User Reviews

Martin Ritt seems to be a director who was always interested in social issues (as the son of immigrants, he had every incentive to be so, especially since he was blacklisted in the '50s). "Conrack" is based on Pat Conroy's novel "The Water is Wide", about his own experience in 1969 teaching a school of impoverished black children about the outside world, much to the chagrin of the right-wing superintendent (Hume Cronyn). What added to the movie's strength was the cultural and historical context: Conroy (Jon Voight) frustratedly tells another teacher how many of the children don't know about Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, the Vietnam War, or even where Vietnam is. He proceeds to enlighten them about all these factors.

Somewhere, I read a complaint that when Conroy played music for the children, he only played white music. The truth is, you can't blame the movie for that; it was based on Conroy's real experience. Either way, the movie's a real gem.

Pat Conroy's autobiographical book "The Water Is Wide" proves to be something of a Southern "Up The Down Staircase", yet despite the teacher-going-against-the-odds formula, "Conrack" really does move the audience with each little breakthrough and creative flash. These students (uneducated black kids on an island off South Carolina) are actually shown learning, and their collective wide-eyed innocence is remarkably sweet. The one actual actress in the bunch (Tina Andrews, an amazing performer) plays the "tough nut" Conrack has to crack, and once she falls under his charms, it all seems a breeze. But the story is not ready-made for a happy ending, and I wasn't prepared for the quiet simplicity of the finale. It's beautifully done. The script veers off course every now and then, but director Martin Ritt is very smart to always fall back on Jon Voight's solid presence. Scenes such as the one where he drives around in his van venting his frustrations over a loudspeaker don't add up to much, but the whole film is filled with episodes which spark emotion, and the actual ending is their payoff. **1/2 out of ****

Not a lot of people have seen this one. It's like a lot of other films about teachers in an uphill struggle against apathetic or difficult students. They all seem to be set in inner-city environments, but "Conrack" has a different approach - it takes you down south, out to an isolated island just off the coast of South Carolina. It helps that this is a true story (or as true as a film adapted from a book adapted from real life can be).

Martin Ritt was a very good director, known mainly for "Hud", which he did about ten years prior. Jon Voight has never been more charismatic than this, he's like a shining beacon of inspiration throughout the film. You really believe that he believes every word he is saying, and that adds a ton of weight to his character. I really enjoyed Hume Cronyn here, he's somehow mischievous without being friendly, serious and a little bit mean. It's a great characterization.

The passion in Voight's sparkling eyes seems to be more than what carries the film. It's a great story, and a fantastic reflection of Pat Conroy's writing. The story is powerful, convincing, and exceptionally inspiring.

I have also watched "Conrack" several times in the past few years and I believe it is the best movie out there about actual classroom teaching. We have "To Sir, With Love", "Blackboard Jungle" and "Mr Holland's Opus", but this film spends most of its time in class with the students.

We get to see Conroy struggle with the system, the absence of facilities and resources as well as the initial lack of desire among his charges. How he brings his "babies" out of their shells and creates a learning environment is simply magical. The awkwardness of those first lessons is all too real. This movie is pure teaching!

Another realistic education film that comes to mind is "Stand and Deliver."

Check out first few minutes of "Conrack" and you'll be hooked. Watch for it on Fox Movie Channel as they often show the letterbox version.

all i can say is that each time i see CONRACK, dir. Martin Ritt, DP. John Alonzo, i feel an utmost sense of inspiration and enlightment in what the power of cinema is possible in such a simple film.

the motion picture Conrack is set in 1969. It is based on a true story. It is a story about a white man (Jon Voight) who teaches a group of young black children how incredible the world is outside of their little South Carolina island.

The story places the job of a teacher as noble cause in changing children's lives.

I highly recommend it.

I have to say that I had mixed feelings about this movie. On the positive side, the basic story is very interesting and inspiring - both well told and well acted. It's also a powerful testimony of what can happen when a teacher actually wants to teach, and does so with passion, wit and intelligence. All that was good. Jon Voight was superb as the title character of Pat Conroy (Conrack was what his students called him) - a young schoolteacher sent to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina to teach a class of black and mostly illiterate students, and who runs into opposition from everyone - the parents, his principal (Madge Sinclair) and the school administrator (Hume Cronyn) - as he tries to do it. In one sense, it's a pretty typical story; one that's been done many, many times. As unoriginal as the story may be, though, it's still well done. Those are the positives. Unfortunately, I also had a bit of a negative gut reaction to this movie. It struck me as paternalistic; the sort of movie one might expect from what you could call the "white liberal establishment" of the early '70's. Basically, a bunch of black kids have to be saved from everybody (including their own parents and that black principal who thinks that "coloured kids" need the feel of "the whip" to learn anything) by a white liberal schoolteacher. Bluntly, it struck me as a bit of a guilt assuager for whites who needed to feel better about themselves in the aftermath of the civil rights battles of the 60's. As for the movie itself, the character of Mad Billy (Paul Winfield) struck me as poorly developed. Aside from popping up in maybe 3 or 4 scenes and offering some comic relief, I wasn't clear what the purpose of his character was. Then, if indeed this was based on a true story, one might have appreciated some information at the end as to what happened to these kids. Were they so inspired by Conroy that they went on to bigger and better things, or did they just sink right back into their old ways when he left. The ending was both ambiguous and unsatisfying. On balance, I liked the movie but was also a bit put off by it at the same time. A strange combination of reactions. 6/10

