Conroy finishes The Great Santini... or not. Conroys father, Lt. Col. Donald Patrick Conroy, a Marine fighter pilot made it impossible for his family to love him and his oldest son remembers hating him while I was in diapers. But artistically, emotionally and psychology Pat Conroy was stuck with the abusive SOB until the day he died... or maybe not. The ending of The Great Santini he had the satisfaction of killing his father by downing his F-4 Phantom on a routine flight. The novel was made into a film of the same name in 1979, starring Robert Duvall in the title role. Set in 1962 before Vietnam, Conroy makes the point that Santini is a warrior without a war, and in turn is at war alternately with the service that he loves and his family. Conroy was a member of the famed Black Sheep Squadron who eanred three DFCs during the Korean War; he was a veteran of World War II and of two tours of duty in Vietnam. He is best known as the being the inspiration for the character LtCol. Bull Meechum in The Great Santini. Conroy says his father died believing that Duvall made it as an actor solely because he had the opportunity to play Col. Don Conroy. Clearly Pat Conroy, having now killed his father twice, is still shaped everyday by this huge personage of his bitter childhood. The closest his father ever came to acknowledging his violence, Mr. Conroy said, was when he turned to him after seeing the 1979 movie of The Great Santini, and said, If Id beaten you more, youd be a better writer. Marines never apologize, is the way his son remembers his non-apology.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:44:04 +0000
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