As most other movie-goers, I am a big fan of Robert Duvall's body of work. The Great Santini is a film about a once well respected American war pilot Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum (Robert Mitchum) whose excessive binge drinking is about the only substance that can dull his pain from previous battle fatigue. He moves his wife and two kids from one air base to another never appreciating the impact on his own families lives. His faithful wife Lillian (played to perfection by Blythe Danner), his wacky teenage character of a daughter Mary Anne (Lisa Jane Persky), and his willing to please adolescent son Ben (Michael O'Keefe) seem to know the routine their pilot father always patterns.
Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum is moved from one air base to another due to his many successful battles in the air, but on the ground, he is nothing close to being a team player. Rather, he is a hard drinking prankster, a bully, and an egotistical maniac. His family is nearing their end point with their so-called man of the house, their family provider, and mother Lillian accepts the good, but mostly the bad from her husband whenever he chooses to hang around the house, or attend one of his son Ben's high school basketball games.
This is a story that I am sure many families can relate to. Alcohol can take its toll rather quickly on a man, and Robert Duvall's character as Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum is a despicable man, bar none. Don't get me wrong, Duvall's portrayal of an alcoholic air force Lieutenant who beats his wife and kids is so believable that you hate the man he has become.
I don't want to give away the ending suffice to say as the story line continued to unfold, this is a family in a downward spiral, that depending upon your own family life you can understand the film ending, or you may not.
I give the Great Santini a 7 out of 10 rating
Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum is moved from one air base to another due to his many successful battles in the air, but on the ground, he is nothing close to being a team player. Rather, he is a hard drinking prankster, a bully, and an egotistical maniac. His family is nearing their end point with their so-called man of the house, their family provider, and mother Lillian accepts the good, but mostly the bad from her husband whenever he chooses to hang around the house, or attend one of his son Ben's high school basketball games.
This is a story that I am sure many families can relate to. Alcohol can take its toll rather quickly on a man, and Robert Duvall's character as Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum is a despicable man, bar none. Don't get me wrong, Duvall's portrayal of an alcoholic air force Lieutenant who beats his wife and kids is so believable that you hate the man he has become.
I don't want to give away the ending suffice to say as the story line continued to unfold, this is a family in a downward spiral, that depending upon your own family life you can understand the film ending, or you may not.
I give the Great Santini a 7 out of 10 rating