tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post939225772202585746..comments2024-03-27T15:16:57.305-05:00Comments on F This Movie!: Notes on Film: We're Just Ordinary PeoplePatrick Bromleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00771837625286775607noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-2383965274061214322022-11-14T12:02:55.919-06:002022-11-14T12:02:55.919-06:00Great column, Anthony. I saw Ordinary People durin...Great column, Anthony. I saw Ordinary People during its first theatrical release in 1980 and I was floored by MTM's performance as Beth. I think part of the "villain" reaction was that people had so much affection for her as "funny!" that MTM leaving behind her funny persona seems cruel to us and to the other characters. Beth is no Mary Richards or Laura Petrie. To me, that made MTM the perfect choice for the role... part of us has seen how bright and capable she can be. That absence is amplified in Beth's coldness. But seeing her "almost dead inside" just makes my heart ache for her and for her family. janbottighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00126929026388305201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-31589910855047300742022-11-11T15:51:03.116-06:002022-11-11T15:51:03.116-06:00It has been a couple of decades since I seriously ...It has been a couple of decades since I seriously delved into Woody Allen's filmography. You are right that for a filmmaker who is supposed to be funny, Allen surprisingly excels at exploring dark emotional territory. His transformation in the 1970s from Bananas to Manhattan is one the most remarkable in American cinema history. I know it's not popular now to acknowledge his importance, particularly from the 1970s into 1980s. I watched all of his 1970s films on Turner Classic Movies in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Rarely is a Woody Allen film broadcast on the channel now. A Casual Listenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02395983733474039015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-79868163425340757562022-11-11T12:26:51.305-06:002022-11-11T12:26:51.305-06:00Thanks for reading, Chris, and well said! Grief is...Thanks for reading, Chris, and well said! Grief is an unwieldy beast that affects people in a million different ways.Anthony Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11568010405491361140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-3353508349315905552022-11-11T10:49:21.872-06:002022-11-11T10:49:21.872-06:00I don’t think of Beth as a villain. These people a...I don’t think of Beth as a villain. These people are dealing with the ultimate nightmare scenario for a middle class American family. (The people in Come and See -like people in Ukraine, etc.- are dealing with a nightmare of exponential proportions.) The beauty of Ordinary People is that nobody in the movie knows how they should act after surviving such a tragedy, not Jeannine, Lazenby or even Stillman. But I kinda feel like Beth would have been more concerned about being embarrassed than she was about her son’s state of mind after quitting a sport, whether or not Buck had died. Great column!Chris Ceballoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04169766559723088489noreply@blogger.com