''Ordinary People'' is a 1980 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Robert Redford in his
directorial debut
This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...
. The screenplay by
Alvin Sargent is based on the
1976 novel of the same name by
Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of an
upper-middle class
In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...
family in
Lake Forest, Illinois, following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other. It stars
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films '' Citizen X'' (1995) a ...
,
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...
,
Judd Hirsch
Judd Seymore Hirsch (born March 15, 1935) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series '' Dear John'' (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS seri ...
, and
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at age 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in ''Ordinary People ...
.
''Ordinary People'' was released theatrically on September 19, 1980 by
Paramount Pictures to critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised Redford's direction, Sargent's screenplay, and the performances of the cast. The film, which grossed $90 million on a $6.2 million budget, was chosen by the
National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
as one of the
top ten films of 1980, and garnered six nominations at the
53rd Academy Awards
The 53rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1980 and took place on March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 7:00 p ...
, winning four:
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Best Director,
Best Adapted Screenplay, and
Best Supporting Actor for Hutton (the
youngest recipient at age 20). In addition, the film won five awards at the
38th Golden Globe Awards
The 38th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1980, were held on January 31, 1981.
Winners and nominees
Film
The following films received multiple nominations:
The following films received multiple w ...
:
Best Motion Picture – Drama,
Best Director,
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
(Moore),
Best Screenplay, and
Best Supporting Actor (Hutton). Timothy Hutton’s father, actor
Jim Hutton
Dana James Hutton (May 31, 1934 – June 2, 1979) was an American actor in film and television best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name, and his screen partnership with Paula Prentiss in four films, ...
, passed away prior to filming. Hutton also thanked his father during the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
speech, which he had won for his role.
Plot
The Jarretts are an upper-middle-class family in suburban Chicago trying to return to normal life after the accidental death of their older teenage son, Buck, and the attempted suicide of their younger and surviving son, Conrad. Conrad, who has recently returned home from a four-month stay in a
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...
, feels alienated from his friends and family and begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger. Berger learns that Conrad was involved in the sailing accident that took the life of Buck, whom everyone idolized. Conrad now deals with
post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats o ...
and seeks help from his psychiatrist.
Conrad's father, Calvin, tries to connect with his surviving son and understand his wife. Conrad's mother, Beth, denies her loss, hoping to maintain her composure and restore her family to what it once was. She appears to have loved her older son more, and because of the suicide attempt, has grown cold toward Conrad. She is determined to maintain the appearance of perfection and normality. Conrad works with Dr. Berger and learns to try to deal with, rather than control, his emotions. He starts dating a fellow student, Jeannine, who helps him to begin to regain a sense of optimism. Conrad, however, still struggles to communicate and re-establish a normal relationship with his parents and schoolmates. He cannot seem to allow anyone, especially Beth, to get close. Beth makes several guarded attempts to appeal to Conrad for some semblance of normality, but she ends up being cold toward him.
Mother and son often argue while Calvin tries to referee, generally taking Conrad's side for fear of pushing him over the edge again. Things come to a climax near Christmas when Conrad becomes furious at Beth for not wanting to take a photo with him, swearing at her in front of his grandparents. Afterwards, Beth discovers Conrad has been lying about his after-school whereabouts. This leads to a heated argument between Conrad and Beth in which Conrad points out that Beth never visited him in the hospital, saying that she "would have come if Buck was in the hospital." Beth replies, "Buck never would have ''been'' in the hospital!" Beth and Calvin take a trip to see Beth's brother in Houston, where Calvin confronts Beth about her attitude.
Conrad suffers a setback when he learns that Karen, a friend of his from the psychiatric hospital, has died by suicide. A cathartic breakthrough session with Dr. Berger allows Conrad to stop blaming himself for Buck's death and accept his mother's frailties. However, when Conrad tries to show affection, Beth is unresponsive, leading Calvin to emotionally confront her one last time. He questions their love and asks whether she is capable of truly loving anyone. Stunned, Beth packs her bags and goes back to Houston. Calvin and Conrad are left to come to terms with their new family situation, affirming their father-son love for each other.
Cast
*
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films '' Citizen X'' (1995) a ...
as Calvin Jarrett
*
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...
as Beth Jarrett
*
Judd Hirsch
Judd Seymore Hirsch (born March 15, 1935) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), John Lacey on the NBC series '' Dear John'' (1988–1992), and Alan Eppes on the CBS seri ...
as Tyrone C. Berger
*
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton (born August 16, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is the youngest recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at age 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in ''Ordinary People ...
as Conrad Jarrett
*
Elizabeth McGovern
Elizabeth Lee McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American actress and musician. She has received many awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, three Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Award nomination.
Born in Evanston, Ill ...
as Jeannine Pratt
*
M. Emmet Walsh as Salan
*
Dinah Manoff
Dinah Beth Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on ''Soap'', Marty Maraschino in the film '' Grease'', Libby Tucker in both ...
as Karen Aldrich
*
Fredric Lehne as Joe Lazenby
*
James Sikking
James Barrie Sikking (born March 5, 1934) is a former American actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series ''Hill Street Blues''.
