ordinary people movie | pinartarhan.com

havana-robert redford-lena olin — Havana starring Robert Redford, Lena Olin and Alan Arkin. a Sydney Pollack film. Image via mrqe.com

Plot Summary

1958. Pro card player Jack Weil (Robert Redford) is in Havana once again, this time to organize the biggest game of his life. While travelling there by boat, his situation-handling skills intrigues fellow passenger/revolution supporter Roberta “Bobby” Duran (Lena Olin) and she hires him to pass her car through the border safely.

After he succeeds, he expectedly hits on Bobby, but she turns him down saying she’s married. An unfazed Jack goes about his business, trying to convince casino owner Joe Volpi (Alan Arkin) to let him organize a big stakes game, hanging out with women and not giving a damn about revolution.

Even after Bobby introduces him to her husband Arturo (Raul Julia), a important rebel, and he tells Jack that they could use his skills, Jack turns them down.

But when the police start capturing rebels, Arturo is announced dead, and Bobby goes missing, Jack decides to use his resourcefulness to help out Bobby. Only Bobby will turn out to be even more stubborn than he is, and will awaken things in Jack that he never knew existed.

Can Jack manage to win his biggest game and get out of Cuba without getting into trouble, or will he become as crazy about Bobby as she is about the revolution and do the unexpected of him?

A Beautiful, Political Journey of Internal Change

Havana is an alluring period drama/romance in a political background in an exotic city. Jack’s latest experiences in Havana, and his change and growth as a person, get more focus than the romance, so the movie will be better appreciated as an interesting drama than a romantic film. That’s not to say we don’t get some extremely brave and romantic gestures from Redford, and as usual, he seduces his co-star as he also easily seduces his audience.

Jack makes for an interesting romantic lead, as even with all the gambling, smoking, women and drinking, he never strikes us as unworthy or disreputable. If anything, his character seemed more realistic than selfish to me. He’s an American card-player who is in Cuba for business and fun, and not every foreigner would jump to risk his life to get involved in the dangerous and complicated politics of another country. Sure, it is noble to help others. Ideally, we should. But then it isn’t in everyone. And it would raise the question: why is the survival of others more important than his own?

So I can totally relate to his noninvolvement in the beginning, as it is a logical self-preservation strategy. But what he does for Bobby, doesn’t come as an unrealistic development either. Her passion, beauty and her highly different background intrigue him and brings out a passion in him he never experienced. He follows his heart rather than logic, and this is what magnetically draws Bobby to him later on.

That said, be prepared to give the lead to Havana and Jack rather than Jack and Bobby.

Written by Judith Rascoe and David Rayfiel, directed by Sydney Pollack. 1990.

Havana Movie and Cast Trivia

– Onscreen, Robert Redford’s often romantically paired with actresses younger than him:

* Havana: Lena Olin 19 years his junior

* Out of Africa: Mery Streep 13 years

* Up close and Personal: Michelle Pfeiffer 22 years

* Indecent Proposal: Demi Moore 26 years

* The Horse Whisperer: Kristin Scott Thomas 24 years

Interestingly enough, although some moviegoers make an issue of age differences on the screen, nobody seems to be bothered when it is Robert. I know I’m not. Although I have to say my favorites among these pairings are with Lena Olin and Michelle Pfeiffer.

-Robert worked with Lena’s Swedish director husband Lasse Hallström for the movie An Unfinished life. Lena often works with her husband as well (Chocolat, Casanova…).

-Redford is an Oscar-nominated actor, but an Oscar-winning director. But unlike Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) he wasn’t nominated for both for the same movie. He wasn’t in acting in Ordinary People, the 1980 movie that got him the Oscar. Ordinary People also earned Timothy Hutton Oscar for Best Supporting actor.

Redford’s other Best Director nomination was for Quiz Show, a 1994 movie starring Ralph Fiennes. Quiz Show didn’t feature Redford as an actor either.

– Havana was directed by actor/director Sydney Pollack who guest-appeared on the sitcom Will & Grace as Will’s father.

-Havana was nominated for Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar for its music.

Also on Robert Redford:

Lions for Lambs starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep & Tom Cruise

Up Close and Personal starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer

Ordinary People starring Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch

Also on Lena Olin

Mr. Jones starring Richard Gere and Lena Olin

Remember Me starring Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Pierce Brosnan, Lena Olin and Chris Cooper

Ordinary People starring Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and Judd Hirsch. Made in 1980, directed by Robert Redford. Image: cinemoviehistory.com

The life of an ordinary family has gotten turned upside down by 2 tragic and shocking events: First, the older son Bucky (Scott Doebler) died in a boating accident during a trip he went with his younger brother Conrad (Timothy Hutton). Then, some time after the accident Conrad attempted suicide by cutting his wrists and very nearly succeeded.

When C onrad comes home from a4-month stay at a psychiatric hospital, he tries to adjust his settings. While his father Calvin (Donald Sutherland) does his best to make him feel better, his mother Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) for some reason seems uncomfortable by his son’s presence.

Conrad goes back to his high school and the swim team but he can’t help but feel disconnected. He loved his brother a lot and his mother’s coldness isn’t helping matters. So he unwillingly starts seeing a psychiatrist named Berger (Judd Hirsch). Disconnected from his mother and friends, Conrad is missing the hospital.

Will Conrad eventually be able to let go of his anger, guilt and depression? Will Calvin manage to reconnect with his son and try to figure out his wife, who seems to be more interested in romantic getaways and social gatherings than her own son’s well-being?

***

Ordinary People, unlike its title, is an extraordinary movie. The plot summary might not have intrigued you all that much but trust me, this movie is an amazing emotional experience. The tagline “some films you watch…others you feel” couldn’t have been more appropriate. This very humane story is directed by Robert Redford. And even though a very young Timothy Hutton’s name is written 4th on the opening credits, the heavy-lifting is mostly on his shoulders as he brilliantly portrays Conrad, a character you like, understand and feel the pain of. And the academy agrees as Timothy won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar with this role. The movie has 3 more Oscars: Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Judd Hirsch, Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore are expectedly good (note that Judd Hirsch was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Moore for Best Actress) but if you do cry, it is probably gonna be Hutton who makes you.

Based on the novel Judith Guest. Written by Alvin Sargent and Nancy Dowd. Directed by Robert Redford.

Rated 7.8 on IMDB and a solid 8 from me, Ordinary People is a must see. The coldness and the weird way Conrad’s mother’s mind works will give you the chills and you won’t be able to help but feel for the father who is trying his best to hold his family together despite what’s happened and what’s still happening.

Fun notes:

The first time we see Conrad’s friends is when they pick him up for school. The guy in the front seat is a very young Adam Baldwin, who you might remember from Chuck- he plays John Casey.
Do you remember the classic Tom Cruise comedy Risky Business? You may not remember the fil exactly but it is the film where his parents go away for a while and our high school kid ends up having a relationship with the prostitute. The classic scene is Tom Cruise wearing a white shirt over his underpants and white socks, wearing sunglasses and dancing in the house. Well, that role could have been Timothy Hutton’s. But after Ordinary People and Taps, Timothy wasn’t really impressed with the storyline so he turned it town. You might see it as a strategic mistake but I have to say, I can see how Timothy would haven’t seen it as a challenge after these two.

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