Ordinary People Book vs Movie 🥺 where's Donald Sutherland's Oscar nom??

The Academy Award winning movie starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton is based on a book by Judith Guest. The movie is very close to the book, but here what changes are made and which I prefer.
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00:00 intro
01:12 plot overview
02:41 Beth and Conrad
06:12 Beth
10:30 Calvin
13:29 processing pain
14:44 Conrad
17:18 Calvin and Conrad
20:34 saying I love you
22:15 Jeanine and Karen
24:50 title
25:41 book vs movie

[@WhytheBookWins]

I recorded this video the day before Donald Sutherland died 😔 RIP (similar to when Cormac McCarthy died the day before I released my video for No Country for Old Men!)

[@LucyLioness100]

Talk about sad irony. He was one of the best character actors

[@paulallenk4830]

"Buck never would have been in the Hospital". 44 years later I still remember these hurtful words the Mother says to Conrad when she's angry at him. This movie gutted me. Saw it in the theater in 1980 as a sophomore in High School when one teacher made it a homework assignment. When Conrad's finds out his friend Karen killed herself soon after they met at a restaurant after she seemed so cheerful devastated me. Maybe because I was the same exact age when I saw film as the Conrad character that this movie had an enormous impact on me as a teenager. Great job once again Laura breaking things down. RIP Donald Sutherland. Highly recommend watching some KZbin clips of him on various talk shows which I've done since his death. Such a lovely man.

[@WhytheBookWins]

Yeah so many gut wrenching scenes in this movie! I don't know Sutherland wasn't at least nominated for his performance.

[@WillWilsonII]

I saw this and said "I don't know anything about Ordinary People". Truer words have never been spoken by me.

[@trudymeans3520]

Something that a modern viewer won't get (but I do, because, well, I'm old) is that several of the main actors were known almost exclusively for their comedy work. The fact that Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Donald Sutherland were cast in such a poignant drama was mind-blowing. I remember specifically for MTM that her casting was questioned before the movie came out and she won a whole new huge group of fans for having pulled it off so well.

[@WhytheBookWins]

Definitely! First time I watched this was when I was a teen and I remember my parents talking about how different this was for her in particular.

[@songmarysmith]

This story always gave me Catcher in the Rye vibes.

[@WhytheBookWins]

Oh interesting, I didn't think of that connection but it has been a while since reading that one.

[@angelaholmes8888]

I have never read the book but watched the movie so many times since i was a teenager it has aged very well to me because many people can understand this film im glad it won best picture Robert Redford did a great job directing and mary Tyler moore was terrific in the film i was shocked seeing how diffrent she is along with the late Donald Sutherland

[@WhytheBookWins]

Yeah she was such a great casting choice because people were so unsettled to see her in this way. Totally agree that it has aged very well.

[@user-kv2tj4du8p]

ORDINARY PEOPLE was one of my mother's favorite books. She was obsessed with it even before the movie. My mother and I were very close and both shared a love of books and films together. I was a freshman in high school when the film was released, and my mother made us go see it the first weekend it was released. She liked it, but she felt the book was better, but she did really like it. I loved the movie, and it inspired me to then read the book. And then several months later we went to see it again, and she was able to just give over and love it, free of how she felt about the book. it was a special and favorite movie and book between us both. I am now in my mid-50's, and my mother has alzheimers and no longer knows who I am. She's lived in the midwest my whole adult life, while I have lived on the east coast in the big city. I miss her very much. but I had many good times with her, over the years and I know how much she loved me, and she knows how much I loved her. she also loved that section of the book you wrote about Beth saving Conrad's drawings. she thought that was beautiful. thank you. I am thrilled to see anyone extolling the virtues of this wonderful book and this wonderful film. thanks for posting.

[@WhytheBookWins]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I love how books and movies can provide such powerful connections for us to loved ones.

[@Kaiyanwang82]

Really appreciated your tackling different genres, it's a great chance for me (and others, I am sure) to discover something new.

[@WhytheBookWins]

Thanks! I have thought of focusing on a specific genre as a way to target a more niche audience, but I haven't done that because I love covering a variety of topics!

[@fredkrissman6527]

RIP DonaldSutherland! What an excellent Calvin.

[@LucyLioness100]

It’s like the polar opposite of his performance in “Don’t Look Now” where he plays a father who loses his daughter in a tragic accident (weirdly similar to the inciting incident for this movie here), but kinda behaves like Beth in this film with DLN’s John Baxter wanting to just accept Christine (the daughter) is gone and help his wife, the wonderful Julie Christie’s Laura, move on and rebuild their life. However that one has a much more downbeat ending; if you know, you know 😉

[@fredkrissman6527]

My personal DS performance is (in Italian!), the little known 1900,@@LucyLioness100... It also has SterlingHayden, RobertDeniro, & GerardDeipardu, in a 4 hr spectacular!

