertinelli as a young nun named Mary Gilligan. Though she tries to honor the edicts of her calling, Mary falls in love with a handsome priest (David Morse). Her overwhelming desire to marry and raise a family culminates in her leaving her order before taking final vows. The real-life Mary Gilligan Wong eventually became a clinical psychologist. Her autobiography Nun: A Memoir served as the basis for Shattered Vows, which first aired October 29, 1984 ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
Linda Purl stars as Nellie Bly, famed 19th century female journalist, in this "Classics Illustrated" TV movie. A tireless crusader, Nellie exposes corruption amongst the rich of New York and miserable working conditions amongst the poor. In her most famous exploit, Nellie decides to emulate Jules Verne's Phineas Fogg by travelling around the world in 80 days-or less. Gene Barry, Raymond Buktenica, J.D. Cannon and John Randolph costar, the last-named actor playing Nellie's boss Joseph Pulitzer. Filmed in 1979, The Adventures of Nellie Bly was first telecast June 11, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Fast Friends is a lumpy satire set "backstage" at a talk show (imagine what the film would have been like had it been made in 1989 rather than '79). Most of the action centers around egotistical, near-lunatic talk host Dick Shawn. His frantic antics are counterpointed with the story of career woman Susan Heldfond, a divorcee who re-enters the workplace for the sake of her child. This made-for-TV film costars former critic's darling Carrie Snodgress and then-hot actress MacKenzie Phillips. But the real attraction in Fast Friends is the prescient appearance of tenth-billed David Letterman as "Matt Morgan", a brash comedian who has the temerity to upstage the preening Dick Shawn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Jim (James Garner) is pressed into service as best man when the redoubtable Angel (Stuart Margolin) gets married to Regin Boyajian (Elayne Heilveil). It is not love but fear that has motivated Angel to walk down the aisle: he figures that by wedding Regina, he will avoid being killed by her thuggish relatives, who have been victimized by Angel's latest scam. Somehow, all this matrimonial intrigue is linked to a 14-year-old unsolved murder, and to a high-profile car salesman (James Wainwright) who will go to any lengths to keep his past life as a street-gang member from becoming public knowledge. Future Simon&Simon star Gerald McRaney shows up in a small role--and listen for the voice of frequent Rockford Files director Jackie Cooper). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Elaine Heilveil guest stars as Karen Overstreet, a female paramedic trainee with a hostile attitude who feels she must continually prove her worth to her all-male colleagues. On the job, it is Roy (Kevin Tighe) who ends up needing emergency medical attention after trying to save an invalid from a fire. Elsewhere, an attempted suicide changes his mind a shade too late, and the paramedics struggle to revive the victim of a pulmonary embolism, and a freeway construction crew accidentally imperils an elderly couple. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
A Cry for Help (working title: End of the Line) stars Robert Culp as an acerbic, Don Imus-like radio talk show host. When one of his callers, an anxious young woman, threatens to kill herself, Culp laughs it off. Later, however, he realizes that the girl wasn't kidding, and mounts a frantic effort-with the help of his loyal audience-to locate the would-be suicide. Richard Levinson and William Link's script stretches the tension level to the snapping point, and you'll love every minute of it. Made for television, A Cry for Help originally aired February 12, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
Jim (James Garner) is asked by Angie Perris (Elayne Heilveil) to locate her brother, stockbroker Tom Perris (Eugene Peterson), who disappeared shortly after giving her the combination to his safe. Using that combination, Jim and Angie discover that her far-from-wealthy brother had somehow salted away nearly one million dollars. It so happens that the Feds are looking for Tom as well, and they're not in the mood to cooperate with Jim or provide him any helpful information as to what exactly is going on. The situation becomes even more vexing when Angie is kidnapped and Tom turns up dead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
When an anonymous girl calls in saying that she is going to commit suicide, a radio announcer must garner the help of all of his radio audience to help find her to prevent her accomplishing it. This is made more difficult by the fact that he is an unpopular announcer. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Harry Walker (David Janssen) is a helicopter traffic reporter in Salt Lake City who's never quite gotten over the time he spent flying during World War II -- a former combat pilot, he sees the world passing him by amid complacency and his own life reduced to boredom and bittersweet nostalgia for the best of times, when he was working for a cause that mattered (and there were causes that mattered). He chances on a brutal armored car robbery and helps the police give chase, and suddenly finds himself in the thick of the action when the robbers -- who have taken a woman hostage -- switch from a getaway car to a chopper. And when the getaway chopper tries to ram him, that's all it takes to get Walker into a cross-country aerial pursuit into the Utah desert in a duel to the death. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
A musician finds his life and his career jumping off the rails in this moody, intelligent drama. Maury Dann (Rip Torn) is a singer and songwriter struggling to hold onto his footing as one of the top names in country & western music. This being 1972, long before the Nashville sound had gone "mainstream," Dann has a new Cadillac and a small entourage to show for his efforts, but most of his shows are one-nighters at beer-soaked honky tonks in the Deep South. Onstage Maury Dann comes off as a soft-hearted good ol' boy, but off the stand, Dann is a mean-spirited hell raiser with a nearly unquenchable appetite for booze, pills, and women. Over the course of a seemingly typical day and a half, Dann steals a fan's girlfriend; ditches his longtime mistress, Mayleen (Anna Capri); picks up a naïve groupie named Rosamond (Elayne Heilveil) and gives her a crash course in life on the road; fires his guitar player (and best friend) and hires a starry-eyed teenager as his replacement; tries to bribe a disc jockey with booze and free records; has a harrowing run-in with his speed-addicted mother (Cara Dunn); discovers he's missed his son's birthday by four months; and, in cahoots with his manager, Clarence (Michael C. Gwynne), fast-talks his loyal driver, cook, and gofer, Chicago (Cliff Emmich), into taking a possible murder rap. While Payday earned excellent reviews (particularly for Rip Torn's superb performance as Maury Dann) and a handful of awards (Daryl Duke's direction won him a citation from the National Association of Film Critics, while Don Carpenter's screenplay received a prize from the Writer's Guild of America) the film's downbeat themes made it a tough sell. However, Payday gained a cult following, and more than one "outlaw" country star of the 1970s has been said to claim the film was based on his own true story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