I first saw this film when I was in the 8th grade and I remember that it had a profound affect on me then. I saw in again about a year ago (I am now 29) and it still moved me in similar ways. This is a great movie that personifies the struggle of "principle vs. pragmistism". Voight's character is the idealist teacher that won't give in to any psuedo-racist leanings of the Superintendent, Mr. Skeffington. That story also personifies the struggle of how older people often resist change, and more specifically, cultural change. Often at the expense of children. When these battles finally come to a boil, Pat Conroy loses and pragmatism reigns triumphant. Or does it? The children that he has to leave are better off for knowing him, more exposed to the "real" world and to classical music. The other teacher at the school gained respect for him and he learned much about himself. A great film with a heart-breaking ending. I recomend that anyone who enjoyed the film to read the book, "The Water is Wide", by Pat Conroy. It will stay with you!

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.

This film had me spellbound this evening. Thanks to Fox Movie Classics for showing it uninterrupted. John Voight, this cast of little known black actresses and most of all, the children, made this a worthy way to spend a Sunday evening. How wonderful to see the early work of this seasoned actor, as well as Paul Winfield's excellent portrayal of Mad Billy. I can't see why anyone would say that Hume Cronyn is miscast in the role as superintendent. Who would they have chosen? The shrill character actor, Charles Lane? Although his career is laudable, an actor such as Lane would have cheapened the role. Cronyn was an excellent choice for the part. I will count this film as a true treasure to hold in memory.

This film launched my theory about films based on books: Instead of following the cliche "You've read the book; now see the film," if you are looking for a good book to read, try one upon which a movie you like was based, because it'll be 10 times better.

I saw this film on its initial release at the National Theater in downtown Eugene and liked it so much that I stayed to see it again. It's a perfect merger of the inspiring talents of one of my favorite actors, Jon Voight, with what became my favorite book, "The Water Is Wide," by Pat Conroy.

I can think of no better movie about the nobility of teaching and the ironic challenges of life. Two tiny caveats:

(1) The video suffers severely from pan-and-scan and deserves a letterbox version. (2) The title should be restored to the name of the book, a reference to one of the most touching, enigmatic songs ever written

Seeing as how it combines two of my least favorite sub genres...the Inspirational Teacher and The White Savior of Black Folks...I am surprised that I liked this film as much as I did. A lot of my positive reaction is due to a typically intelligent screenplay by veteran scenarists of the American south, Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. Not only do they endow all the characters, even the chief antagionists (well played by Madge Sinclair and Hume Cronyn), with doses of likability and perceptiveness, but they avoid over sentimentalization, with an ending that is bittersweet rather than cloying, Triumph Of The Human Spirit stuff, a la "Dead Poets". And Jon Voight has never been better. Ironic that this right wing nut job shines as a paragon of Southern liberalism, but that's good acting for ya.

My main criticism revolves around the reason I dislike most Inspirational Teacher movies, namely that it is just too damn easy for the title character to win over his wayward students. I mean, where is the struggle? Where is the "snakepit" that the principal tells Conrack he's in? Literally, fifteen minutes into the film he's got his kids loving him. And they never stop. So 90% of the conflict in the film is between Voight and the admin. Not a recipe for a very engaging pedagogical tale. So I guess having praised the Ravetches above, I have to rap 'em on the knuckles for this poor story decision. Give it a B minus.

Pat Conroy is one of our most elegant writers, and his first book, a memoir of his adventure teaching a group of heart-breakingly neglected and ignorant black children on an island off the coast of South Carolina should be required upper-class reading for kids who have To Kill a Mockingbird under their belts.

Now, the movie: If you read the book, the movie will seem so Hollywoodized that you'll wonder who "cuted-up" Conrack (the kids' pronunciation for Conroy). Jon Voight is earnest and sweaty, and pulls off Conroy's youthful self-righteousness to a T, but Hume Cronyn is miscast as the evil, bigoted superintendent. The kids are strangely ignored here, although they are complex and fascinating in their own right in the book. Voight's teaching is the best part of this film, but Conroy's explanation to the white citizenry of why he should be retained--after annoying the county school administration for the last time--is destroyed by the ridiculous scene with Voight driving the streets of Buford, using a P.A. system on his hippiemobile to bludgeon bewildered suburbanites.

