The story follows a young teacher, Pat Conroy, in 1969 assigned to isolated "Yamacraw Island" off the coast of South Carolina and populated mostly by poor black families. He finds out that the children as well as the adults have been isolated from the rest of the world and speak a dialect called Gullah, with "Conrack" of the novel's title being the best they can do to pronounce his last name. The school has only two rooms for all grades combined, with the Principal teaching grades one through four and Conroy teaching the remaining grades, five through eight. Conroy discovers that the students aren't taught much and will have little hope of making a life in the larger world. Conroy tries to teach them about the outside world but comes into conflict both with the principal and Mr. Skeffington, the superintendent. He teaches them how to brush their teeth, who Babe Ruth is, and has the children listen to music, including Flight of the Bumblebee and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. He explains that when Beethoven wrote the Fifth Symphony, he was writing about "what death would sound like". He is also astounded they've never even heard of Halloween, and he decides to take them to Beaufort on the mainland to go trick-or-treating, which the superintendent has forbidden. He also must overcome parental fears of "the river." As a result, he's fired. As he leaves the island for the last time, the children come out to see him leave, all of them lined up on a rickety bridge. As he is about to leave by boat, one of the students then begins playing a record, which is the beginning movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
Cast
Production
This film was shot in and around Brunswick, Georgia and used pupils from C.B. Greer Elementary school as the cast of students.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 73% based on 11 reviews, with an average score of 6.08/10. Nora Sayre of The New York Times wrote that "despite Mr. Voight's skill, the teacher's character never jells... Another weakness is the glaze of sentimentality that sugars much of the narrative." A review in Variety stated, "Its computerized warmth may make 'Conrack' seem a bit self-congratulatory at times, but at least its creative participants deserve outsiders' congrats for translating hokum into potentially viable b.o. fodder." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and praised it as "an undeniably tender film full of affecting moments, genuine tension, and much good will. It's also one of those rare film commodities: a nice family picture." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "'Comrack' has Voight's commanding characterization as its center, and those kids, and a strong visual sense throughout. And in its warm concern for human values, it is beyond question a welcome alternative to the hard-edge melodramas which have been conspicuous in recent times. The disappointment is that to achieve a sentimental optimism, it is felt necessary to create a world which, however real it looks and sounds, turns out to be make-believe at its center." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it "an unusually decent and appealing adventure, a commercial entertainment that also reflects the best of human and social intentions. One trusts that it will be a popular film, and it deserves to be." John Raisbeck of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "With its lingering long shotsConrack is a constant visual delight; but for all its craftsman-like virtues, it seems a conscious turning aside from the complexities of modern cinema to the simpler alternatives of yesteryear. Indeed, with underpriveleged white children instead of black and Greer Garson substituting for Jon Voight, the film might have been made all of thirty years ago."
Release
It has never been released on DVD though it remains available through other means, such as VHS as well as online streaming. Twilight Time released a limited edition Blu-ray version of the film in 2014.
