The Great Santini

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The Great Santini (1979) is based on the autobiographical novel by acclaimed author Pat Conroy about a dysfunctional military family. It is set in 1962 in Beaufort, South Carolina, and stars Robert Duval in an Oscar nominated boisterous performance as Lt. Colonel Bull Meechum, a celebrated Marine pilot who is a disaster as a father and husband. In the Martin Scorsese films Raging Bull and The Aviator, the qualities that make the men in those stories successful in their careers destroy their private lives. The same can be said about Meechum. According to Conroy, his father took the nickname of The Great Santini from a magician he saw as a child. However, it is possible that Conroy chose the name for his book to suggest F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, whose title character was a showman who dazzled on the surface but had character flaws below, and both titles suggest circus sideshow performers.

 

The film begins in the sky as jets participate in practice maneuvers over Spain. There is no war going on in 1962, so what is left for gung-ho Marines is a pretend conflict with Navy fliers that is not as satisfying as the real thing. The activity creates a lesser version of accomplishment. Over the communications link Meechum brags and is demeaning toward his targets. The banter and singing that occurs consists of adolescent macho posturing as the planes engage in daring maneuvers to compensate for the adrenalin rush of a true battle. 

 

To celebrate their faux victory, the Marine fliers have a loud, vulgar, drunken party, with Meechum throwing wine glasses around as substitutes for bombs as they attempt to imitate a true victory event. Meechum salutes their bravery and how they are feared and invincible, which is a genuine statement as to how he feels about his fellow Marines. But, that fearlessness makes Meechum reckless on the ground. A Navy Captain comes into their dining area and tells them to behave and keep the noise down. Although Meechum says they will comply, he actually has other plans. He rambles through the restaurant, pouring drinks in the glasses of patrons and rolling over their tables. He grabs the Navy Captain’s wife and kisses her. He has an open can of cream soup hidden inside his sports jacket and with his back to the people in the room, pretends to throw up, spilling the soup on the floor, which the other Marines start to eat with spoons. The scene nauseates those there and empties the place. It suggests this is the way thrill junkies generate excitement in the absence of battle.  

 The next shot is of Meechum’s family praying for the man at an aircraft hanger, which seems fitting given the Lt. Colonel’s personality and profession. The conversation between the Mecchums is argumentative, reflecting discontent among them about having to move around so much. Mother Lillian (Blythe Danner) plays the diplomat as older brother Ben (Michael O’Keefe, nominated for Best Supporting Actor) walks with sarcastic sister Mary Anne (Lisa Jane Perskey) toward their father’s landing plane. Although typical sibling contentiousness is present, the language of the children contains an alarming amount of violent words concerning punching, knocking out teeth, and death, reflecting the influence of their father. Lillian prepares them for “inspection” as Meechum can’t separate military from domestic life. She especially warns Ben about how to act, and his less than enthusiastic welcome contrasts with the exuberant response of the others when Meechum emerges from the plane. It is evident that Ben receives the brunt of his father’s hard-line Marine attitude.

 

Meechum and Lillian are in bed in the middle of the night and she has obviously missed her husband, saying how the worst time was when she was in bed alone and longed to feel him with her. She says how proud she is of him as he has now received a command that he has waited “too long” for, which adds to the pressure on him to excel. It is funny that she calls him “Colonel” in bed, which shows to what degree the military inhabits their life. His alarm clock goes off at three in the morning and he immediately gets out of bed and does push-ups as if he is in boot camp, and awakens his family at this early time to move to their new home.

 As they ride in their car they sing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which combines religion with war and democracy, a strange mixture of conflicting elements. When the children want to sing “Dixie,” Meechum calls that song a “loser” tune, since the South lost the Civil War. It indicates Mecchum’s drive to win and not tolerate accepting anything less than a conquest. As the others sleep, Meechum wakes up Ben. Ben asks if his dad is ever afraid when he flies. Meechum says absolutely, which is not a typical manly response. But, he says that fear makes him a good pilot, suggesting that being afraid keeps one alert to danger. Ben says that he might not want to be a Marine. Dad will have none of that, saying Ben will go to college and then enter the Marine Corps. After that, it’s up to Ben what he wants to do with his life. Meechum’s life is not capable of deviating from the plan. When Ben asks if his father would want to die in action, Meechum’s response is that it would be better than dying from hemorrhoids. They laugh over that remark, but it does show the belief that Meechum has that an action-packed death in the line of duty is a satisfying way to perish. 