Hell, watch it anyway.

It's 1969. Pat Conroy (Jon Voight) starts school as an idealistic white teacher in an impoverished black island community off the coast of South Carolina. The kids can't pronounce his name. Instead, they call him Conrack. School superintendent Skeffington (Hume Cronyn) do not like his new ways. It's a biopic. Pat Conroy would go on to write books such as The Prince of Tides.

I would like the movie to show Pat do more basic teaching. He needs to teach the fundamentals as much as the bigger things. I have to assume that he lays down the ground work, but the movie doesn't show it. It needs to do some montages of him teaching the ABCs. Teaching them swimming is fun. Mrs. Scott has a great scene although I want Pat to go over the top with a better vision of the world. In a way, he does that later on with the loudspeakers. This movie has the right sentiment and all the sincerity in the world. It just needs to smooth out a few bumps.

Superb story of a dedicated young teacher who sets out teaching minority children in an area off South Carolina.

Jon Voight is just tremendous as the headstrong, dedicated, idealistic teacher who faces this challenge despite a principal, who believes in stern discipline and has little regard for modern educational techniques as well as a crusty old school superintendent, played with relish by the late Hume Cronyn. Madge Sinclair is the principal who loves her babies.

As I'm a retired teacher, I could in some ways relate to this excellent film. The ignorance shown here as well as the lack of cooperation with officials is also quite apparent in urban areas.

Voight realizes that these children need far more than the traditional teachings of a classroom. He has them go out and experience life by themselves by learning outdoors.

The end is a definite downer but so true to life.

Amazing that such backward students had a zest for learning and were well disciplined. I guess that answers my question. The behavior was there and they were motivated to succeed despite their environment.

The ending will just tug at your heart. It was memorable and so well poignant.

John Voight plays the title character in this movie based on author Pat Conroy's (Prince of Tides) autobiography. A fine teacher film, it tells the story of a naive Pat Conroy, a young English teacher whose first assignment is in an elementary school on a rural island. The only white man on the island, he must battle internal and external pressures as he attempts to instill education and values in children who for generations have been systematically denied such things. A solid performance that really makes you think.

I not only consider this to be the best film that Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy, Coming Home) has ever done, but a real tribute to teachers.

Despite incredible odds, Pat Conroy (Voight) managed to reach a group of students and bring them from nowhere to a basic literacy and awareness of the world. His methods made be criticized by bureaucratic dinosaurs like Mr. Skeffington (Hume Cronyn), but teachers like Conroy will always be winners.

Voight really showed that he had a love for teaching and that it was a natural high for him. He didn't overplay the role, and I found him to be totally believable. Voight is Conrack.

Besides a love of teaching, we also see another important point in this film. No matter how good you are at your job, if you rock the boat, the bureaucrats will get you.

In my last year of University, a friend said she was going to see a film showing on campus. Since that day, and, indeed, until my retirement from Teaching, I showed this film to ALL of my classes under the pretext that this film would give the viewer a closer contact with the Reality of Teaching AND creation of Curriculium. Notwithstanding the merit of the value of fighting for one's beliefs, as Pat Conway did, this man gave from his Heart to these children of Yamacraw Island. I believe that this is a vital portrait of Humanness to be shown people, whether 14 or 94.

"... may the River be good to you in the Crossing ..."

I loved this film. It is a heartwarming TRUE story of a quirky white free thinking professor who marches to his own drummer, and positively influences a classroom filled with a group of poor black children in an isolated school on an island in South Carolina.

The children in this classroom have been designated by the schoolboard administrators as lazy and unintelligent. Then comes along a white and handsome young teacher named Pat Conroy played by Jon Voigt, who uses a different strategy to first gain the children's trust, and then through alternative teaching methods (other than through books and a leather strap), Conroy makes the children first fear him as he teaches them all to get over their fear of swimming and actually teaches them to enjoy the water, then brings joy into their lives by singing historical stories which the children don't even realize they are learning for the first time and having so much fun with Mr. Conroy.

The lesson for all of us through this film is to stop doing what continues to fail, and start trying things differently to bring out the best in the children of the future.

I really, really enjoyed this 49 year old (as of 2023) film and I hope it is added to the Criterion Collection as a valuable contribution to both the film industry and the educational foundation. It's unfortunate that Conrack did not have a big hit musical score such as 1967's singer Lulu's To Sir With Love had to influence the students of the 1960's.

I give the film a heartwarming 9 out of 10 IMDb rating.

