Ordinary People

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Ordinary People
Directed by Robert Redford
Produced by Ronald L. Schwary
Written by Judith Guest (novel)
Alvin Sargent (screenplay)
Nancy Dowd (uncredited)
Starring Donald Sutherland
Mary Tyler Moore
Timothy Hutton
Judd Hirsch
Elizabeth McGovern
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Cinematography John Bailey
Editing by Jeff Kanew
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) September 19, 1980
Running time 124 min.
Language English
Budget $6,000,000 (est)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile
This article is about the movie. For other uses, see Ordinary People (disambiguation).

Ordinary People is a 1980 American motion picture drama and the directorial debut of Robert Redford. The story is about the disintegration of an upper middle class family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the death of the oldest son. It was based upon the 1976 novel by Judith Guest.

The film was a critical and commercial success, winning that year's Academy Award for Best Picture and various other major film awards.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

The Jarretts, a family from Chicago's North Shore, try to return to normal life after the attempted suicide of their teenage son, Conrad, who has recently come home following a four-month stay in a psychiatric hospital. Alienated from his friends and family, Conrad, having left the hospital, must still see a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, who learns that the boy had been involved in a sailing accident that killed his beloved older brother, Buck. Buck, a superior athlete and student to Conrad, clearly came first in everyone's estimation (including Conrad's). Calvin Jarrett, the father, awkwardly struggles to connect with his surviving son, who is tormented by clinical depression, survivor guilt, and post-traumatic stress disorder. His wife Beth, who clearly loved the dead son more, has shut off her emotions and vulnerability and has become obsessed with maintaining the appearance of perfection and normality.

As Conrad successfully works with Dr. Berger and learns to allow himself to have feelings, he starts dating Jeannine, a kind and nonjudgmental girl from his school choir, and begins to regain a sense of optimism. But the suicide of a friend from the hospital threatens to send him spiraling back into depression.

Finally, Conrad is able to stop blaming himself for Buck's death, and the boy realizes his mother's frailties--and Dr. Berger advises him to accept her as she is. Calvin, aided by some sessions with Dr. Berger himself, realizes that he no longer loves Beth. As Beth packs to leave, her facade is momentarily shattered by a sob, but the mask returns.

[edit] Production

  • The film was shot in and around Lake Forest, Highland Park and Lake Bluff, and the school scenes were shot in Lake Forest High School. However, all of the pool scenes were filmed at Lake Forest College, because the pool at Lake Forest High School was not large enough to move the filming equipment into the balcony and bleachers.
  • Conrad's lunch with Karen was filmed at the Original Pancake House in Wilmette, Illinois. A photograph of Robert Redford, taken during production for the film, hangs above the cash register at the front entrance.
  • Cal and Beth's lunch scene was filmed at the Zodiac Restaurant in Neiman-Marcus' Northbrook Court location. The scene of Beth riding an escalator is also shot in this same Neiman-Marcus location.
  • The house used as the Jarretts' is just around the corner from the house used in Risky Business two years later.

[edit] Notes

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The film's use of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D as its theme music boosted that piece's popularity considerably.
  • Although Timothy Hutton’s father, actor Jim Hutton, died a few weeks before he commenced filming for the movie, Hutton said that his depressed demeanor for the role had nothing to do with him grieving for his father.
  • Gene Hackman was originally cast as Dr. Berger, but had to bow out. Judd Hirsch stepped in to fill the role, on condition that he could complete the filming of his scenes in eight days, so as not to interfere with his schedule on the TV series Taxi.
  • The final scene in the dining room between Calvin and Beth was originally shot with both Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore on location. However, during editing, Sutherland thought that he had Calvin crying too much, ruining the scene. So, he and director Robert Redford reshot his scenes on a partial set recreated to look like the dining room. Since Moore, who was doing theater work in New York, was unable to return for the reshoot, Redford read her lines off camera for Sutherland to respond to.
  • Before casting Mary Tyler Moore, director Robert Redford had Lee Remick in mind for the role of Beth.
  • The play that Calvin and Beth attend is Bernard Slade's Same Time Next Year, which had been made into a 1978 movie starring Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn.
  • Elizabeth McGovern was a student at Juilliard during filming. The school permitted her to do the film on the condition that she leave for Chicago each Friday night and return on Sunday, filming only on Saturdays. It was the first time Juilliard had ever permitted a student to make a film during a school term.
  • The first draft took a year and a half to write, and the second took another year, as it was very difficult to adapt a novel which featured very heavy dialogue with almost no descriptions of characters or settings.
  • Robert Redford decided to do the film because the story's family reminded him of his own in the way it talked around issues.
  • Dinah Manoff's costume for her only day of filming was acquired when costume designer Bernie Pollack spotted a girl shopping who he believed had the perfect look for the character. He offered her $20 to buy whatever outfit she wanted, on the condition that she give him what she was wearing.
  • The scenes at Dr. Berger's office were filmed with increasingly darker lighting to recreate the effect of it getting dark progressively earlier through the autumn.
  • Bruce Dern and Ken Howard were considered for the role of Calvin.
  • Donald Sutherland stutters slightly in a scene where he describes his son's death. Nobody realized it when they filmed the scene. The stutter was an accident but, instead of ordering another take when watching dailies, director Robert Redford decided to use it because he felt it was perfect.
  • Film debuts of both Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth McGovern.
  • Michael J. Fox auditioned for the role of Conrad Jarrett.

