grantss Lt. Colonel "Bull" Meechum (played by Robert Duvall) is a Marine Corps fighter pilot, one of the best there is. He is also a family man, with a wife and four children. He runs his house like a military establishment, which works for him but is not necessarily ideal for the children, especially his eldest son.Good, but not great. Was set up to be a great human drama, but got sidetracked, and pulls its punches at the end. The sidetracking was due to trying to tackle one big issue too many (the issue being 1960s racism). The ending is emotional, but leaves a few things unresolved.Superb performance by Robert Duvall in the lead role. Good support from Blythe Danner and Michael O'Keefe.

SnoopyStyle It's 1962. Lieutenant Colonel Wilbur "Bull" Meechum (Robert Duvall) is a great Marine pilot also known as "The Great Santini". He returns from Spain to reunite with his loyal wife Lillian (Blythe Danner) and their four children. He's a drunk domineering presence and a stern disciplinarian. He refuses to accept defeat by his son Ben (Michael O'Keefe) at basketball. Ben struggles against his bullying and his drunkenness. Mary Anne is the bespectacled daughter. Everybody suffers under his tyranny. Ben befriends the stuttering son of the cook Toomer (Stan Shaw) who is harassed by racist redneck Red Petus (David Keith).This is great dominating performance from Duvall. I wish it was matched by an equally compelling performance from Michael O'Keefe. Quite frankly, David Keith would make a better son. O'Keefe is simply overpowered and that is not all about his character. It's the difference between an acting legend and a beginner. O'Keefe is a good looking all-American guy but he isn't able to match Duvall's darkness or intensity. Keith would have been able to.

tieman64 "The Great Santini" stars Robert Duvall as Bull Meechum, an idle marine pilot without a war. Military indoctrination, boredom, bottled-up aggression, and the stresses of living up to a confused version of masculinity, result in Duvall constantly feuding with, dominating and bullying his small family. Much of the episodic film consists of a series of macho rituals between Duvall and his son, played by Michael O'Keefe.The film is structured as a coming-of-age tale, O'Keefe juggling both hate and an appreciation of his father as he negotiates his own path into manhood. It's a bombastic, explosive melodrama, but the characters are too one-dimensional – Duvall's Colonel Kilgore from "Apocalypse Now", an ogre with no off-switch, and no effort is made to explain why his obviously intelligent family sticks so close to him – and the film missteps with a last act sequence in which Meechum sacrifices his life to prevent an air-plane crashing into a residential area. This moment is designed to rehabilitate Meechum in our eyes, to portray men like him as being "needed" and "necessary" in the "war" against those who "threaten our towns". He's a hard-hearted brute, the film acknowledges, but look at his soft, good and noble side. The film is set in 1962. The Vietnam war arrives with Meechum's death, the audience now ready for a little well-meaning murder, rape and pillaging.The film makes several interesting links between sports and warfare, and gives Meechum's daughter, played by Lisa Jane Persky, a number of good lines. She's constantly taunting her father, weaselling her way under his skin and getting away with it.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing for Duvall's scenery chewing. No alcoholic, abusive man who has faced disciplinary charges would be granted the opportunity to fly a fighter jet today. The air-force likes well mannered killers.

S.R. Dipaling Lt. Colonel Wilbur "Bull" Meecham(Robert Duvall,well-cast and brilliant)is one of the best Marine pilots in the Corps and would be perfectly at home at any war(and were guessing he saw some action,either or both in Korea and WWII),gutsy,smart,determined and brave as all get out. Unfortunately for him,the years is 1962,and other than a VERY chilly Cold War(strange,incidentally,that the Cuban Missile crisis,to my recollect,never came up in this film. Not once!),there is no real battle for him to ply his well-honed skills.This does not bode particularly well for his large,loving and recessive family. His wife Lillian(Blythe Danner,lilting beauty),a head-strong Catholic Southern belle,adores her husband but is all-too aware of his temper and ego;his oldest son Ben(Michael O'Keefe in a truly underrated performance),is equal parts his own,thoughtful,sensitive young man coming into his own and yet very much like his father in more basic ways;the oldest daughter Mary Ann(Lisa Jane Persky,not wasting ANY of her scenes) feels like the red-headed stepchild,literally AND figuratively,and the two youngest(Julie Anne Haddock and Brian Andrews),who seem lost in the shuffle. They love their husband/father,but seem to be completely powerless against his unrelenting competitive persona and gruff persona. Bull saves his strongest lessons and,in his mind,greatest spoils for Ben,and this is where the movie is at its strongest.A side story where Ben befriends Toomer(Stan Shaw),the gentle,stuttering son of their housekeeper is well-meant and touching in and of itself,but seems somewhat misplaced here.As a whole movie,it feels like a bit of a mash-up;I suspect that screenwriter and director Lewis John Carlino figured that he had to "boil down" Pat Conroy's novel to make a neat,two-hour-fitting narrative,but it feels a bit forced. I'd also be lying if I said that I didn't think that some elements(the music,editing,pacing come to mind)age badly,because they seem to have done just that. With all that said,however,the actors from Duvall,himself a Navy vet to Shaw's Toomer are so heartfelt,intense and memorable that this movie is able to hold up with ANY vibrancy some thirty years after its release. Worth a look,particularly for military families and/or fans of the actors involved.