United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland that
aimed to bring an end to the fighting in Northern
Ireland. O’Neill retired as Speaker of the House in
- He was later diagnosed with colon cancer.
Impact Tip O’Neill had a reputation as an outgo-
ing liberal Democrat who was a master at convincing
representatives to pass key legislation. O’Neill en-
joyed national recognition yet remained loyal to his
constituents, and he played a prominent role in as-
sisting the poor and least-privileged Americans.
Further Reading
Farrell, John A.Tip O’Neill and the Democratic Centur y.
Boston: Little, Brown, 2001.
O’Neill, Thomas P.Man of the House: The Life and Po-
litical Memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill. New York: Ran-
dom House, 1987.
Mar yanne Barsotti
See also Dukakis, Michael; Elections in the United
States, 1980; Elections in the United States, 1984;
Ferraro, Geraldine; Haig, Alexander; Immigration
Reform and Control Act of 1986; Meese, Edwin, III;
Military spending; Reagan, Ronald; Reagan Demo-
crats; Reagan Revolution; Reaganomics; Social Se-
curity reform.
Ordinary People
Identification American film
Director Robert Redford (1936- )
Date Released in 1980
Based on a 1976 novel by Judith Guest, this film depicts an
upper-middle-class suburban American family that begins
to disintegrate following the death of one son and the at-
tempted suicide of the other.
Set in the affluent Chicago suburb of Lake Forest,
the story centers on teenager Conrad Jarrett (played
by Timothy Hutton), who has just returned home af-
ter spending time in a mental institution, where he
was sent following a suicide attempt. Conrad’s pre-
carious emotional state has resulted from grief and
feelings of guilt occasioned by his surviving the boat-
ing accident in which his older brother was killed.
Both Conrad and his father, Calvin (Donald Suth-
erland), must navigate the tense domestic atmo-
sphere created in the wake of the older son’s tragic
death. Both are troubled by the emotional detach-
ment of Beth Jarrett (played by Mary Tyler Moore),
the mother and wife, who retreats into the busyness
of maintaining bourgeois decorum rather than con-
front the family’s mounting dysfunction. Conrad’s
return to emotional health is abetted by his thera-
pist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch), but it is hampered by
the cold demeanor of his mother.
The film is a portrait of late twentieth century
middle-class American attitudes toward grieving,
mental illness, adolescence, and divorce. Many crit-
ics hailed the film, praising the dialogue and well-
developed characters. Some, however, found the
film to be sentimental, observing that the Jarrett
family were too conventional to be credible, that
their mannered, WASP-y affluence was a stereotype
and a convenient setup for inevitable breakdown in
the face of domestic upheaval. The figure of Beth
Jarrett has proved an interesting, if slight, subject for
a few feminist critics.The Eighties in America Ordinary People 737
Robert Redford displays the Academy Award he won for his direc-
tion ofOrdinary Peopleat the annual ceremony in March,
1981.(AP/Wide World Photos)