Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People

Re: Donald Sutherland

 

Re: Donald Sutherland

Having seen everything but the Lemmon, can't deny De Niro, who carried what to me was the best movie of the '80s.

Still, I get silly about The Stunt Man. Vastly-underrated. O'Toole's his usual
flamboyant self, and Barbara Hershey's gorgeous.

 

Re: Donald Sutherland

Can we put a little more info in the title? I was ready for another RIP thread...

Ordinary People is one of the best movies ever. How MTM didn't win an Oscar for that is just beyond me. She gave me chills in that role and she was majorly playing against type.

 

This was the era where the Academy inexplicably accepted supporting-role nominations for actors who clearly had lead roles. I don't have time to go through IMDB right now, but Nicholson for Terms of Endearment (and he won) is another really-leading-role example that stands out.

Sutherland could have been nominated, but his was a supporting role, at best.

Hutton, who was great in Ordinary People, had a lead role. His struggle was the focal point of the film. It was in no way a supporting role. Had he been nominated for Best Actor, though, he would have had no chance with the Raging Bull DeNiro on the docket.

Moore, as Mizzou said, was terrific and chilling -- the complete opposite of characters she had played up to that point, something some critics doubted she could pull off -- but she was up against another legendary role: Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter.

I've seen Ordinary People on lists of the worst Oscar-winning films, which is disappointing. I absolutely loved it.

 

C. Thomas Howell was nominated for an Academy Award? Am I missing something here?

 

Raging Bull should have won that year, but Ordinary People is still a tremendous movie.

 

I'm pretty sure which one has aged better.

Raging Bull didn't win in considerable part because it was Scorcese, who wasn't one of "them".

Fact that it was a sports picture didn't help, but Marty not being part of the Hollywood crowd cramped him in Awardland for a long, long time.

 

I don't even remember him being in the movie. Must have really been into character.

 

Ponyboy's first acting job was in E.T. according to the IMDB.

 

Great movie. I can't argue with the rest of the Best Actor nominees except for Jack Lemmon, which was probably more of a career thing.

"He needed it. You were always so hard on yourself...."