01
Affliction
Why this pick
Like The Great Santini, it studies a son living under the long shadow of a domineering father, with unsparing emotional detail and a tense, wintry sense of inherited damage.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1979 1h 55m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Great Santini
Drama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Great Santini, try these.
01
02
This Boy’s Life
Why this pick
A sharply observed coming-of-age drama about a boy navigating a charismatic but abusive stepfather; it shares Santini's uneasy mix of domestic routine, pride, fear, and adolescent resistance.
03
A River Runs Through It
Why this pick
Its period family portrait has a similarly evocative American setting and explores paternal authority, brotherhood, and love expressed through restraint rather than easy sentiment.
04
The Last Picture Show
Why this pick
This intimate small-town drama matches Santini's unvarnished coming-of-age perspective, attention to adult failures, and melancholy feel for a formative American past.
05
The Squid and the Whale
Why this pick
A more bitterly comic but emotionally incisive look at children caught in a father's ego and family rupture, driven by painfully believable shifting loyalties.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
Our curator needs a little longer. Please come back shortly.
No confident matches yet. Try our personal film finder.
01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
A warrior without a war, Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meechum, a pilot also known as "The Great Santini" to his fellow Marines, moves his family to the military base town of Beaufort, South Carolina, in peacetime 1962. His wife Lillian is loyal and docile, tolerant of Meechum's temper and drinking. Their teenaged kids, Ben and Mary Anne, are accustomed to his stern discipline and behave accordingly, while adapting to their new town and school.
Showing saved details. Some information may be out of date.
02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Robert Duvall
Lt. Col. 'Bull' Meechum
Julie Anne Haddock
Karen Meechum
David Keith
Red Petus
Stan Shaw
Toomer Smalls
Theresa Merritt
Arrabella Smalls
Michael Strong
Col. Varney
Bennett Liss
Cpl. Atcherly
Joe Dorsey
Coach Spinks