Robert Duvall and Michael O'Keefe earned their Oscar nominations; Duvall plays Bull Meechum, "The Great Santini", a Marine pilot whose fierce exterior masks insecurity; O'Keefe, his son, clashes with his hardassery. There's some excessive sentimentality involving Toomer (Stan Shaw, still quite good), and it feels rushed at times--planned for TV, it might have been made to fit a time-slot--but the acting is strong all around and the story is engaging. Good music, too. An unjustly forgotten film.

Sure, Duvall is awesome, but his character here was a bit much to sit through for a feature length. I'd like to see a face to face argument between him and R. Lee Ermey's character from "FMJ".

This movie bounced around between so many genres I didn't know what to make of it.

HEY SPORTS FANS