[edit] Continuity

  • When Karen and Conrad are at the restaurant, a glass leaps across the table repeatedly between shots.
  • When Karen and Conrad are at the restaurant, the straw in Karen hands starts unwrapped, then becomes wrapped, and then suddenly jumps into the Coke.
  • The golf scene is set on the 18th hole of the golf course but they are seen leaving the practice green (multiple holes in the putting surface are visible).
  • When Conrad enters the elevator to Dr. Berger's office for the first time, his hair changes length and style between shots.
  • When Karen and Conrad are at the restaurant and Karen is leaving, the Cokes have disappeared from the table.
  • When Conrad is crying in the car there the tear running down his cheek disappears and reappears between shots.
  • While Conrad is watching the swim meet and fighting outside of school, he has a red plaid shirt under a gray sweater. When he arrives back at his grandmother's house and the subsequent scenes, he has a white with thin blue stripes shirt and a beige sweater.

[edit] Reception

Robert Redford and Timothy Hutton both won Academy Awards for their respective debuts: Redford as Best Director and Hutton as Best Supporting Actor. The film marked Mary Tyler Moore's career breakout from the stereotype of the light-hearted comedienne. Moore's role was well-received and obtained a nomination for Best Actress. The film also won Best Picture for 1980.

Judd Hirsch's portrayal of Dr. Berger has also drawn praise from many in the psychiatric community as one of the rare times their profession is shown in a positive light in the movies,[1] although some consider his portrayal to be too positive, thus lending an air of one-dimensionality.[2] Hirsch was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, losing out to costar Hutton.

This was also the first of two times director Martin Scorsese (who did that year's Raging Bull) lost the Oscar to actors making their directorial debut (the other was ten years later with Kevin Costner on Dances With Wolves).

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards

[edit] Wins

[edit] Nominations

[edit] References

  1. ^ Martin, Linda B.; January 25, 1981; The Psychiatrist in Today's Movies: He's Everywhere and He's in Deep Trouble; The New York Times; retrieved September 13, 2006
  2. ^ Pies, Ron; 2001 Psychiatry in the Media: The Vampire, The Fisher King, and The Zaddik; Journal of Mundane Behavior; retrieved September 14, 2006.

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Kramer vs. Kramer		 Academy Award for Best Picture
1980		 Succeeded by
Chariots of Fire
Preceded by
Kramer Vs. Kramer		 Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama
1981		 Succeeded by
On Golden Pond
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Picture

West Side Story (1961) · Lawrence of Arabia (1962) · Tom Jones (1963) · My Fair Lady (1964) · The Sound of Music (1965) · A Man for All Seasons (1966) · In the Heat of the Night (1967) · Oliver! (1968) · Midnight Cowboy (1969) · Patton (1970) · The French Connection (1971) · The Godfather (1972) · The Sting (1973) · The Godfather Part II (1974) · One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) · Rocky (1976) · Annie Hall (1977) · The Deer Hunter (1978) · Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) · Ordinary People (1980)

Complete List · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)
v • d • e
Films directed by Robert Redford

Ordinary People (1980) • The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) • A River Runs Through It (1992) • Quiz Show (1994) • The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) • Lions for Lambs (2007)
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