 They arrive in Beaufort, which Mary Anne humorously dismisses by saying she might have mistaken it for Paris, France. His pessimistic family, most likely based on prior experience, has no faith in Meechum securing a nice place to stay. He surprises them as he drives them to a huge house. Meechum has a sense of humor, although warped at times, and the ability to surprise and please as he calls Lillian Scarlet and himself Rhett Butler. 

 The next scene has Meechum holding a riding crop and addressing his children like a drill instructor, as he tells them he has had enough of them complaining about moving to Beaufort. He tells them that any dissatisfaction will cease at a time he specifies, and says because they are Marine kids they “chew on nails” while other weaker children eat “cotton candy.” They must respond like recruits by yelling “Yes, Sir!” Dad says Meechums excel at everything, including grades and sports, and he wants them to live up to their name. It is a stoical, tough, competitive behavior to adopt, which is especially difficult to endure for any child, since youths are usually unsure of themselves and react emotionally to outside judgments. He calls Ben “sergeant,” and the boy must dismiss the “troops,” Funny Mary Anne says that her father is less like Rhett Butler and more like “Godzilla.”

 

When Meechum arrives on the base he learns from the attending sergeant that the colonel he wants to see might be in a bathroom. He wants to pull another of his adolescent stunts, so he enters the stall next to the one where a man is. He pulls him by his feet and dunks his head in the toilet. The other man turns out to be a corporal. Meechum invents an elaborate, hysterical story using a false name and says he is on a top-secret mission to evaluate soldier readiness, noting that many men were killed at Pearl Harbor while they were in the bathroom. In addition, he says that the man he assaulted did not use proper hygiene and “germs with names you can't even pronounce are preparing to launch a devastating attack that will render you helpless in the defense of your country.” The man can improvise.

 

He goes back to the office of his friend, Colonel Virgil Hedgepath (Paul Mantee), and wants to pull a humorous stunt on him. But, Virgil is ready and is just as adolescent and funny as Meechum. He has Meechum in a headlock and wants him to admit he has menstrual cramps. He already knows about the corporal in the bathroom because he most likely set up Meechum to attack the wrong man with the help of his sergeant. Virgil says that Meechum has been brought in by Colonel Varney (Michael Strong), who doesn't like Meechum but needs him to whip a squadron into shape if Varney wants to become a general. Meechum notes he wasn’t promoted, but Virgil says Meechum is lucky he didn’t get thrown out for the soup joke. Virgil advises Meechum to knock off his shenanigans while he is there. The film links juvenile, reckless behavior with the daring needed to go into combat, but it may also imply that extreme pranks may be a release valve for the pressures that build up dealing with life-or-death situations.

 

Varney tells Meechum he is a disgrace to the Marine Corps and on his way to becoming an alcoholic. But because Meechum is a terrific pilot and a good trainer he needs the pilots ready because the Cuban situation is becoming dangerous and they have to be ready. At this point circumstances are gearing up to what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, which had the world moving to the brink of World War Three between the United States and Russia. The movie seems to be saying that it is a bit scary that our military success relies on men that seem reckless when they are not engaged in their profession.

 

Meechum finds a maid for the family, a large African American woman named Arrabella Smalls (Theresa Merritt). Her last name is obviously a joke considering her size. She doesn’t find the bellowing Meechum intimidating, and challenges him to a punch-in-the-shoulder contest which she wins, causing Meechum to respect her based on his brutal criteria for admiration. Meechum’s macho attitude is on display in his homophobic slurs that he spews out concerning his youngest son, Matthew (Brian Andrews) and people he reads about in the newspaper. Lillian says Arrabella will either get used to Meechum's ways or will not, but they will “still be there,” showing how Meechum’s antics will never change in his state of arrested development. 

 When Meechum addresses his squadron he tells them that they should consider him to be God, and anything he says will be as if it is coming from the Bible’s Burning Bush. There is no questioning here, since Meechum’s authority is absolute. He is definitely the Old Testament version of God, a harsh taskmaster. He tells them they will be the best at what they do or will “die trying.” Meechum does not allow for any middle ground of success.