Early years
Sikking was born in Los Angeles on March 5, 1934 to Andy and Sue (né ...
as Ray Hanley
*
Basil Hoffman
Basil Harry Hoffman (January 18, 1938 – September 17, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career spanning five decades, mostly in supporting roles. He starred in films with many award-winning directors, including Alan Paku ...
as Sloan
*
Quinn Redeker as Ward
*
Mariclare Costello as Audrey
*
Meg Mundy
Margaret Anne Mary Mundy (January 4, 1915 – January 12, 2016) was an English-born American actress and model. She was born in London, and in 1921, at the age of six, emigrated to the United States with her family.
Personal life
Mundy was born ...
as Grandmother
*
Elizabeth Hubbard
Elizabeth Hubbard is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Althea Davis on '' The Doctors'' (1964–69, 1970–77, 1981–82), and as powerful businesswoman Lucinda Walsh on ''As the World Turns'' (1984-2010). She also pla ...
as Ruth
*
Adam Baldwin
Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor. He starred in ''Full Metal Jacket'' (1987) as Animal Mother, as well as in the television series '' Firefly'' and its continuation film '' Serenity'' as Jayne Cobb. His roles include St ...
as Kevin Stillman
* Scott Doebler as Buck Jarrett
Casting
Gene Hackman was originally cast as Calvin Jarrett but then later dropped out when he and the studio could not come to a financial agreement.
Release
The film was a box-office success, grossing $54 million in the United States and Canada
and approximately $36 million overseas for a worldwide gross of $90 million.
Reception
''Ordinary People'' received critical acclaim. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 89%, based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Robert Redford proves himself a filmmaker of uncommon emotional intelligence with ''Ordinary People'', an auspicious debut that deftly observes the fractioning of a family unit through a quartet of superb performances."
Roger Ebert gave it a full four stars and praised how the film's setting "is seen with an understated matter-of-factness. There are no cheap shots against suburban lifestyles or affluence or mannerisms: The problems of the people in this movie aren't caused by their milieu, but grow out of themselves. ... That's what sets the film apart from the sophisticated suburban soap opera it could easily have become." He later named it the fifth best film of the year 1980; while colleague
Gene Siskel ranked it the second best film of 1980.
Writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,''
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
called it "a moving, intelligent and funny film about disasters that are commonplace to everyone except the people who experience them."
The film marked Mary Tyler Moore's career breakout from the personality of her other two famous roles as Laura Petrie on ''
The Dick Van Dyke Show
''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Product ...
'' and Mary Richards on ''
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Mo ...
''. Moore's complex performance as the mother to Hutton's character was well-received and obtained a nomination for
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
.
[ Donald Sutherland's performance as the father was also well received, and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He was not nominated for an Academy Award along with his co-stars, however, which '']Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' has described as one of the worst acting snubs in the history of the Academy Awards.
Judd Hirsch's portrayal of Dr. Berger was a departure from his work on the sitcom ''Taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
'', and drew praise from many in the psychiatric community as one of the rare times their profession is shown in a positive light in film. Hirsch was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, losing out to co-star Hutton. Additionally, ''Ordinary People'' launched the career of Elizabeth McGovern
Elizabeth Lee McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American actress and musician. She has received many awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, three Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Award nomination.
Born in Evanston, Ill ...
who played Hutton's character's love interest, and who received special permission to film while attending Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
.
The film's prominent usage of Pachelbel's ''Canon'', which had been relatively obscure for centuries, helped to usher the piece into mainstream popular culture.
Analysis
Julia L. Hall, a journalist who has written extensively about narcissistic personality disorder, wrote in 2017 upon Moore's death that she "portrays her character's narcissism to a tee in turn after turn."[ She praised Moore for taking such a career risk so soon after having played such a memorable and likable character on television, "scaffolding gaping emptiness with a persona of perfection, supported by denial, blame, rejection, and rage."]
Accolades
''Ordinary People'' won four Oscars for 1980, including the Academy Award for Best Picture. The picture, Robert Redford's debut in directing, won him the Academy Award for Best Director. Alvin Sargent won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay Film adaptation, adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include st ...
. Timothy Hutton won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in his first film role (he had previously appeared on television).[Siegel, Scott and Barbara (1990). ''The Encyclopedia of Hollywood''.]
Home media
''Ordinary People'' was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
in 2001. It was released on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
in March 2022, featuring a 4K restoration of the film.
See also
* List of directorial debuts
* List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest winners for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1980 films
1980 drama films
American drama films
Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners
Best Picture Academy Award winners
1980s English-language films
Films about depression
Films about dysfunctional families
Films about grieving
Films about psychiatry
Films about suicide
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Robert Redford
Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe-winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Films scored by Marvin Hamlisch
Films set in Illinois
Films shot in Illinois
Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award
Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
Lake Forest, Illinois
Paramount Pictures films
Films about post-traumatic stress disorder
Films with screenplays by Alvin Sargent
Fiction about suicide
1980 directorial debut films
Films about father–son relationships
Films about mother–son relationships
1980s American films