Product Description

A suburban chicago couple and their son are torn by another sons death. Oscars for best picture. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: Donald Sutherland Mary Tyler Moore Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R Director: Robert Redford

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2194 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2001-08-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Robert Redford made his Oscar-winning directorial debut with this highly acclaimed, poignantly observant drama (based on the novel by Judith Guest) about a well-to-do family's painful adjustment to tragedy. Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland play a seemingly happy couple who lose the older of their two sons to a boating accident; Timothy Hutton plays the surviving teenage son, who blames himself for his brother's death and has attempted suicide to end his pain. They live in a meticulously kept home in an affluent Chicago suburb, never allowing themselves to speak openly of the grief that threatens to tear them apart. Only when the son begins to see a psychiatrist (Judd Hirsch) does the veneer of denial begin to crack, and Ordinary People thenceforth directly examines the broken family ties and the complexity of repressed emotions that have festered under the pretense of coping. Superior performances and an Oscar-winning script by Alvin Sargent make this one of the most uncompromising dramas ever made about the psychology of dysfunctional families. There are moments--particularly related to Mary Tyler Moore's anguished performance as a woman incapable of expressing her deepest emotions--when this film is both intensely involving and heartbreakingly real. No matter how happy and healthy your upbringing was, there's something in this excellent film that everyone can relate to. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Ordinary People
I thought this was an excellent movie that showed the raw emotions of a family going through a crisis.

Ordinary People - brilliant
Since this movie was released in theaters in the '80's, it has been one of my all-time favorites. Each time I watch it, something new strikes me. The truths are not always obvious, "new" details strike at each viewing. This movie stands alone in its quiet truths about a family's difficulties: following a series of tragedies involving their two sons: the accidental death of the older son, and the attempted sucide of the younger son Conrad, played by Timothy Hutton. The story opens when Conrad is desperately trying to move past his self-blame. The various reactions to these events are what the story is about; subsequent emotions are either slowly revealed or more stubbornly squelched as in the case of the mother, played by Mary Tyler Moore. High school friends are also grieving and relationships are so realistically altered forever. That is real life. The character studies are absolutely brilliant, as is the web of relationships as they are also revealed and further developed. The acting is convincing and I would even say, in my opinion, perfect. While all is superbly handled in this film, to me, from the first time I've seen it, above all this is Timothy Hutton's movie. His portrayal of young Conrad is heart-wrenching and so incredibly sincere. How he expresses in voice, facial expression, and posture his emotional turmoil is nothing short of genius. His character has been dealt a cruel hand to play and he is having much difficulty, but as he faces his own emotions, this has a chain effect in every direction, from his relationships and activities in high school, to his relationship with his parents, inadvertently causing them to also deal with their own emotions (or not). The kindness and insight of his psychiatrist is played beautifully by Judd Hirsch. There are times in my own life that this film is too painful to watch, but in general it has become a seasonal tradition to launch autumn and the following holiday season. The visual effects of beautiful fall colors, warm lighting, stark emptiness of that overly tidy house, and the normalcy of high school activities all work together to round out the ordinary surrounding of these "Ordinary People."

Using Ordinary People in the college classroom
I used Ordinary People in a course I teach in Abnormal Psychology. The movie does an excellent job of showing that the person in the family who seeks mental health care isn't necessarily the person who needs helps most. It also shows that sometimes, "going crazy" is sometimes the most normal thing a person can do. The clothing is late 70's and some of the language is dated but overall the movie does a great job of showing a family in crisis after a tragedy. I highly recommend this movie!