1980 Oldsmobile 88 and 98 - The Cars of Ordinary People

Robert Redford's directorial debut, 1980's Oscar winning "Ordinary People" tells the story of a well-off Chicagoland area family that falls apart following the accidental death of one of the sons and the attempted suicide of the other.

I was fifteen or sixteen when I saw it for the first time and while I couldn't relate to their lifestyle and the trappings of their wealth, I identified and was enthralled with the combative, disconnected relationship the surviving son had with his mother and the ambivalent relationship he had with his father.  I was also fascinated, and I remain so, by what the set designers picked as the automobiles the family drove.

The mother, played by Mary Tyler Moore drove a 1980 Oldsmobile 88 while the father, played by Donald Sutherland, who was a tax attorney, drove a 1980 Oldsmobile 98. To young me, a household with two cars was a benchmark of affluence; two brand-new cars in the garage was out and out opulent.

There are myriad reasons why certain automobiles are cast by set designers in films. While I'm all but certain the Oldsmobiles in "Ordinary People" weren't there to symbolize anything as significant as what I believe "The Deer Hunter Cadillac" supposedly did, they represented the restrained taste the family had in every facet of their lives with the exception of their ability to control their emotions following a couple of most unfortunate circumstances. In retrospect, the big Oldsmobiles are perfectly cast in "Ordinary People" since they appear to be a lot more than what they actually are; they're nothing if not ordinary. We see that much more clearly now than we did forty years ago seeing what became not only of Oldsmobile but General Motors.

Up until the division's demise in 2004, Oldsmobile was the middle rung on General Motor's pricing ladder with Pontiac and Chevrolet below it, respectively, and Buick and Cadillac above it. Much like the other GM divisions, with the exception of Cadillac, Oldsmobile had a full range of models to seemingly, much like the GM pricing ladder was supposed to do, fit every pocket book. The 98 was at the top of the line up with the 88 slotted right below it. Save for some trim pieces and the 98 having a slightly longer wheelbase, both cars were all but identical. While the 98 and 88 were all too similar to other GM makes and models, still by 1980, there remained enough cache to the Oldsmobile brand that they wouldn't seem out of place in front of the home of a family of means. Especially the top-of-the-line 98.

Which begs the question of what was the point of the back drop of the film being a well-heeled family as opposed to one with a more ordinary bank account. All families have their ups, downs, trials, tribulations and melodrama regardless of how big or small their household income and cash flow is. Was it meant to show the world that having money really doesn't matter since we're all part and parcel in the same shit show? That the rich are "ordinary people" just like us poor slobs?

This much is certain, though, given five and especially ten years, any Oldsmobile in the driveway of the home of a tax attorney would look as out of place as a rusty old pickup. See it again if you can. It stands up well against the test of time and the performances of the cast, with arguably the exception of Judd Hirsch, are brilliant. As opposed to the "Deer Hunter", it's worthy of the accolades it received.