‘Ordinary People’ Review: Robert Redford Takes Four Oscars in his Directorial Debut

We say it often. And often it’s true. They don’t make movies like this anymore.

The “like this” being adult dramas, in this situation “Ordinary People” a 1980 multi-Oscar winning picture directed by the legend Robert Redford.

There’s no comic book mayhem or trillion-dollar effects budget. “Ordinary People” chronicles the breakdown of an upper-class family after their eldest son dies in an accident and their youngest son attempts to take his own life.

“Ordinary People” was nominated for six Academy Awards, and it won four including Best Picture, Best Director (Redford in his directorial debut) and Best Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton, who was 20 years old at the time and remains the youngest winner of the award half a century later.

The Jarrett family

The movie captured my attention from the opening frame. Redford chose to film in Lake Forest, IL, which serves as the setting. Sweeping shots of the landscape, water, and pristine Jarrett house as Pachelbel’s Canon plays lets us know how top shelf this product will be.

The Jarrett parents are still dealing with the tragic death of their eldest son. Calvin (Donald Sutherland) is a successful attorney. Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) is a standard homemaker who loves her family unconditionally.

A mental hospital discharged Conrad Jarrett (Timothy Hutton) after his brother’s death caused severe depression and a suicide attempt. Much of the film deals with Conrad trying to get his life back in control. He goes to school, competes on the swim team, and handles his parents as best he can. He also sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch).

Filmmaking 101

The cast is otherworldly in terms of excellence. We can assume the great Donald Sutherland could pull off any role with a top degree of success. As Calvin Jarrett, Sutherland’s range is tested to the extremes as he navigates the loss of one son and the return of the other.

Mary Tyler Moore is a comedy legend. Here, she shows the chops to handle drama with impressive ease. The character of Beth Jarrett is multifaceted. Matriarch of the family, but human in her clear preference of one son over the other.

I know Timothy Hutton from “The Haunting of Hill House” where he plays the father. It was wild to see him as a kid; twenty years old and fresh faced.

Hutton steals the show with the central character, Conrad. Emotionally, we feel his pain as he tries to go back to normal after an unthinkable tragedy. I perused Hutton’s filmography and will be checking out more of his dramatic roles in the future.

Robert Redford winning Best Director in his debut is like hitting a grand slam in your first ever at bat. And it comes with good reason. “Ordinary People” is a tough subject matter, based off a novel by Judith Guest (also the author’s first). The actors do their thing, and Redford does his.

The film is beautiful to behold, despite standard definition and the limitations of 1980 aesthetics. Characters are dressed in tweed jackets with thick ties. Radiators are exposed; cars look boss. Redford captured not only the grief of the story but the moment in time that it occurs.

Adult Dramas

It was a time when grownups had their own things to watch. Movie studios have shelved the adult drama to prioritize comic book and superhero blockbusters and low-budget horror. Its all about money, I suppose, and that’s a shame. Films like “Rain Man,” “Dead Poets Society,” and “Ordinary People” would never get made today.

I am thankful to have an entire catalog of films that I would not have watched as a kid and are perfect for me now.