Beth Jarrett

What's not to love?

MTM not winning an Oscar for this was criminal.

R2 Seriously. To this day, when she lets the luggage slip at the end and lets out a quiet and cold gasp.

*To this day, I tear up when I watch the scene in which

This montage is everything.

Another amazing montage.

The youtubers love Beth.

74? Gee, I was awful at trig.

Whoosh!

Christ. I love MTM as much as anyone, but Spacek deserved the Oscar. She became Loretta Lynn before my eyes and did her own singing and aged from teenager to middle aged woman in the process. Much of Mary’s performance was all about her being cold and aloof with a little private moment of crying at the end. Not exactly Shakespeare.

You know, uh, that animal next door - that Pepper or Pippen or whatever it's name is -

I wonder if Karen's high school had to cancel their production of A Thousand Clowns.

R9 Excuse me?

MTM's performance was much more than "acting cold and a little private crying moment" at the end.

I've always felt that the key to her performance was how expertly and measuredly she imbued Beth Jarrett with a certain kind of benevolent warmth. That role could've easily been played as "the cold bitch" and yet the way Moore portrays her, she lets Beth betray her own vulnerabilities, subtly and exquisitely.

The very beginning, when she makes French Toast for for Conrad.

The moment when she goes out to see Connie out in the yard and she sincerely tries establishing a bond...

Her moments Calvin.

She was a lot more loving than given credit for.

Carol though I knew...

It's really important for you to hurt me, isn't?

Oh, and how do I hurt you? By embarrassing you in front of a friend?

If it's starting all over again - the lying, the covering up, the disappearing for hours - I will not stand for it. I can't stand for it. I really CAN'T.

My favorite moment of the entire film was the look Donald Sutherland gives MTM when they're flying home from Texas. That look was truly Oscar-worthy.

R14 He was so amazing throughout. That he didn't get recognition for this is crazy. All three leads should've won.

Is she related to DL favorite Valerie Jarrett?

I'll tell you what you can do, though, you can go upstairs to that room of yours and clean out the closet.

Mom.

Okay? (pause) Because it really is a mess.

[quote] Christ. I love MTM as much as anyone, but Spacek deserved the Oscar. She became Loretta Lynn before my eyes and did her own singing and aged from teenager to middle aged woman in the process.

Yes! Spacek was amazing. Compare what she does with her role to Jessica Lange in Sweet Dreams a few years later. She totally deserved to win.

BUT

MTM deserved to win her appropriate category, Supporting.

Hutton remains one of the worse cases of category fraud in Oscars history.

R18 Maybe this is how they sit around and talk at the hospital, but we're not in the hospital now.

It was a different time. He wasn't quite playing an adult and he was new so that's how he got in there. MTM's big name put her in lead.

I wonder which spot she thought about going for? She would've been a shoo-in in Supporting, but no one was beating Spacek that year.

Buck never would've nominated his mother in the wrong category!

R20 I don't even think Mary campaigned. I think they were all shocked by the amazing reception, which the film totally deserved, and the studio took charge of putting everyone where they saw fit.

I played this role many years later in “In The Bedroom”.

Could MTM have played Loretta Lynn? I would have loved to see her try!

Judy would have been great in The Country Wife. Could Gracie have played a musical Esther/Vicki?

Girl, dammit! Country Girl....

R23 Oh, honey. You played another country bumpkin in your string of "Variations on a Country Bumpkin".

Mare devoured you.

Don't try to change me, I don't want anymore changes. Let's just hold on to what we've got!

I think of Beth Jarrett as every Datalounger's mother.

Christmas in LonDON. Like something out of Dickens.

Do you do that deliberately or is it just a reflex?

You know, I think this can be saved. It's a nice clean break.

Can't you just

NO! I can't. And neither can you and neither can anyone else. Only maybe I'm just a little more honest about it.

GOD I DON'T KNOW WHAT ANYONE WANTS FROM ME ANYMORE!

R31 Yas! That line gags me every time.

Happy?

Ward, you tell me the meaning of happy.

But first you better make sure your kids are good and safe, that they haven't fallen of a horse, been hit by a car, or drown in that swimming pool you're so proud of!

Then, you come and tell me how to be happy!

“I feel the same way about you that I’ve always felt”...

I bought them that book on wine!

You did! You lied every time you came into this house at 6.30! If its starting all over again, the lying, the covering up, the disappearing for hours, I won't stand for it, I can't stand for it, I really can't

My favorite scene is when the family has to stand close together for a photo and MTM is so uncomfortable that she screams Take The Picture! Such a great movie. MTM and Hutton truly deserved an Oscar. MTM played so against type that you saw how talented she really was. And her grief was real. I think she had a rough childhood. Did the movie win Oscars for anything?

You're the scariest ghost I've ever seen! And the tiger and the witch... You all look just wonderful. Take an apple.

R39 Probably my favorite of her deliveries. She was so perfect here, like a delicate piece of embroidery.

That Christmas in London would be like something out of Dickens. We've never done that before, right? Christmas in LONDON?

R40 Do IT!

Calvin...

