MovieChat Forums > Ordinary People (1980) Discussion > 7.8 for this movie is criminal

7.8 for this movie is criminal

posted 9 years ago by timpolcha
30 replies | jump to latest

I've wanted to see this for years and never got around to it. I just got done watching it and it just might be the best and most honest movie I have ever seen. I never cry during movies and this movie mad me cry twice (first when Conrad lets himself off the hook to Berger for Buck's death, and then the very end scene with Conrad and his father). It's been a long time since I watched a movie and sat silent and in aw while the entire credits rolled but this movie just stopped me in my tracks.

[–] renatom1 9 years ago

For an Academy Award-winning film, this movie has become somewhat obscure. It hardly, if ever, gets shown on any TV channel, so it's not surprising that most people have never seen or heard of it. If they did, I'm sure the rating for this movie would be much higher.

[–] myndchanger 9 years ago

A lot of people are still angry about it beating raging bull so they voted it low.

[–] renatom1 9 years ago

Yeah, and those people suck!

[–] myndchanger 9 years ago

You will never convince those raging Raging Bull fans that Ordinary People was the better movie. It's like the the argument about why ET lost to Gandhi.

[–] clockwatcher 9 years ago

It's been what...35 years now? Time to let it go...

[–] renatom1 9 years ago

Exactly. 35 years later, a movie about a family falling apart is more socially relevant than one about an Italian-American boxer who beats his wife in 1940's Bronx.

[–] siakoonsiew 8 years ago

I heard that Raging Bull was a timeless classic and Ordinary People had become dated and shouldn't have won the Oscar but when I saw it last night, I found that it wasn't dated at all. The issues are still relevant today and the film still seems very fresh. This film hasn't aged a bit.

[–] Tongue (493) a year ago

I watched Ordinary People for the first time last night and I thought it was amazing and not dated at all. I was honestly surprised at how realistic it was - the writing and acting(and directing) was top notch

I’ve never seen Raging Bull and I’m a boxing fan

[–] CowboyDan33 9 years ago

I totally agree. 7.8 is a crime for this film. I never cry during movies, but I would have a few times only I held back the tears because I was with others. This movie is leagues better than Good Will Hunting.

[–] rc-108 9 years ago

I finally got around to seeing this.
This is a masterpiece... a 10 from me..
great story... and fantastic acting... especially from Timothy Hutton and Mary Tyler Moore...

[–] Hows_yer_arm_john 9 years ago

Caught it today for the first time. Was sad but quite refreshing. No crazy camera moves or angles just simply shot with the story and acting doing all the work. Great performances.

[–] clockworkorange13 9 years ago

Just saw it for the first time. Really great movie and it seems like the kind of movie that people nowadays would probably relate to just as well as people in 1980.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (12526472) 9 years ago

7.8 is a perfectly good score, anything higher than 7 - 7.5 just becomes meaningless anyway...some real bad movies have 8 here. In fact between 7 and 8 could even be seen as the best indicator of a great film, because films higher than that are just as likely to be populist rubbish as good.

[–] Prismark10 9 years ago

I gave it a 8 and the film's themes still stands up well. However Redford's unflashy direction ages the film and of course a family falling apart has been redone in countless movies of the week since then.

It's that man again!!

[–] rascal67 8 years ago

.. Redford's unflashy direction ages the film and of course a family falling apart has been redone in countless movies of the week since then.
_________________
That is what makes this film a gem, the lack of fake and phony flashiness that permeates most Hollywood productions. Hell, even the revered Raging Bull—which I despise—which many Scorsese fanboys feel is best thing since sliced bread, even has a pizazz and flashiness to it that makes it look arrogant and phony. Any contemporary filmed movie can have a look of datedness to it and that can't be helped. The film touches on a mother\son love theme that is lacking in love, and a mother that is caught up in her self-absorption due to her narcissistic personality. I don't recall many countless movies of the week that touched upon this.

Exorcist: Christ's power compels you. Cast out, unclean spirit.
Destinata:💩

[–] R_Kane (15828) 2 years ago

Nobody ever called you a man, Prismark.

[–] PrometheusTree64 8 years ago

For IMDB, a 7.8 is a very good score, especially for an older film. (As unreliable as IMDb's member ratings are, anything I haven't seen that's over a 7.2 makes me curious to see it --- that doesn't include new films which seem to get an absurdly high rating).

Also, there is still (as others have pointed out) the RAGING BULL brigade which feels their movie didn't win enough Oscars.

That said, one also has to remember that ORDINARY PEOPLE, although it packed an emotional wallop in 1980 when it was first released (behind-the-facade motion pictures were much rarer then), was then copied to death by every manipulative, maudlin abuser-of-the-week network and cable TV-movie for 20 years, in terms of style (those hovering shots, shrouded flashbacks, minimalistic piano score).

Such that for decades now, whenever ORDINARY PEOPLE comes on television, a lot of people groan and quickly switch the channel because it "looks and sounds" like one of those horrid copycat flicks.

That's unfair, but there it is.

--
LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA

[–] Boromir (10070) 2 years ago

For IMDB, a 7.8 is a very good score, especially for an older film. (As unreliable as IMDb's member ratings are, anything I haven't seen that's over a 7.2 makes me curious to see it --- that doesn't include new films which seem to get an absurdly high rating).

So true