The Great Santini (1979)

Duvall received a much deserved Oscar nomination as a Marine who runs his family like he runs his men... with vigor and power. He's a Patton without a war and Duvall plays it off beautifully. O'Keefe (also Oscar nominated) is fantastic as his son who's only wish is to please his father. There are many startling scenes in the picture, especially the basketball game where Duvall orders O'Keefe to put another player "on the floor" for obvious flagrant fouls. Duvall's Bull Meechum rules with a iron fist and screams at his son, "Put him down, or you don't come home tonight." The film is based on Pat Conroy's novel and also stars the always wonderful Danner, as Duvall's wife and Stan Shaw as a black man befriended by O'Keefe. Lewis John Carlino directs.

Fmovies: This movie is excellent for its first half: crisply delivered, well-developed, it takes chances that you don't see in films made today. Characters like Bull Meechum are usually, in contemporary films, greatly exaggerated or treated with utter contempt (the military dad in American Beauty as a typical example). This film delivers all the way through the basketball game episode.

Then it starts to fall apart. The episode with Toomer and Red seems like a mighty big price to pay just to show Bull's lack of sensitivity and empathy, or anything else it intends to show. Not too long after, Bull himself gets yanked right out of the movie. I really would have appreciated seeing all of these interesting characters resolve their differences - or see things come to a head. I just felt that the movie just quit with 30 minutes to go.

The music was also kind of hit and miss in the last half. For example, when Ben confesses that he prayed for his father's death, the music is inappropriately creepy. It resolves into sorrow, but the net result was kind of off-putting.

Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum (Robert Duvall) is a wildcat Marine Pilot stationed stateside ; at the beginning , he along with his family are living in Spain , then , they return to USA . The family is formed by father , mother (Blythe Danner) and children (Michael O'Keefe as Ben , Lisa Jane Persky as Mary Anne , Julie Anne Haddock as Karen and Brian Andrews as Matthew Meechum) . They are a dysfunctional family , rigidly governed by the father , as he abuses and deals them in military style , because he doesn't allow himself any other way yo show his affection .

The motion picture mingles tenderness , warm humor , racism with harsh cruelties inherent with unsettling as well unpleasant main character , including his repressed emotions , frustrated career and family mistreat . According to author Pat Conroy, Lt. Col. Bull Meecham is based entirely on his own father, Donald Conroy, a Marine fighter pilot who referred to himself in the third person as "The Great Santini." Donald Conroy took the nickname from a magician he'd seen as a child ; in fact Pat and Donald Conroy were on the set on the day . Producers gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of the US Marine Corps , in the production of this picture . The movie was virtually undistributed and originally released directly to cable and airlines, under the title "The Ace" , when the NY Times reviewed it very favorably, it was pulled from cable, and released due to critical acclaim to theaters under the title "The Great Santini" . Very good acting by Robert Duvall as an aggressively competitive, but frustrated marine pilot strictly related to his family with whom he shares a strident and sometimes fun love-hatred relationship . Skillful acting especially from the youngsters with special mention to Miles O'Keefe . And standout performance by Blythe Danner ; despite playing the mummy , Blythe Danner is only 12 years older than children Michael O'Keefe and Lisa Jane Persky . Secondary cast is pretty good such as Stan Shaw , Paul Gleeson , Paul Mantee , Michael Strong and David Keith film debut .

Atmospheric cinematography by Ralph Woolsey , filmed on location in South Carolina and in Samuel Goldwyn studios , Hollywood Calif. Cameraman used lenses and Panaflex camera by Panavision , prints by Technicolor . In 1981, the movie got nods for nominated for Academy Awards to actor and supporting actor. Rousing musical score by the master Elmer Bernstein in his particular as well as martial style . The motion picture was professionally written and directed by Lewis Jon Carlino who extracted good performances and well-developed events .He is a writer and director, known for The mechanic , Mafia , Seconds ; having only directed three films : Class , The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea and this Great Santini .

The Great Santini fmovies. More common than not, even though it looks rather mean in these "politically correct" times, this is the way many families were back in the 50s.

The racial conflicts shown were very realistic and I'm sad to say did happen in the southern state in which I grew up. This movie does a good job of showing how the head of a family, the Dad, was "expected" to act.

Even though we are lead to believe he was a monster, we never found out that his son grew up to be a doctor of highest esteem.

I've seen Robert Duvall in other movies. He is a quiet, wise, somewhat reverent man. Being a fan of his, I caught "The Great Santini" on TV. And I gotta tell you, his performance as Bull Meechum just blew the hell out of me! I never knew he could play a role as fierce, violent, and powerful as Bull Meechum! Although it's a film with little attention, it's Robert Duvall best film! It's his best performance. The conflict between the father and the son is strong enough to wildly shake our emotions! Duvall was nominated for Best Actor, and he should've won! It's a must see! I tried purchasing it, but since it's not in high demand, the store didn't have it. It's worth owning, and it's definitely worth watching! Put it on your list of films to see next!

I was very shocked when I saw that "The Great Santini" had an overall rating of only 7.2. Clearly, it's one of the best films of its day and it is possibly Robert Duvall's best performance.

Duvall plays 'Bull' Meechum--a career officer whose life is the service. He is a Marine pilot first and last. As for his long-suffering family, they clearly don't fit in with his life. Much of the time he's off being deployed somewhere--which is tough on the family. But when he's home--it's much worse!! He treats his family like they are soldiers, but they never signed up for this sort of thing.

This is a wonderful character study--very realistic, tough and memorable. Exceptionally well acted, directed and well worth seeing. While it's not always pleasant, it is always compelling.