Robert Duvall is a force of nature and one of the greatest actors of his time. We could simply list a handful of his best films, and your family could dip into them at different ages and intellectual levels: “Tender Mercies”; “Apocalypse Now”; “The Apostle”; “The Godfather” series.
But it’s another terrific Academy Award-nominated performance in “The Great Santini,” from 1979, that brings Duvall front and center in the family video column. His portrayal of Lt. Col. “Bull” Meechum as a fearless military leader and clueless family man is worth watching with your kids, if only to let them know that dear ol’ dad really isn’t that tough by comparison.
Duvall takes on the role created by novelist Pat Conroy, best known for “The Prince of Tides.” Conroy wrote about his own father, who was a complex and gifted leader of men in wartime, but a troubled tyrant on the home front who couldn’t ever find the “off” switch.
Bull takes much of his abuse out on oldest son Ben, played memorably by Michael O’Keefe. Blythe Danner adds more depth and resigned beauty as a long-suffering wife who sees the heart beating inside her belligerent husband. Bull and Ben argue over everything from basketball to racism, complicated by Ben’s befriending a black student in an unreconstructed neighborhood of South Carolina.
Duvall dominates the screen, but give O’Keefe credit, for he also received a best supporting actor nomination for his key part.
Michael Booth: 303-954-1686
