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Novels Into Film: Adaptations & Interpretations

Ordinary People

by Christopher Mari

The Novel

Author: Judith Guest (b. 1936)

First published: 1976

The Film

Year released: 1980

Director: Robert Redford (b. 1936)

Screenplay by: Alvin Sargent

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, Elizabeth McGovern

Context

Depression and teen suicide were not topics openly discussed when Ordinary People, Judith Guest’s first novel, was published in 1976. Ordinary people, so the idea went, spoke to other ordinary people about ordinary things—never about topics like these, which could shake people down to their core identities and beliefs. Guest’s novel gets to the heart of this matter by placing the Jarretts, a family of “ordinary people,” in extraordinary circumstances to see what remains in the aftermath.

Guest’s novel won critical praise and was a best seller upon its release, and enabled Guest, who had never written a novel before, to maintain a decades-long literary career, though none of her other novels has proved as popular as her first. Some of her other novels include Second Heaven (1982), Errands (1997), and The Tarnished Eye (2004). Ordinary People remains a popular book, often read in high school English classes across the United States.

The novel also piqued the interest of veteran actor Robert Redford, whose film production company bought the screen rights. Redford had been a leading man since the 1960s, best known for such films as Barefoot in the Park (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Candidate (1972), The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), and All the President’s Men (1976).

Initially, Redford saw it as a project solely to produce and star in. The more he reviewed it, however, the more he thought of making Ordinary People his directorial debut. He did just that, and the film went on to win numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards. It has been criticized for portraying only what some critics perceive as “upper class white problems” and for winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in a year when Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece Raging Bull (1980) was also up for the movie industry’s highest honor. That said, the film version is well regarded for Redford’s direction, as well as for the outstanding performances by its leading actors: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton, and Elizabeth McGovern.

Film Analysis

The film version of Ordinary People hews closely to the plot of the book. The main difference is that the novel, written in third-person present tense, is limited to the points of view of the characters of the younger son, Conrad Jarrett (played by Timothy Hutton), and his father, Calvin (Donald Sutherland). The chapters alternate viewpoints between Calvin and Conrad. The reader is only allowed to know the thoughts of the character “narrating” that chapter. Conrad’s mother, Beth Jarrett (Mary Tyler Moore), is never given her own point of view, thereby highlighting her remoteness from the feelings of her husband and son. In the film, however, Beth has several moments either alone or nearly alone, where the viewer can see some of what she is hiding beneath her perfect exterior and her reserve.

Several subplots from the novel are removed from the film version. One describes Calvin’s relationship with his tax attorney mentor, Arnold Bacon. Bacon breaks with his pupil after Calvin talks of marrying Beth, whom he says “is not a sharer.” Another is about Calvin’s life growing up in an orphanage. The last is a subplot related to Calvin’s law partner reuniting with his wife in a passionless marriage after having an affair.

The novel and the film begin with Conrad waking up. At breakfast Conrad’s father asks how he is feeling; his mother maintains a distance, offering him French toast but then throwing it away when Conrad says he is not hungry. Conrad has been back from the hospital just a short time and is still readjusting to life at home. His father worries about him and suggests he go see the psychiatrist the doctor at the hospital had recommended, Dr. Tyrone C. Berger (Judd Hirsch). Conrad does, and viewers soon learn that he was in a mental institution because he attempted to take his own life by slashing his wrists in his bathroom. It is later revealed that he did this some months after his older brother, Buck, died in a sailing accident. A storm came up on Lake Michigan, capsizing their boat. Buck, the stronger of the two, could not hold on. Conrad somehow did.

Conrad meets with Berger, eventually admitting that he would like to be more in control of his feelings, so that his father will stop being worried about him. Berger asks if Conrad’s mother is worried about him and he ducks the question. They agree to meet twice a week, which would cut into Conrad’s swim practice, but he seems ready to make that adjustment, not being particularly happy about being back on the swim team. At home, Calvin is pleased that Conrad has gone to see Berger, but Beth does not like the idea. Later, the couple discuss going to London for Christmas. Beth thinks it is a good idea but Calvin feels it would not be wise since Conrad has just begun his sessions. Beth is frustrated by this.

The viewer gets a glimpse into Beth’s mindset in a scene where she enters Buck’s room alone. It is preserved as he left it, with trophies and books on the shelves and pictures and posters on the walls. She sits on his bed, and the perfect mask of tranquility drops. Then she is startled when she discovers Conrad on the top of the stairs, not knowing if he should speak to her. They have a bit of awkward small talk, then separate.

Beth’s irritation with her husband comes to the surface after she accuses Calvin of drinking too much at parties. It is revealed that she is annoyed that Calvin told a family friend at a gathering that Conrad was seeing a psychiatrist. At about the same time, Conrad tells Berger that he is no longer interested in swimming; Berger suggests that if it feels right to quit the swim team, he should do so—and not worry how it looks to anyone. They also discuss the friends he made at the hospital and, after some thought, Conrad decides to contact one of them, Karen (Dinah Manoff). When they meet, Conrad tells Karen that he is seeing a psychiatrist; she admits that she used to but no longer does. They separate after a short time, agreeing to have the best year ever and to meet up again soon.