That do-or-die mentality carries over into the next scene as Meechum plays one-on-one basketball with Ben with the rest of the family in attendance. Lillian warns Ben not to “goad” his father, but Ben has learned from his dad that verbally abusing another is okay. So, Ben says that Meechum is gaining weight, is getting tired, and may be ready to collect “disability pension.” Since winning is everything to Meechum, he already has been committing fouls. As he dribbles, Ben says that none of them has ever beaten Meechum at anything, but he now does a good loud imitation of his father, and calls himself “The Great Bentini,” and scores the winning point. Meechum is incapable of being gracious in defeat, and wants to change the rules, saying Ben has to win by two points. He can’t conceive of himself losing, which suggests a deep insecurity. Meechum acts nasty to Marry Anne and smacks Lillian’s arm away when she says her husband will not “cheat” Ben out of his win. He speaks abusively and threatens to “kick” her “butt” if she doesn’t go into the house. Ben will not play anymore as he walks to his room while his father repeatedly bounces the basketball off the back of his head. Meechum calls him a “mommy’s boy,” and says he will make him cry like a “little girl.” Ben gets in the last word by saying “this little girl just whipped your ass good, Colonel.” By addressing Meechum by his rank, Ben stresses that the victory at home is also a win over his father’s role as a soldier, using Meechum’s joining of the two worlds against him.

 

Later that night, Meechum is still outside shooting baskets in a thunderstorm, not able to let go of his loss, the weather mirroring the tumult that rages inside the man. Lillian talks with Ben, and her son says he prayed for there to be a war so his father, who he calls “King Kong,” would have someone else to fight instead of his son. The reference to the huge ape fits the savagery and huge ego of Meechum. Ben is insightful in diagnosing his father’s compulsion to beat others as being fueled by an anger that retaliates against anything that will not allow him to satisfy his need for dominance. Lillian assures her son that his father loves him, but Ben notes the weird way Meechum shows it. He asks his mother if she loves her husband in a manner that shows his wonder as to how she could. She affirms her love for Meechum, but Ben says he treats her “crappy.” Lillian says harsh words don’t hurt anybody (which sound like she is in denial) and claims that Meechum has never physically hurt her. She says his father only wants Ben to excel. He points out the mixed signals his father sends because every compliment is matched with an attack on him, both physical and verbal. Lillian says that his father’s continuing to stay outside practicing shots shows his admission that the gap between them has narrowed. That he has to go to extreme lengths to improve himself is Mecchum’s way of saying he loves who Ben has become. Her noting that Ben has to understand that he has a strange father is an understatement.

Ben heads out with Arrabella’s son, Toomer (Stan Shaw), to go fishing. Toomer has a limp and stutters, but conveys his sense of humor, calling Ben’s small dog a cat, and comically boasting the horse that pulls his wagon is really the famous racehorse Man O’War. The good feelings shared between the two young men as they ride into town contrasts with the hatred of a couple of youthful bigots they encounter. One of them is Red Pettus (David Keith), who cruelly makes fun of Toomer’s speech impediment.

 

Toomer’s home is a dilapidated bus, the image illustrating the level of poverty he inhabits. Yet, he overcomes his situation by always laughing and having fun. He tells Ben he has to make friends with an aggressive dog there named Gray if Ben is to be accepted. Toomer says Gray doesn’t like white folks, and lets Ben feed him to lessen the animosity. Toomer is funny when he says the dog isn’t “mean,” he’s just “prejudiced,” ironically suggesting that the two really can’t be separated, even though some might want to make that distinction.

 

Out in a fishing boat, the natural beauty of the area shines, and the two might remind one of Huckleberry Finn and Jim floating alone, away from the pressure cooker life inhabited by Ben’s father and the racists of the town. As the day winds down and they share the peacefulness under the stars, Ben says, “This is terrific.” When Ben points out a shooting star, Toomer provides poetic commentary on human flaws as he says the phenomena is really Jesus shedding a tear because of the world being “hateful” and “sinful.” 

 

From this tranquil isolation there is a return to the oppressiveness of human interaction. Ben and Mary Anne must deal with being the new kids in school again. Meechum wakes up his son at four o’clock in the morning (the time Ben was born?) to throw an eighteenth birthday present at him. It is Meechum’s first flight jacket that he had been saving for Ben. He relates how he was away and drove a hundred miles an hour to get to the hospital on the day Ben was born. When he arrived he said that the toughest little fighter pilot came into the world. This scene is touching in the way it shows how proud Meechum was about the birth of his boy. But it also illustrates that positive feeling is realized within a military context, which hardens the emotions associated with the event. 

