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Actors: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch, M. Emmet Walsh, Elizabeth McGovern
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Ordinary People |
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Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad -- an upper-middle class family in the north Chicago suburbs -- are living in the numb aftermath of the death of another son and brother in a boating accident. The mother is cool, distant, and unemotional while the father is overly cheerful and tries to pretend everything's fine. Conrad is burdened by guilt and grief, and in therapy (the story opens when he is just returning from being institutionalized), because he senses his mother always preferred his deceased brother. Sutherland is refreshingly positive as Calvin, Hutton made his feature debut after several years in TV and won an Oscar for best performance by an actor in a supporting role as Conrad. Moore is excellent in an unsympathetic role, and McGovern portrayed sweet preppie perfection in only her second film. This was Robert Redford's directorial debut, and he won an Oscar for it as well; the movie, based on Judith Guest's bestselling novel, also won Best Picture for 1980.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Ordinary People |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Family, struggling with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Mother
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Battle with shrink/bum?
- battle with a psychiatrist
Coping with loss of loved one?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average build
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- homemaker/wife
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- thoughtful
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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