During Conrad’s meetings with Berger, the two work through Conrad’s problems. Conrad admits that he does not get along with his mother and that he cannot really talk about Buck dying. He is, however, happy to have quit the swim team, but does not tell his parents. This decision, along with his decision to ask out Jeannine Pratt (Elizabeth McGovern), a girl in his choir group, boosts his self-confidence. But Conrad’s stresses with his mother remain. She is furious when she learns from a family friend that Conrad has quit the swim team without telling them. Their relationship continues to degenerate as Calvin struggles to bridge the gap between the two of them. During one argument Conrad asks why she never visited him at the hospital. Calvin explains she had the flu. To which Conrad responds that she would have found a way to see Buck in the hospital. Beth then retorts that Buck would have never been in the hospital. At Christmas, Beth even refuses to have her picture taken with Conrad, causing him to curse at her in front of his grandparents.

Calvin goes to see Berger, in the hopes of talking about Conrad, but winds up talking about himself and his marriage. When he returns he talks to Beth about how she criticized the clothes he was wearing on the day of Buck’s funeral and how that has always bothered him. Over lunch he suggests they all go to see Berger as a family, but Beth refuses, instead suggesting that they go to visit her brother and his family in Houston for New Year’s, while Conrad stays with his grandparents. Calvin agrees reluctantly. The trip turns out to be a disaster, with the couple fighting over how attentive Calvin is to Conrad because Beth wants to plan another trip without her son. Meanwhile, at home, Conrad tries to call his friend Karen and learns she has killed herself. Distraught, he calls Berger and they meet at his office, where Conrad tells him of Karen’s suicide and of his guilt about surviving the boating accident and of being angry with Buck for suggesting they go out on the water in the first place and for dying. The session is a breakthrough for Conrad, who understands he does not need control as much as he needs to feel.

After leaving Berger, Conrad goes to Jeannine’s house to apologize for their awkward first date and she invites him in to eat some breakfast. When his parents return home, Conrad attempts to reconcile with his mother by hugging her, but she refuses to return his embrace. That night, Beth awakens to find Calvin crying in the dining room. He tells her that he is not sure he loves her anymore, because she buried all the love she had in her with Buck. Without a word, she packs her suitcase and leaves. Later Conrad wakes up and Calvin tells him that his mother has left. Conrad starts to blame himself and Calvin grows angry with him, possibly for the first time, telling him never to blame himself. Conrad tells his father how much he loves and admires him. The film ends with them hugging on the steps in the back yard.

Significance

Ordinary People was a critical and commercial success when it debuted in 1980, earning about $55 million in the United States on an estimated budget of $6 million. Vincent Canby, film critic for the New York Times (19 Sept. 1980), wrote, “In several ways, Mr. Redford’s film is far more effective than the novel. It’s difficult to write about people who cannot talk to each other because writing is itself a kind of talking. Mr. Redford’s film demonstrates this lack of communication, the inability to express affection, in scenes of sometimes overwhelming pathos.”

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named it as the best movie of 1980. It received a similar award from the New York Film Critics Circle, and won several other directing and acting awards. Most notably, Ordinary People received six Academy Award nominations and won four: best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, and best supporting actor (Hutton).

Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for, but did not win, the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Many critics thought she deserved the award for her portrayal of Beth, a character who was the opposite of the sunny characters she had played on television since the 1960s. Writing for the Los Angeles Times (26 Jan. 2017), Justin Chang notes: “In Moore’s performance, every curt remark and slight becomes an act of passive aggression, a way of withholding a mother’s love. Unable or unwilling to comfort Conrad in his own troubled moments, she stiffens like an automaton when he tries to hug her....At social gatherings she turns her grin into a shield, a mask of contentment that can clench, without warning, into a reproving stare.” Judd Hirsch was also nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role as Dr. Berger.

The film was also honored with Golden Globe Awards, winning best drama; best director, drama; best actress in a drama (Moore); best supporting actor (Hutton); new star of the year (Hutton); and best screenplay. While some critics find it pales in comparison to Raging Bull, which they believe should have won the Academy Award for best picture that year, it remains a powerful, dramatic look at a family’s struggle to survive almost overwhelming heartbreak and loss.

Further Reading

1 

DeVries, Hilary. “Judith Guest: Author of ‘Ordinary People’ Is No Ordinary Person.” The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Nov. 1983, www.csmonitor.com/1983/1101/110112.html. Accessed 26 June 2018.

2 

Vilkomerson, Sara. “The Untold Story of Ordinary People.” Entertainment Weekly, 2016, microsites.ew.com/microsite/longform/ordinary/index.html. Accessed 26 June 2018.

Bibliography

3 

“About the Author.” Judith Guest, 2014, www.judithguest.com/about. Accessed 26 June 2018.

4 

Canby, Vincent. “Redford’s ‘Ordinary People.’” Review of Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford. The New York Times, 19 Sept. 1980, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/people-re.html. Accessed 26 June 2018.

5 

Chang, Justin. “Mary Tyler Moore on Film: In ‘Ordinary People,’ an Extraordinary Transformation.” Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2017, www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mary-tyler-moore-on-film-appreciation-20170125-story.html. Accessed 26 June 2018.

6 

“Ordinary People (1980).” American Film Institute, 2017, catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/56483. Accessed 26 June 2018.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
Mari, Christopher. "Ordinary People." Novels Into Film: Adaptations & Interpretations, edited by D. Alan Dean, Salem Press, 2018. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Novels_0074.
APA 7th
Mari, C. (2018). Ordinary People. In D. Alan Dean (Ed.), Novels Into Film: Adaptations & Interpretations. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Mari, Christopher. "Ordinary People." Edited by D. Alan Dean. Novels Into Film: Adaptations & Interpretations. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2018. Accessed April 05, 2026. online.salempress.com.