The Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a highly successful Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. It also explores the high price of heroism and self sacrifice on the man's soul and interpersonal relationships. It stars Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, Michael O'Keefe, Lisa Jane Persky, Julie Anne Haddock, Brian Andrews, Stan Shaw and David Keith. Much of the film was shot on location in Beaufort, South Carolina.
The four Meechum kids and their mother move from Marine post to Marine post, following their father, a pilot, in the peaceful years before the Vietnam war. Bull Meechum, the self-described "great Santini," is manic: a martinet at once enthusiastic and abusive of his family. In Beaufort, South Carolina, Bull is assigned to whip into shape a squadron of pilots, and Ben makes friends with Toomer, a slow-talking Black youth. Racial and family tensions explode in violence, and Ben must find a way to make peace with his father. Written by
