Conrack (1974) was based on the book The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy, which was based on his experience as teacher on Daufauskie Island in the late Sixties. Daufuskie Island is an island located between Hilton Head Island and Savannah, George, and is part of the state of South Carolina. At the time that Pat Conroy taught school there and even now, it is only assessable by ferry. In the late Sixties, most of the inhabitants were descended from slaves and spoke the Gullah language. Most had little to no contact with the mainland, and many knew very little about the outside world.
Like the book, Pat Conroy (Jon Voight) is assigned to teach grades five through eight on Yamacraw Island. Initially he has difficulty getting through to his students, many of who cannot read or even count. Unable to pronounce his name, the children refer to him as "Conrack." Conrack's teaching methods are unconventional, which brings him into conflict with the principal Mrs. Scott (Madge Sinclair), who was called Mrs. Brown in the book. It also puts him into conflict with the superintendent Mr. Skeffington (Hume Cronyn). The children Conrack teaches no little about the outside world, and have never even heard of Halloween, let alone celebrated it. Conrack then decides to take the children trick-or-treating in Beaufort, South Carolina, which proves to be a source of controversy.
As a director Martin Ritt was well-established at directing literary adaptations and socially aware dramas. He had already directed such films as Edge of the City (1957), The Long Hot Summer (1958), Hud (1963), and Sounder(1972). It was written by wife and husband team Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch, who had already written the screenplays for Martin Ritt's movies The Long Hot Summer (1958), The Sound and the Fury (1959), Hud (1963), and Hombre (1967).
In the mid-Seventies, John Voight was at the top of his career, having appeared in such movies as Midnight Cowboy (1969), Catch-22 (1970), and Deliverance (1972), and had been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor for Midnight Cowboy (1969). Paul Winfield, who played Mad Billy (one of the adults on the island) had already worked with Martin Ritt before, playing Nathan Lee Morgan in Sounder. In her role as principal Mrs. Scott, Madge Sinclair made her feature film debut, having previously on stage. Of course, Hume Cronyn had a career in stage and screen going back to the 1930s. Conrack's pupils were mostly drawn from students at C.B. Greer Elementary School in Brunswick, Georgia.
Although set on a fictionalized version of Daufuskie Island, Conrack was mostly filmed on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Similarly, Brunswick, Georgia doubled for Beaufort, South Carolina. Although the plot was filmed throughout the year, the film was shot from May 8, 1973, to July 23, 1973. This means the trick-or-treating scenes were shot during the summer.
Conrack (1974) premiered on March 15, 1974 in Los Angeles. It did not do well at the box office. With a budget of $2.37 million, it only made $2 million. Its reviews were also mixed to positive. Cora Sayre in The New York Times as "...relentlessly idealistic in tone and uplifting in intent...," but also criticized it as overly sentimental. John Raisbeck in The Monthly Film Bulletin gave Conrack (1974) a largely positive review, but described it as seemingly like, "... conscious turning aside from the complexities of modern cinema to the simpler alternatives of yesteryear. Indeed, with underprivileged white children instead of black and Greer Garson substituting for Jon Voight, the film might have been made all of thirty years ago." Gene Siskel of The Chicago Tribune truly liked the film and gave it three-and-a-half stars. He described it as "...a nice family picture."
As to the inhabitants of Daufuskie Island, their reactions to Conrack (1974) were mixed. Some of the inhabitants saw the reality of their situation in the movie, while others criticized it for the usual Hollywood embellishment of the truth. Dr. Walter Trammell, the real-life school superintendent under whom Pat Conroy worked, criticized the film as a misleading "Hollywood stereotype." Following the publication of The Water is Wide and the release of Conrack (1974), Dr. Trammell faced increased scrutiny and the school board ultimately fired him.
Criticisms that Conrack (1974) is overly sentimental are to a degree justified. Indeed, in many ways the film plays out like a Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation. It should then come as no surprise that The Water is Wide would be adapted by Hallmark Hall of Fame under its original title in 2006 with Jeff Hephner as Pat Conroy and Alfre Woodward as Mrs. Brown.
Sentimental through Conrack (1974) may be, it is still an enjoyable film. It is largely powered by its cast, who give strong performances that easily overcome any weakness in the script. In some respects, it is hard to disagree with John Raisbeck's review mentioned earlier. In some ways Conrack (1974) seems less than a product of the 1970s than a product of an earlier time. And for those of us who love Halloween, it is a good look at trick-or-treating as it was observed in 1969 (or at least 1969 as seen through the lens of movie shot in 1973).
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