MovieChat Forums > Helter Skelter (1976) Discussion > Steve Railsback

Steve Railsback

posted 9 years ago by v_ramcharan
6 replies | jump to latest

Regardless of what the viewer feels about the morality or immoral something or other about Charles Manson; Steve Railsback's performance was the best I had ever seen as a teenager growing up on 70s tv movies. It was fresh, it wasn;t crowd-pleasing, and I believe that Railsback had been coached by Elia Kazan in that fantastic monologue in the trial scene. If anything, this movie is about great acting. Too bad it has to take the networks to portray a crazy man like Manson to hire a great actor like Steve Railsback.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] puirt-a-beul 9 years ago

I agree; Railsback gave a great performance in this, and you certainly don't have to be sympathetic to Manson or his followers (how could you be?) to appreciate it.

Every role I've ever seen Railsback play I think he's been memorable. I'm a bit puzzled he never became a bigger name.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] lguadiana 8 years ago

Steve Railsback was excellent in this.

[–] frank8040 8 years ago

totally agree

[–] ElectricWarlock 8 years ago

Yes, his performance was absolutely incredible. I get goosebumps every time I hear his speech to the courtroom without the jury present. He and Nancy Wolfe both gave legendary performances in my opinion.

[–] steve8171968 7 years ago

Helter Skelter is on Decades again. I've never actually the whole movie, just bits and pieces of it. But seeing photos of Steve Railsback and what I've seen on TV, I think it's eerie how much he looks like Manson. I was not quite a year old when it happened, I was born in August of '68. I had learned about it later, probably reading the newspaper around the anniversary.