Watch a Movie: Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People”

Robert Redford made his directorial debut in 1980 with Ordinary People, a painful examination of the illusion of the perfect family, and it went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture that year, not to mention Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and a Best Actor award for Timothy Hutton, as well as nominations for both Judd Hirsch and Mary Tyler Moore. That’s a hell of a pedigree.

Hutton stars as Conrad Jarrett, a young man consumed by guilt, who believes that he should have been the one who died in tragic a boating accident on Lake Michigan instead of his brother. His parents Calvin and Beth (Donald Sutherland, Moore) are having a difficult time on their own and are unable to provide the support Conrad needs. In fact, his mother so clearly preferred the elder boy that she’s too embittered to help her remaining son, while his father feels torn between the two. Even his therapist (Hirsch) is unable to really get through to him. The only hope he has is his burgeoning relationship with Jeannine (Elizabeth McGovern).

Watch Best Picture winner Ordinary People online for free in its entirety right here on Fancast.