Can Ellen Be Saved? (1974)

A young girl in search of spiritual enlightenment joins a religious cult, and becomes the focus of a struggle between her family and the group.

Director:

Harvey Hart

Writer:

Emmett Roberts

Stars:

Leslie Nielsen, Katherine Cannon, Michael Parks

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Leslie Nielsen	...	Arnold Lindsey
Katherine Cannon	...	Ellen Lindsey
Michael Parks	...	Joseph
John Saxon	...	James Hallbeck
Louise Fletcher	...	Bea Lindsey
Rutanya Alda	...	Rachael
Christina Hart	...	Mary
William Katt	...	Bob
Dennis Redfield	...	Daniel
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Melissa
Scott Colomby	...	Randy
Fred Draper	...	Mr. Worth (as Frederick Draper)
Jason Parker	...	2nd Street Kid
Fred Porter	...	1st Street Kid
Dorothy Dells	...	Phone Operator

Storyline

A young girl in search of spiritual enlightenment joins a religious cult, and becomes the focus of a struggle between her family and the group.

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Plot Keywords:

religious cult | cult | exorcism | religion | deprogramming | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Children of God

Company Credits

Production Co:

ABC Circle Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Back when deprogrammers were the "answer"

I only saw this once also in my early teens, but it never left me, because Michael Parks was good and creepy as the "Messiah" of his little cult. Really, kind of a precursor to the real-life Jim Jones situation. One could see exactly how someone who knew better might fall into his clutches--- he's nice and supportive one minute, seductive the next (very edgy for a network made-for-prime-time-TV in those days!) The other other controversial part was Ellen's family's employment of a deprogrammer (based on a real one), as they were called, to basically pull a reverse brainwashing that didn't look nearly as enjoyable as the Michael Parks character's brand of conversion. In real life, there were lawsuits and questions of First Amendment and Freedom of Religion rights involved. Nowadays, the "cults" seem far more sinister, with their full potential for destruction revealed by Jonestown and others, and the current accusations of abuses by Scientology, etc. However, deprogrammers, for what they were worth, seem to have gone by the wayside long since, as far as "rescuing" and "curing" cultists go. Seems like their methods were co-opted by those Scientologists! I would love to see this old movie again, to discover whether it's still as good as I remember.