SC Movies Guide > Movies Filmed in SC > The Great Santini

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Overview

• Director – Lewis John Carlino
  
  
• Cast – Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, Michael O'Keefe, Lisa Jane Persky
  
  
• Genre – Drama
  
  
• Plot – A Beaufort boy struggles to enter manhood under the shadow of his overbearing military father. Based on the novel by Pat Conroy.
  

SC Locations

• The Meechum family home scenes were shot at 1 Laurens Street in Beaufort. The house is known as both Tidalholm and the Edgard Fripp Home, after the rice planter who had it built.
  
  
• Many of the military scenes were shot at the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station.
  
  
• The open square known as "The Point" in Beaufort is where Ben finds his father drunk under a tree.
  
  

Fun Facts

• The Edgard Fripp Home (Tidalholm) used extensively in the film was also used in The Big Chill.
  
  
• Stan Smith and his family, who lived in the house at the time, were contracted to stay in the home during the entire 3-month shoot. This wasn't so the Smiths could make sure nothing happened to the home during the shoot. Instead, it was a move to protect the movie company from being liable for damages that might have been around since the 1850s.
  
  
• After the shoot, the film company repainted the house and refinished the floors.
  
  

More Resources

• Donald "The Great Santini" Conroy - author Pat Conroy's father and basis for the novel The Great Santini
  –  Pat Conroy's Eulogy for his father
  
  
• Biographical sketch of Pat Conroy
  
  
• The Great Santini at MCAS Beaufort - former Marine Frank Scoggins recalls his encounter with Robert Duvall
  
  

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