The film, which was actor Robert Redford’s direc-
torial debut, proved very successful. It received
several awards, including Academy Awards for Best
Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for
Hutton, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Alvin Sar-
gent, as well as Oscar nominations for Moore and
Hirsch.
Impact The award-winning film adaptation ofOrdi-
nar y Peoplegenerated a renewed and sustained inter-
est in Judith Guest’s book, which gained popularity
as an assigned reading in high schools and colleges.
The novel continues to be read, particularly by young
people, probably because of the appeal of its teen-
age protagonist. The film has also been credited
with generating popular interest in the German Ba-
roque composer Johann Pachelbel, whoseKanon in
Dwas included in the sound track.
Further Reading
Aguiar, Sarah Appleton.The Bitch Is Back: Wicked
Women in Literature. Carbondale: Southern Illi-
nois University Press, 2001.
Canby, Vincent. Review ofOrdinar y People.The New
York Times, September 19, 1980.
Maddocks, Melvin. “Suburban Furies.”Time108, no.
3 (July 19, 1976): 68, 70.
Szabo, Victoria, and Angela D. Jones. “The Unin-
vited Guest: Erasure of Women inOrdinar y Peo-
ple.”InVision: Re-vision: Adapting Contemporar y
American Fiction by Women to Film, edited by Bar-
bara Tepa Lupack. Bowling Green, Ky.: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press, 1996.
Thad Cockrill
See also Academy Awards; Feminism; Film in the
United States; Literature in the United States; Teen
films.
Organized crime
Definition The illegal activities of groups of
professional criminals
Shifting socioeconomic patterns and changing penal codes
during the 1980’s brought about changes in operations for
gangsters and law enforcement officials alike.
By the 1980’s, American gangsters had built multi-
million-dollar enterprises, and even as the federal
government sought to find ways to prevent the
growth of organized crime, the depiction of various
types of gangsters as hardworking men simply mak-
ing a living in spite of the system glamorized the im-
age of the American gangster. Modern depictions in
film and popular song increased the gangster allure.The Italian American Mafia At the beginning of the
decade, probably no faction of organized crime
loomed larger in the American imagination than
the Italian American Mafia, immortalized on screen
in motion pictures such as director Francis Ford
Coppola’sThe Godfather(1972) andThe Godfather
Part II(1974).With its focus on honor and loyalty,
the cinematic portrait of the Mafia portrayed the
Mafia don as a family man and a shrewd businessman
with numerous complicated decisions to make—an
image to which many mainstream American movie-
goers could relate.
The Italian American Mafia was based primarily
on the East Coast of the United States, particularly
the New York City area, although the group’s mem-
bers did operate in other locations, including Arkan-
sas and Las Vegas. The Mafia created its flow of in-
come from territorial monopolies on both illegal
and legal businesses (the latter often funded by ille-
gal operations). Small-business owners were rou-
tinely bullied into accepting “protection” from the
Mob for a fee, risking their lives and their businesses
if they refused. By the late twentieth century, the
Mafia was heavily involved in waste management,
construction, drug trafficking, racketeering, loan
sharking, and murder for hire.
By 1980, the American Mafia had undergone ob-
vious changes. The older gangsters were dead, dy-
ing, or retired. Younger members were challenging
the antiquated means of generating income and
were more willing to become involved with the sale
and distribution of street drugs, an enterprise previ-
ously looked down upon because of its association
with African Americans. However, racketeering—
obtaining money through the threat of violence—
remained a major source of income for organized
crime factions in the United States.
The most serious threat to organized crime in the
United States was the Racketeer Influenced and
Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. The statute
was passed in 1970 by Congress under the Organized
Crime Control Act. RICO was intended to prevent
any individual or organization from receiving or us-
ing income obtained from racketeering. The statute738 Organized crime The Eighties in America