Robert Duvall does justice to Pat Conroy’s ‘The Great Santini’

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

THE GREAT SANTINI (1979)

Robert Duvall has had an impressive film career playing a key role in many classic American motion pictures, including a memorable three from Francis Ford Coppola: “The Godfather,” “The Godfather, Part II” and “Apocalypse Now.”

But one of Duvall’s best performances, and a wonderful film in its own right, almost never was released to theaters. Duvall played the title role in the 1979 film “The Great Santini” – but the movie sat on the shelf for months.

Based on the best-selling autobiographical novel by Pat Conroy, Duvall played the main role of Bull Meechum, “The Great Santini,” a gruff, bull-headed, hard-nosed Marine colonel who had a complex relationship with his family – especially his son.

The film, adapted by director Lewis John Carlino, remains faithful to Conroy’s book. As the Meechum family settles into their new home in Beaufort, S.C., son Ben struggles to build a relationship with his overbearing father.

Bull Meechum is a self-centered, egotistical Marine colonel who runs his family like an outpost of military grunts. His children must follow all direct orders and ask no questions.

But Ben, a high school senior, has deep doubts about his feelings for his dad. He wants respect, but doesn’t like the way his dad shows it. He wants to feel loved, but isn’t sure how he feels about his father.

Carlino pulls off the nearly impossible: He creates a wonderfully moving, deeply personal film anchored by Duvall. If you saw Duvall as Col. Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now,” you have a good approximation of the character he creates in this film.

ROBERT DUVALL

Conroy, himself, often mentions he based Bull Meechum completely on his own father, Donald Conroy, who, like the novel’s character, was a Marine fighter pilot. Doing so, gives the character a richness that drives Duvall’s riveting performance.

In one particularly powerful scene that highlights the deep divide between father and son, Bull Meechum taunts Ben by bouncing a basketball off the back of his head after losing a pickup game to him. Meechum says he is only trying to build character.

Another strong scene finds Ben, at his mother’s request, searching frantically on the streets of Beaufort for his drunken father who never made it home. When Ben finds his dad, he instantly realizes the depth of the love he has for his father. This is strong, powerful, emotional stuff.

Sadly, Orion Pictures, which released the movie, literally had no idea how to market it. For starters, company executives hated the title, “The Great Santini,” because they thought film-goers would believe the movie was about a famous magician.

THE GREAT SANTINI (1979)

Orion tried other titles, including “The Gift of Fury” and “The Ace.” The company became so frustrated with marketing efforts that it passed up a theatrical release and licensed the film directly to airlines and Home Box Office under the title “The Ace.”

I saw the film for the first time on HBO as “The Ace.” Oddly enough, the movie quickly began to attract a slew of admirers and win critical praise, causing Orion to re-title it “The Great Santini” and give it an official, although belated, theatrical run.

I saw the film a second time at a suburban New Orleans theater and was just as impressed as when I caught it on HBO. Even though the film was shot in 1979, it landed Duvall and Michael O’Keefe, who played son Ben, Oscar nominations in 1981.

This is a classic example of how Hollywood executives often underestimate the intelligence-level of the film-going public by failing to give a great movie the chance it deserves to find an audience and success.

Lewis John Carlino directed one other film after “The Great Santini,” 1983’s forgettable “Class.” Duvall, in contrast, has seen much greater success and a steady career – winning the Oscar for “Tender Mercies” two years after his nomination in the same best actor category for “The Great Santini.”

“The Great Santini” is available on DVD for purchase or rental. Sadly, the film is not presented on DVD in widescreen format. And it is unavailable on Blu-ray high definition disc. Click here to purchase  the DVD through Amazon.com. The film is rated PG for language and adult situations.









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