I wonder if socialist director Martin Ritt is spinning in his grave with the 180 degree political turn made by the star of Conrack, Jon Voight.
Voight once noted to be a liberal do gooder. I do not think he has said one nice thing about Barack Obama when he was president or after it.
Based on true events in the life of writer Pat Conroy. Voight plays an idealistic teacher from the south who gets a job in Yamacraw, an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina.
It is populated by poor black families and the young Conroy is shocked to find that his students know less than zero. They do not even know what country they live in or can even pronounce his name. Hence he title of the film Conrack.
Conroy embarks on teaching this kids something rather than be an overseer and prepare them for a life of work, drudgery and poverty.
The district superintendent Mr Skeffington (Hume Cronyn) is not impressed by Conroy's methods. The old man is already at odds with the counterculture and anti Vietnam war movement of late 1960s America.
The movie is wonderfully shot. It does feature an Oscar bait performance from Voight. It looks freestyling, he even mimics Harpo Marx at one point. Cronyn is no slouch here. In his brief scenes he is a grouch, yet look at his hypocritical smiling face when the kids knock on his door in Halloween.
It is a slight and sentimental story. The idealistic school teacher movie is nothing new. It might have helped if the film had made explicit that the inhabitants of this island spoke a form of Creole. This would had explained the difficulties they had in learning English and pronouncing words.
Conrack has acquired a reputation as a forgotten gem.
Voight once noted to be a liberal do gooder. I do not think he has said one nice thing about Barack Obama when he was president or after it.
Based on true events in the life of writer Pat Conroy. Voight plays an idealistic teacher from the south who gets a job in Yamacraw, an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina.
It is populated by poor black families and the young Conroy is shocked to find that his students know less than zero. They do not even know what country they live in or can even pronounce his name. Hence he title of the film Conrack.
Conroy embarks on teaching this kids something rather than be an overseer and prepare them for a life of work, drudgery and poverty.
The district superintendent Mr Skeffington (Hume Cronyn) is not impressed by Conroy's methods. The old man is already at odds with the counterculture and anti Vietnam war movement of late 1960s America.
The movie is wonderfully shot. It does feature an Oscar bait performance from Voight. It looks freestyling, he even mimics Harpo Marx at one point. Cronyn is no slouch here. In his brief scenes he is a grouch, yet look at his hypocritical smiling face when the kids knock on his door in Halloween.
It is a slight and sentimental story. The idealistic school teacher movie is nothing new. It might have helped if the film had made explicit that the inhabitants of this island spoke a form of Creole. This would had explained the difficulties they had in learning English and pronouncing words.
Conrack has acquired a reputation as a forgotten gem.