Conrack *** (1974, Jon Voight, Paul Winfield, Madge Sinclair) – Classic Movie Review 10,119

Martin Ritt’s 1974 drama film Conrack stars Jon Voight as real-life Pat Conroy, an idealistic young white English teacher at a rural South Carolina all-black elementary school.

Director Martin Ritt’s 1974 drama Conrack stars Jon Voight as real-life Pat Conroy, an idealistic young white English teacher at a rural South Carolina all-black elementary school situated on an island, where he soon wins over the deprived kids and their parents.

Conrack is warm, liberal-minded, old-fashioned and well-meaning, based on author Pat Conroy’s real-life experiences. By the way, the children call him Conrack because they find pronouncing his name difficult.

Conrack is also maybe a tad too simplistic and sentimental, but it is well made, persuasively acted (particularly by Voight in one of his best acting chances) and on the right side.

There is a little welcome cynicism from Hume Cronyn as the bigoted superintendent Skeffington and Madge Sinclair as the school principal, Mrs Scott. Also notable are Paul Winfield as Mad Billy, Tina Andrews as Mary and Antonio Fargas as Quickfellow.

Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr’s screenplay is based on the book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy.

Also in the cast are Ruth Attaway, James O’Rear, Garcia Lee, C P MacDonald, Jane Moreland, Thomas Horton, Nancy Butler, Robert W Page, Mac Arthur Nelson, William Hunter III, Kathy Turner, Cathy Wilson, Rosemary Miller and Ronnie Leggett.

Conrack is directed by Martin Ritt, runs 106 minutes, is made by 20th Century Fox, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr, based on the book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, is shot in Panavision and DeLuxe colour by John A Alonzo, is produced by Martin Ritt and Irving Ravetch, is scored by John Williams, with production designs by Walter Scott Herndon.

Harriet Frank Jr, who collaborated with her husband Irving Ravetch on the Oscar-nominated screenplays for Norma Rae and Hud, died on 28 January 2020, aged 96.

Frank and Ravetch worked together on 17 films after meeting as writers at MGM. They were married from 1946 until his death in 2010 at age 89. They worked on eight movies directed by Martin Ritt, starting with The Long, Hot Summer in 1958, followed by The Sound and the Fury in 1959, Hud in 1963, 1974’s Conrack and 1979’s Norma Rae.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,119

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