Daily Dialogue — June 20, 2019

Bull Meechum: Okay, hogs. I’ve listened to you bellyache about moving to this new town. This said bellyaching will end as of 15:30 hours. It will not affect the morale of the squadron henceforth. Do I make myself clear?
Bull’s Children: Yes, sir!
Bull Meechum: I know it’s rough to leave your friends and move every year, but you are marine kids and can chew nails while other kids are sucking cotton candy. You’re Meechums, a thoroughbred all the way. The best grades, wins the most awards, and excels in sports. Meechum never gives up. I want you hogs to let this burg know you’re here. I want these crackers to wake up and wonder what the hell blew into town.

— The Great Santini (1979), screenplay by Lewis John Carlino, novel by Pat Conroy

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Military.

Trivia: According to Pat Conroy, Lieutenant Colonel “Bull” Meecham is based entirely on his own father, Donald Conroy, a Marine fighter pilot who referred to himself in the third person as “The Great Santini”. Donald Conroy took the nickname from a magician he’d seen as a child. Pat and Donald Conroy were on the set on the day that Robert Duvall and Michael O’Keefe filmed the scene where Bull Meecham bullies and taunts Ben after losing to him in a basketball game. A woman on the set asked Donald Conroy if he and Pat had really played games like that. Donald Conroy replied, “Every day, madam. Every single day.” However, the book and movie gave Donald Conroy an opportunity to mend fences with his children, especially Pat. After the novel was published, Donald Conroy would often accompany his son to book signings, and would sign his son’s novels with the signature, “Donald Conroy — The Great Santini”.

Dialogue On Dialogue: For the first 16+ years of my life, my father was an Air Force officer eventually reaching the rank of Colonel. He was a pilot, but unlike Bull Meechum, he flew bombers much of the time B-52s. My father was not nearly as over the top as “The Great Santini,” but he believed in discipline and in his sons representing the family through excellence in everything. I heard a variation of the speech below every time we were transferred from one Air Force base to another.