This movie is a piece of the time in which it was made..... Realistic. Movies were not candy coated during the late 60s and early 70s. The producers did not try to create some happy ending that didn't exist. The lack of a happy ending would create agitation in the audience that, hopefully would spur them on to action. At least that's how it seemed at the time. In today's movie world this movie would probably not be done. There would, definitely, not be this ending, however realistic. The sad fact is that the movie depicted a situation which could not be improved upon without action from the improvement of the relationship between the white southern traditional thinking and the progressive movements of that time.

I saw this film on TV in the UK some 25 years ago and it has resonated with me ever since. My interest has recently been rekindled by visiting Hilton Head - the next island over from "Yamacraw" (Daufuskie actually), and reading Pat Conroy's excellent "The Water is Wide". With the benefit of knowledge I have reappraised Conrack and consider it a masterpiece. Jon Voight captures the spirit of Conroy and the atmosphere of the film brings the book to life with some accuracy - a Hollywood rarity.

Three things still strike me about this tale: 1. The issues of educating the poor and disenfranchised and being inclusive remain the same. 2. Education is about more than reading and writing. 3.. These kids were my peers, I was 6 in 1969 when Pat Conroy spent his year on Daufuskie.

Why this has not made it on to DVD yet?

COMING on the heels of that 1970's "Blackploitation" Era, CONRACK (20th Century-Fox, 1974) offered audiences a low-key, sincere and everyday people sort of a drama. Offering a far different fair to its audience (which was far more general than those "Gansta" flicks); being a down to earth dose of realism that offered a lonely counterbalance to those shoot-'em-ups'.

REPLACING lead characters that were bad-ass detectives, super-flies and megs/macks/pimps (Take your pick in terminology), was a lone, humble and meek teacher. The academian we speak of is the main character, Pat Conroy; who is the one and only lone teacher hired to take on the responsibility of a sort of old time one room school house on an island off the coast of South Carolina.

"CONRACK" (Jon Voight), the name that the youngsters dub him finds conditions in the school terribly backward. In addition to the physical properties of this "Little Red Schoolhouse", any systematic and progressively graduated educational system was totally absent.

OH yeah, by the way, did we mention that further complications to any successful educational venture were manifested in two incontrovertible facts. Those were that Pat Conroy was both an outsider and he was white; with almost the entire population of this off-shore cay was black and very poor.

PERPETUATING these unacceptable and deplorable conditions were the agents of the local board of education; being the school's Principal, Mrs. Scott (Madge Sinclair) and the Superintendent, Mr. Skeffington (Mr. Hume Cronyn). Between the two, we are made to understand that the teacher, being the low man on the totem pole, is powerless in most respects to affect any sort of meaningful, long-lasting improvements.

BUT don't you tell a 'Young Turk', such as Pat Conroy, that he can't. (Can't anything, that is). "Conrack" spends a year of unorthodox classroom performances and is making real progress; but alas, the strong-headed teacher won't give in and recognize the authority of his superiors. While he is, by law and unbeknownst to him, serving at thee super's pleasure; he disobeys Mr. Skeffington's specific order and prohibition to take his class kids to the mainland of South Carolina on Halloween for some Trick-or-Treating; even going to the brazen act of stopping with them at the Skeffington residence.

NEXT we see a Western Union Telegram messenger happily singing as he crosses from the Carolina mainland to the island; where he delivers the telegram to Conroy that bore the news of his dismissal from his position with that school and district.

NOT BEING one to take his being fired lying down, Pat files suit against Mr. Skeffington, Principal Mrs. Scott and the Board of Education protesting his dismissal as being unlawful. Impartially reviewing both the "offense" and the law, the Judge asks Skeffington if there are any lesser punishments that could be substituted for Conroy's being separated from the school system; to which he receives a negative response. Fittingly, the Judge dismisses the suit with his gavel pounding down while saying, "It's very simple!"

THE story is brought to a bittersweet conclusion as the 'Conrack'students see him off to the mainland bound launch, while a phonograph record provides us with BEETHOVEN'S 5th SYMPHONY; which had played an important part in the Conroy educational agenda, as well as our story.

IN THE HUMBLE opinion of this writer, the story (which we believe was at least semi-autobiographical, even giving the main character the name of its author), was much more than a tale of a localized happening. To both me pal Schultz and meself; this is a sort of depiction of a microcosm that represents the overall deplorable conditions that permeate the Government Schools throughout the entire nation. (Just an opinion)

AS FOR THIS film, it was just one of many movies portraying the stores of common folk; leading their lives of "quiet desperation" in the great hinterlands of the country, which lie outside the D.C. Beltway and the urban centers of enterprise and communications situated on either the Atlantic or Pacific Coasts.

IN ITS OWN small way, this is a fine film, which would soon be joined in the film vaults of 20th Century-Fox by such great works as NORMA RAE and BREAKING AWAY. (both being from TCF in 1979).

SEE it if you ain't yet. Recommended by both Schulz and his buddy.*

NOTE: * Why, that's me, of course!

POODLE SCHNITZ!!