"I-I-I-I Am Ordinary People"

Ordinary People (1980):
What’s It About?: Years after the death of oldest son Buck, a family also finds themselves struggling with the attempted suicide of younger son Conrad (Timothy Hutton). And although the father (Donald Sutherland) is trying to get things back to normal, mother (Mary Tyler Moore) isn’t making things easier by remaining emotionless. If you have trouble remembering the plot, I find it helpful to remember this little Sly and the Family Stone inspired lyric: “Buck is the dead one/Who left behind the youngest son/Who can’t stand the stilted mom/Who’s married to Don Sutherland/I-I-I-I am ordinary people.”
How Good Is It?: You can’t argue the quality. The cast is stellar, and there are some times of true strong emotion. But it’s just not my kind of movie. Were I not watching all the Oscar winners in order, I couldn’t imagine having sat through it. Luckily, Timothy Hutton gives a brilliant portayal that helps the movie pass, and his scenes with any of the other cast, including Judd Hirsch as his psychiatrist, pack a great punch.
Was it Best Picture?: Er, no. Ordinary People is one of those films that screams Best Picture to me, as I started to become at least slightly cognizant of the fact that they existed around this time. It’s high quality material to be sure, but the movie that should have won was Raging Bull. Bull is stronger and deeper, but People won because it had that popularity contest feel and was the kind of great movie that audiences wouldn’t be offended by. Personally, I would rather have been more offended.