 

Lillian placed a letter in Ben’s books wishing him a happy birthday. In contrast to Meechum’s macho manner and gift, she tells her son that the quality that makes someone a man is gentleness (which is amazing considering who she married). She also wrote that Ben already has that quality, and she wants to assure him that he will always have her support. Even though it’s his birthday, she stresses that Ben gave her a gift which is to show how boundless her love can be for her son. 

 

Meechum invites his son to the base tavern with Virgil in attendance, and, when he arrives, Ben delivers the good news that he made the varsity basketball team. He is at first reluctant to have an alcoholic drink because he is in training, but when he is once again pushed by his liquor loving father, he orders a martini. Meechum has everyone there join in on a birthday toast, which wishes Ben a long life, a wife as wonderful as his mother, and a son he is proud of as much as Meechum is of Ben. It is a praiseworthy sentiment, showing that Meechum can be admirable if he allows himself to be. But, Meechum lets his son get roaring drunk to show his father he is now a “man.”

 

Meechum has to carry Ben as the young man has passed out, which spoils the birthday party the family planned. Meechum, instead of apologizing, makes a speech as if he were addressing the troops, saying Ben needs his rest because he is now on the basketball team. Meechum doesn’t really know how to interact with his family, and has made his son's birthday about himself, celebrating it the way he wanted. Later in bed, he blames Lillian for being too gentle with Ben which will prevent their son from achieving greatness. He wants to give his children the gift of “fury,” so that they can devour the world, or it will devour them. It appears his savage take on life is an adherence to the survival of the fittest belief. Lillian pretends that she is asleep, avoiding a confrontation.

 Compared to the ferocious and predatory view of Meechum, there is Toomer, who shows Ben the intricate beauty of nature. Toomer describes pollination as the bees showing their love for life, in a sense getting married to the natural process. Ben calls his companion a poet, and Toomer says everyone is “a natural born liar,” which insightfully notes how writers take the world and add the ingredient of imagination to cook up something fanciful. 

Ben is about to play in a basketball game, and the desire for his son to be great overwhelms Meechum with nervousness. But, he exhibits his concern through hostility toward his children. Mary Anne is again very funny as she says she too is so worried about the game it has caused her to develop cancer and rabies. After Meechum storms out, Lillian says Mary Anne has to read her father’s signals, to which she replies all of his signs show that he is a “psychopathic killer.” Mary Anne goes after her father and goads him more, saying that they should get to know each other better. His response is a racist remark about wanting to remain an enigma, like a “chink.” Mary Anne then asks if a daughter can be a real Meechum since she doesn’t have a jump-shot. Maybe, she offers, she can only be “a single-cell Meechum.” She says that she is pregnant by a black boy who is a pacifist homosexual, and is also a bald, crossed-eye dwarf. He storms out saying he is going to the base club. Mary Anne calls out to him, and it appears despite her sarcasm that she only wants her father’s attention. But, like him, her humor is harsh, and she doesn’t know how to show affection.

 

At the game, Meechum, who is inebriated, as one of Ben’s teammates notes, comes into the locker room and piles on the pressure by saying that there are college scouts in the stands. He has the audacity to tell the other players to make Ben look good. Meechum is always about what will make him be a winner, even if it is through others. The Marines’ Hymn plays as the teams come onto the basketball court, which grafts that military branch’s need to be the best onto the event. There is a player on the other team, Abbot (Reggie Malphrus), who taunts Ben and is physically aggressive, at one point knocking Ben to the floor. Meechum, as usual overly competitive, tells Ben that he should match the unsportsmanlike behavior and take the opponent out of the game. If Ben doesn’t, Meechum tells his son not to come home. For Meechum, the game becomes secondary now and the enemy comes down to one person, and the brutal code of manliness dictates that Ben must physically beat the enemy. He stands on the sidelines and glares at his son, which amounts to intimidation as opposed to encouragement. Ben is rattled and misses both of his free throws. He then throws the ball to Abbott so he can charge him, which results in breaking Abbot’s arm. Ben is thrown out of the game and in the locker room Coach Spinks (Joe Dorsey) says their team is being badly beaten, not only because they lost a top player in Ben, but the assault probably rallied the other team. Spinks tells Ben that he should have had the courage to tell his father that he was dead wrong, and defied him. Ben apologizes and feels very guilty about having buckled under to the will of his father.

