Steineded How sad is this?

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Wuchak Two films were released in 1979, "Apocalypse Now" and "The Great Santini," wherein Robert Duvall played essentially the same character -- a gung-ho, half-crazed Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps.In "The Great Santini" Duvall plays fighter pilot commander Bull Meechum, who drives his family to his new base in Beaufort, SC (where the film was actually filmed). It's peace-time in the early 60s before the Vietnam War. Bull is ultra-charismatic but flawed. At any given time you either love him or hate him; you'll see this same struggle with his family members. He generally treats them like Marine subordinates which, for the most part, works and they seem to have a lot of good times together, but there's a dark side as Bull is overly competitive, especially with his just-turning-18 son Ben (Michael O'Keefe). Perhaps this is because he's a warrior without a war and he has to fight/win someone. He's also an alcoholic, albeit a functional one. The story details the family's good times and bad times.If you're in the mood for a good drama you can't go wrong with "The Great Santini." Although there are a few comedic moments, which are life-like in nature, this is essentially a serious study on the joys & agonies of family dynamics. The story offers numerous insights to ponder, which makes it a great film for repeat viewings.Many times during the film I was reminded of my growing-up years. In Bull Meechum I see a bit of my father.The one-on-one basketball game between Bull and his son is an exceptional scene. The rest of the family is watching and cheering. They're all having a fun time until it takes an unexpected dark turn. Bull can't handle losing to his son and responds like a total jerk. Yet it smacks of real life. Years ago I was playing chess with my wife on a Lake Erie beach and she beat me, which wasn't usual, and for some reason I got upset about it, perhaps because I wasn't in the best of moods to start with. Looking back, of course, I see how pathetic it was.Unlike Bull and Ben in the film I didn't have an actual relationship with my father. Generally, the only time he'd talk to me was when he was calling me names, cussing me out or telling me I was never going to amount to anything. One day, when I was 15 and my father was in his mid-50s, I was in my room upstairs and my dad started yelling at me from the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't really hear what he was saying and, mumbling, just kinda blew it off. He then ran up the stairs yelling and charged into my room in a rage. If he ever ran at me in such a manner in the past I would just flee the scene, but in this case I was cornered and had nowhere to run. Hence, we went at, the first and only time (physically), father against son. As great as his rage was, mine was greater. Don't get me wrong, I believe in honoring parents and all, but at that point I couldn't take anymore. I was done with the names, the cuss-outs and the deadly curses (e.g. "You're gonna turn to $#!&"). I was able to put him in a headlock fairly quickly and squeezed tight until his entire head turned beet red. I then let him go and he walked out of the room muttering, defeated. And no wonder, he was in physical decline while I was just entering my prime. Strangely, in weeks and months to come he would brag on me about the incident.Why do I bring this personal story up? Because the film is so true-to-life that it will likely stir up growing-up memories for any adult viewer, pleasant and unpleasant, happy and sad.The eldest daughter, the redhead, is played by Lisa Jane Persky. She initially comes off as eccentric, geeky and not very attractive, but wait until you see her on prom night later in the picture. If I was 18 I'd take her out without a second thought. Anyway, go to IMDb and check out a couple of recent pictures of her and witness what a truly beautiful woman she grew up to be.I should also point out that the film has a good, authentic Southern vibe like a handful of other films, e.g. "Mississippi Burning," "Ode To Billy Joe," "Cat People" (the remake) and even (believe it or not) "Squirm." There's so much more I could say about this picture, but I'll leave it for you to discover. Once again, if you're in the mood for a good drama you can't go wrong.GRADE: A-

