Hellinger's Law

Hellinger's Law is a 1981 TV movie starring Telly Savalas, and directed by Leo Penn. It was the pilot for a proposed TV series starring Savalas which was not made, and was screened as a stand-alone film.

Hellinger's Law
Genre	Crime Drama
Screenplay by	Lawrence Vail Jack Laird
Story by	Lawrence Vail Ted Leighton
Directed by	Leo Penn
Starring	Telly Savalas Morgan Stevens Roy Poole Ja'Net Dubois Melinda Dillon
Music by	John Cacavas
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Jack Laird James Duff McAdams
Producer	Chas. Floyd Johnson
Production location	Houston
Cinematography	Charles Correll
Editors	John J. Dumas Leon Ortiz-Gil Bill Parker
Running time	100 minutes
Production company	Universal Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	March 10, 1981 (1981-03-10)

Cast

• Telly Savalas as Nick Hellinger
• Morgan Stevens as Andy Clay
• Ja'Net DuBois as Dottie Singer
• Roy Poole as Judge Carroll
• Rod Taylor as Clint Tolliver
• Melinda Dillon as Anne Gronouski
• James Sutorius as Lon Braden
• Tom McFadden as Detective Roy Donovan
• Lisa Blake Richards as Cara Braden
• Kyle Richards as Julie Braden
• Arlen Dean Snyder as Da Fred Whedon
• Thom Christopher as Bill Rossetti

Production

Filming was to have begun on 27 February 1980 but was pushed back, reportedly to iron out script problems. Several days of filming took place at the Crutcher Ranch in Fulshear, Texas in April of that year. Fulshear is located about 40 miles west of Houston. About a hundred local residents were used as extras for several of the outdoor scenes.

"I know some people are thinking it's a pilot," said Savalas at the time. "I didn't think that way. I made a two-hour movie. But doing it as a series would be different. Kojak was easy because I was playing Telly for the most part. It was a role I could ad lib. Although I could play a credible lawyer, I know nothing about the law. I'd be more dependent on the scriptwriters." Savalas said if the series went ahead he would want to make the character come from New York rather than Philadelphia. "Telly's from New York, and if you do a series you want to make it comfortable for the actor. It'd have to be close to my roots so I wouldn't have to worry about my speech pattern."

Novelization

In December 1980, approximately three months before the telefilm aired, Jove Books released a novelization of the teleplay. The legal-sounding by-line is by author "Justin Barr", which is probably a pseudonym as it appears on no other published work, and novelization commissions tend to go to writers with prior book credits. The cover features a still of Savalas and a price of $2.25.

External links

• Hellinger's Law at IMDb
• Hellinger's Law at TCMDB
• Review of film at New York Times
• Hellinger's Law at Rod Taylor Site
• Hellinger's Law at BFI