 

Toomer encounters the nasty Pettus when the former is trying to sell his honey. Pettus smashes Toomer’s honey bottles and continues to ridicule Toomer’s stutter. Toomer grabs Pettus by the neck and puts his head under his wagon next to the wheel, threatening to tell his horse to move forward and rip off Pettus’s head. Toomer is talked down, but Pettus uses racial slurs and vows retribution. The film implies that there is always the threat of racial violence simmering beneath the surface of Southern hospitality. And, there are different types of bullies, such as Meechum and Pettus, who try to belittle others by stressing their victims’ weaknesses.

Pettus gathers others for payback. Arrabella begs Ben to help her son. Ben calls Meechum who orders his son not to get involved. Apparently doing the right thing doesn’t bring a competitive reward so it’s not worth pursuing for Meechum. Meanwhile Toomer has rigged his beehives to topple over and he unleashes the insects onto Pettus and his companions. They all run away after getting stung, but Pettus stays. Toomer tried to protect his dogs by keeping them in his bus. But Pettus shoots one of them and tries to kill another, However, Toomer is shot instead as he pushes one of the animals out of the way. Pettus is shocked that he hit Toomer, and starts to run, but Toomer lets loose his dogs who chase Pettus down and attack him. Toomer, who loved nature, is forced to use its darker side in the forms of the bees and the dogs to combat human evil. Ben arrives and sees the dead Pettus and Toomer, who even though he is dying thinks only of the beauty of the wilderness and says he will miss going shrimping with Ben. Ben drives the dead Toomer and encounters his father who slaps him for not obeying his “direct order.” Meechum only knows the rules of military rank and does not allow for ways to deal with civilian contingencies. When Meechim realizes Toomer is gone he asks Ben why didn’t he tell him. Ben’s answer is that nobody tells his father anything. Meechum only issues commands; communication is a one-way street with him. 

 Meechum has drinks with Virgil at a bar and doesn’t want to hear from his friend how brave Ben was to go to help Toomer. Meechum most likely feels guilty that he didn’t help to protect Toomer. He admits that being a career soldier in peacetime presents problems, which we see in the next scene where he gets into a fight with Lillian about his not trying to aid Toomer. He attacks his wife and then all the children come to her rescue, subduing him as he relents. Meechum needs an enemy to fight, even if it turns out to be his family. 

 

Meechum goes off and Lillian tells Ben to bring his father home. Ben’s first response is to say that he should die outside with the snakes, equating his father with reviled serpents. He eventually relents and finds his drunk father on the ground next to a tree where he is talking about his family. He says how Lillian is too protective of Ben, leaving him open to danger and how Ben must always be on the defense because the enemy is all around. He starts to cry when he says he is the dad, probably sensing he has been a parental failure. Ben says he thinks he finally understands his father. Being a pilot surrounded by the enemy was how Meechum saw his role in the family, which was always being attacked, and he wanted to prepare them for the onslaught. Ben tells his father that he loves him, but Meechum can’t handle the sentimentality, and reacts the only way he knows, by drunkenly trying to fight his son. Ben is able to be playful with him in this situation now that he allows for the motivation behind Meechum’s rough exterior. He brings him home in a reversal of the scene where his father brought him to their house after Ben’s birthday, as they switch roles.

 On a night flight, Meechum’s jet catches fire and he crashes because he wanted to pilot the plane clear of the town below him. His last act was one of self-sacrifice. He died in his aircraft alone, which is really where he felt most at home. Lillian wants them to maintain an outward display of emotional control at the funeral to honor her husband’s desire to be strong in the face of adversity. At night, Ben is alone with his mother and he says he used to pray that his father would crash so he could be free. He now cries out of guilt for those prayers. But his mother tells him that he was free when he tried to help Toomer. The point here is that Ben defied his father and exercised his own judgment to do what he knew was right. So, his dad did not have to die for Ben to have his freedom. He had already become his own man.

After the funeral the family must leave Beaufort. Ben assumes the role of authority left vacant by his father’s passing. He asks if they have to go to the bathroom because there will be few stops. Mary Anne, in character, asks if he wants an affidavit. When they ask Ben why they always leave at three in the morning he answers as his father would have that it’s because there is less traffic. Things may seem like they were before, but Ben is not his father, who was always at war, maybe even with himself.

The next film is The Stranger.