Robert J. Maxwell In "A Few Good Men," Rob Reiner's exuberant shredding of the U. S. Marine Corps, Jack Nicholson is the colonel on the witness stand who makes this hot but fatuous speech. "You don't want to admit it but you NEED me on that wall!" He's talking about the wall that separates the U.S. community in Guantanamo from the rest of the island of Cuba, but of course that wall is metphorical. It's the wall that keeps us from being attacked by all those enemies out there who are threatening us.In a fine performance, Robert Duvall, is a Marine Corps fighter pilot who exhibits plenty of what the Greeks called "thumos", a kind of spirited contentiousness, a passionate desire to be recognized as the best at what he does. His problem is that while this works very well when he's in the air -- so we are told -- it doesn't apply easily to his home life, not even with a wife as understanding as Blythe Danner, and a couple of younger kids who find his huffing and puffing masculinity as much amusing as irritating. "Okay, SPORTS FANS, it's oh-four-hundred, muster for inspection!" He has the most trouble with his oldest son, Michael O'Keefe, who is turning eighteen and is a high school senior. That's an age at which you are supposed to be shedding some of the less-than-perfect influences of your childhood. It pits Duvall's "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" attitude against the rules of the game. For instance, when your opposite number on a rival basketball team fouls you, you're supposed to continue playing fair. You're not supposed to follow your Dad's orders and knock down the offender and break his arm in the process, causing your team to lose.That basically is what the movie is about -- the love/hate relationship between O'Keefe and Duvall, mediated by the only truly mature person in the family, Blythe Danner. Duvall's headstrong attitude leads to some ancillary problems. One involves race. (This is South Carolina in the early 1960s.) Another is his problematic status in the Marine Corps. He gets drunk sometimes and he pulls unfunny, childish stunts on others. It's all pretty well laid out for us. The characters we see aren't stereotyped in any way, but recognizable human beings.A major weakness is the casting of Michael O'Keefe in the important role of Duvall's son and heir. He's not much of an actor and when he weeps it's an embarrassment. And personally I wish there had been more scenes involving airplanes because I love them, although I hate them too because they done me wrong once. What I mean, for instance, is -- well, okay, Duvall has been brought to Beaufort (pronounced "Bew-fort") in South Carolina to whip a lax squadron into shape. And we hear his initial speech to the members of his new command, telling them that they will obey his orders as if they came from God almighty. This is already a cliché. We've seen it often before. But it's a GOOD cliché! That's WHY we've seen it so often before. Yet we get only about two minutes of watching Duvall chewing out his aviators from the cockpit of his F-4. More time spent watching Duvall do barrel rolls and a bit less watching O'Keefe dancing and weeping would have helped.I said the roles weren't stereotypes, and they're not, but I also have to say that Pat Conroy's novel explored the original characters in more satisfying detail. Duvall's character has a neat, rather Southern way with words, and Conroy has a keen ear for dialog. Duvall is allowed in the film to say, "A warrior without a war -- and I count myself among that number -- has problems." And, as in the novel, members of the regular black-shoe Navy are called "squids" and "rust pickers." But pruned out of the film is Duvall's drunken expletives at a party in Spain -- Spain, not Mexico -- in which he shouts abuse at the waiter and calls him "a taco eater."The end is a little confusing. It's as if someone had decided that the movie was five minutes too long and took a pair of garden shears to the climax. Why doesn't Duvall eject from his doomed airplane? Because it's over the town of Beaufort. But Beaufort is a very small city, perched on the Atlantic Ocean. It makes no sense. The funeral that follows is handled with far more skill.

Hint523 The Great Santini is the story of a man in the Marines (Duvall) who's got a wife and four children. However, he's an alcoholic, and gets angry easily. When the family moves to Beufort, South Carolina, Santini makes a lot of pressure on his eldest son (O'Keefe) to avoid other the blacks and play basketball the best on his team. With all this pressure, the family goes nuts and crazy things happen. Although it's plot is that of a drama, Santini is a head-on comedy. Most everybody in the family will enjoy this, and is a must see. I rated it 8 out of ten stars because I really liked it, but the end seemed to drag on a lot. Worth seeing, funny, dramatic and enjoyable!

ke4qm My comment is that The Great Santini should be on the list of one the best movies ever made. It contains that certain drama and factual/reality of a Marine pilot/military service during the 1960's. Assuredly, there is a whole lot of fact included.Even the can-of-mushroom soup was a trick thing that DID happen here and there during that era!Now, I still believe that I had originally seen the movie in 1977/78 under a different title as inilatly released (don't remember the title now). Does anyone know/remember? Yes, the movie was re-released successfully in 1979 and with great success. I Love the movie!What brought me here is simply Blythe Danner. Earlier today I watched for the first time "Meet the Fokers". Wow! Blythe still is looking quite superb and so beautiful! Me and military? Former US Navy