[@LucyLioness100]

@@fredkrissman6527 I’ll put it on my watchlist 😄

[@IJSRJW]

I think Donald Sutherland should have been nominated for an Oscar, as I thought his acting performance in the film was great. I would imagine it is difficult for an actor to give a great performance in a film that wins Best Picture and not be nominated for an Oscar, especially when three of his fellow cast mates were given Oscar nominations for their acting in this amazing film.

[@WhytheBookWins]

Yeah it makes no sense why he didn't get nominated!

[@LucyLioness100]

I think we’ve all said that it’s odd he never got an Oscar nod here along with Mary and Timothy, but maybe it’s cause Hutton was up for Supporting Actor and the Academy didn’t want to have choose between them

[@LucyLioness100]

This movie is way too overlooked by the general public. Film snobs hate on it only cause it beat “Raging Bull” for Picture and Director at the Oscars which is completely unfair to Redford and his talented cast’s hard work on this film. Timothy Hutton is just heartbreaking as Conrad, Mary Tyler Moore as Beth was probably her best film performance ever, Donald Sutherland as the caring yet grieving father often gets overlooked but is always fantastic & Judd Hirsch as Dr. Burger does a great job as the voice of reason to this dysfunctional family

[@WhytheBookWins]

Well said! It has been a long time since I saw Raging Bull, but I just remember bits and pieces so I guess it didn't make much of an impact on me...

[@LucyLioness100]

@@WhytheBookWins it’s an okay movie, but not Scorsese’s best IMO. This one tackles tough subjects in a tasteful way & doesn’t trivialize what the characters are going through or allowing Conrad to get therapy and not be judged for it compared to how even today’s real world, movies or shows will still treat therapy

[@Kevin-rg3yc]

Not you calling me out in the first sentence I used to have that mindset until I saw ordinary people and it’s understandable why it won the best picture Oscar

[@karinavidal4882]

I have seen the movie but didn’t know this was based on a book 😭.

[@LucyLioness100]

I always forget it is

[@mmem4264]

You've made me want to read the book!

[@jhohadli]

Have seen the movie; have never read the book. I have read Guest's Second Heaven.

[@TheNinjaMarmot]

They will never make a movie like this. The white father will be replaced or be the bad guy. So I'm happy to see this movie. Hope they dont remake it.

[@WhytheBookWins]

I don't think they would make him the bad guy if they remade it... But I agree that I hope they never do remake it!

[@TheNinjaMarmot]

@@WhytheBookWins You're probably right. If they do remake it, they will sure replace the father and child with a DEI cast. In order to win an Oscar/Awards, movies now will need to comply with the new compulsory DEI pre-requisites before even thinking about getting a nomination.

[@WhytheBookWins]

@TheNinjaMarmot considering this is a very universal story of the human experience, it would be just as effective regardless of what race plays these characters.

[@TheNinjaMarmot]

@@WhytheBookWins Unfortunately, inevitably, with these types of cast changes comes race baiting and ideology. We'll wait and see, but I'm usually disappointed that this is pursued in many remakes even overriding the messages or tone in the original material. What I loved about the movie (I haven't read the book) was there was no superheroes, no supernatural/freak event. It was sincere and quite hard hitting. There is no easy way to say it. There is no deux ex machina, no wonder drug. It is what it is. And life is like that.

[@user-kv2tj4du8p]

this is a real issue for you this DEI diversity stuff isn't it? so much so that you are even complaining here about a situation that hasn't actually happened (a remake of ORDINARY PEOPLE). You know how many actresses of color have won the Oscar in the 96 years that the Oscar has been given? 10. 10. it's been given 96 times. only 2 times has the best actress award gone to a woman of color (Michelle Yeoh and Halle Berry) the other 8 wins were best supporting. 10 women out of 96. why do you feel it is so mis-weighted? do you need every movie to only be about white people? why does this matter so much to you? were you robbed of the Oscar one year by Hattie McDaniel? I am confused why this bee is buzzing so strongly in your bonnet. if you look around-there are more than enough white artists winning awards over the years, and certainly even today. why do you worry about all this to this degree? also the Supreme Court turned DEI and affirmative action around and effectively off for the u.s. now. shouldn't you just be celebrating? instead of still being frustrated by potential scenarios that don't even exist around diversity.