Past Movie Review: Ordinary People

The movie Ordinary People which came out in 1980 represents the high point in the movie career of 5 people. Robert Redford, who won for best director, Mary Tyler Moore who received her only Academy Award nomination for best Supporting Actress, Judd Hirsh who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Donald Sutherland who was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor and Timothy Hutton who won an Oscar for best Supporting Actor, even though he was the lead actor of this film. The reasoning for Hutton's nomination as supporting actor was probably to guarantee that he would win an Oscar because his performance in this movie was so outstanding but to put him in the supporting category was ridiculous considering he is on screen probably 90% of this entire movie. What is most amazing about this movie is how great the acting was throughout and that none of these actors ever were lucky enough to get anywhere near that high point again. Due to the quality of the great acting and directing in this movie it won a best picture Oscar in 1980.

There has probably never been a movie where the entire cast reached this high a point of perfection and then none of them, ever got close to getting roles like these again. Considering how good they all were in this movie that is a shame but it shows how lucky the few actors who get great roles all the time really are. If you have never seen Ordinary People you owe it to yourself to see it.

Ordinary People - IMDB



me>