RETRO REVIEW: ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980)

OK so I am a day late with this weeks RETRO REVIEW, but here it is. As the Oscars are approaching I figure for the next few weeks I will dedicate my Retro-view to somewhat forgotten Oscar winners of the past.

Today's selection is ORDINARY PEOPLE, which was a huge Oscar winner in 1980. The flick was Robert Redford's directing debut and took home Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton and Best Director for Redford.

The movie is straight out one of the heaviest flicks you could ever watch, but absolutely spot on in it's storytelling. The story follows a crumbling family dealing with the recent death of one son and the even more recent suicide attempt of another. (Hutton)

Hutton makes his film debut in this one and you can almost immediately tell why he won awards for his performance, and he is brilliantly complemented by to dramatic heavy hitters in Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore. Moore's performance made even more powerful by how "against type" she is as the emotionally shut off and cold Matriarch.

This movie makes you very tense at times, especially in scene's between Hutton and his Therapist (an amazing performance by Judd Hirsch), you really find yourself waiting for one of these characters to explode.

As the movie reaches it's climax you are left with a lot of questions, but even more you are left with empathy for all parties involved.