I think MTM was excellent. But even she acknowledged that she was more like Beth Jarrett than people knew. Did she deserve an Oscar? Her last a major role was as a nun in an Elvis film. The nomination was enough. Sissy became a whole real person- so much so that she didn't lose that accent until five films later. The real crime is that Sissy lost her Oscar for " In the Bedroom" to Hallie Berry in a forgettable, useless role.

As for Beth Jarrett she is a woman who fell in love with one of her children. That child died and with him whatever love she could muster for her husband or her other child. And we see as time goes on that she is embarrassed to let others know what is going on in her house really because she is afraid that attention will reveal that fact. I think that when we see her trying to connect with Conrad what she is doing is trying to play the part of mother. But her baby is gone, and Conrad's reaction to his brother's death and his survival only serves to remind Beth that she incapable of real love again. I think her character represents a great many parents- rich or poor. She is hurt, she put upon, she is being told what to do when all along she has already made her feelings known through actions. That line about the fact that she never came to the hospital and that she believes that Buck would never have been in one tells you everything about who she really is down deep. I feel for her now as an adult. I see that obtuseness and hate that she carries for the mistake of favoring one child over another. It is a true pity.

Finally why is it that no one ever gives any acclaim to Donald Sutherland? He is excellent in his part. He has a complex role to play and he is a master class to watch. He deserved the Oscar!

R45 And with all that said, Mary still should've won.

R40 Beth was just trying to channel Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, but her dry as dust husband and sad sack son never got her wonderful sense of humor. Fuck them!

There should have been a sequel called “Extraordinary People”! Directed by Miss Barbara Streisand!

R48 I always thought they should've done a follow up, simply titled "Beth".

The little known sequel was “Jeth Barrett”... the story of a woman who is now happier as a MAN!

R50 ...

Donald Sutherland was the great reliable actor he always is. I guess that's expected of him so he's overlooked. He was even fantastic in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The one from the 70's that takes place in SF.

R51 Buck never would have selected that photo! This one is much better. You must be Conrad, once again seeming to enjoy hurting me.

R53 ...

R12 and exactly how is this supposed to be Oscar worthy?

R55 ...

From all accounts, MTM was far more like Beth than her famous TV characters.

Beth Jarrett here, still deeply concerned over the photo editing skills of R51, R53, and R55.

You’re definitely a Connie and not a Buck!

You can’t save French toast.

She should have been nominated as Supporting.

R58 You're not hungry, you're not hungry.

R59 in my household we would have and then forced that willful, rat faced little ingrate to eat it days later.

Joan Crawford

R62 ...

Was Beth the Mary or the Rhoda?

People forget just how truly shocking it was at the time to see Mary Tyler Moore go from Mary Richards to Beth. As years went by perhaps the public saw more of Beth in the actress but at the time it felt like a sucker punch. She was that extraoridnary in the role.

Nevermind M's parallels with Beth. Her son had "mistakenly" killed himself pretty recently.

She put it all out there for us to see. She was shattering.

^ MARY!

Bump

I was more truly supporting and supportive.

Beth Jarrett is my mother. Uptight, cold and more concerned with appearances than the happiness of her children. Though I understand it, I kinda hate her even after 50 years.

Marry me R47!

This movie shook me to the core, but I didn't realize why for decades.

It took me that long to realize that Beth Jarrett was my mother -- and that I didn't like her.

Beth developed her cold exterior in her youth when she was a night hostess........

Peter Criss wrote a song about her softer side, away from the golf course.

Do you want me to sign you up for round-robin this year, Conrad?

Isn't this madness?

It was am excellent movie and well acted by everybody. I think the character Beth is someone many people recognize and is sadly somewhat universal, maybe if not in their mother, maybe in somebody else s they knew.

I always found it interesting how director Redford immediately thought of MTM as the right fit for the part. She lived on the beach in Malibu and so did he..... and he use to see her walking by herself on the beach and whatever vibe she gave off from a distance it just seemed right for the part................very perceptive.

Redford, in turn, was influenced by his mother in his framing of Beth and MTM was influenced by her father in her portrayal.

I read her memoir, "After All". Excellent read. Real raw and transparent.

You are very determined Beth, but you are not strong.

^^^^ You’re right, you’re right and I’m really worried about it. But I can’t let anyone know that, not even my husband.

For Christ's sake, buck up mother!

Mary weighs in on Beth.

I do think she was brilliant in this role. I remember seeing this movie in college and being so taken with it. Donald Sutherland looked, sounded, and behaved EXACTLY like my father. Those final scenes of his are even more heartbreaking now that my father is gone. And yes, my mother shared a few traits with Beth. God, I wonder if any gay men's mother DIDN'T?

Beth Jarrett was way too much like my mother for my comfort.

Right down to playing golf at the country club, to always doing the "right" thing, being the perfect hostess, and taking a polite interest, but keeping an icy distance.

I don’t really think it was such a stretch if you think just a little bit about it. Yes Mary was America’s sweetheart, but she also had a perfectionist, not quite spontaneous quality and was never the “warmest” character in the world.

I also loved MTM in Flirting with Disaster and I wish that were talked about half as much as this movie.

R85 OMG yes! She was great in Flirting With Disaster... love this scene.

And this scene! She and George Segal are so good together.

She’s great in “Flirting with Diaster”, but “Ordinary People” is a *much* better film. It’s also a Best Picture and best director winner.

It's sad that "Ordinary People" is not yet available on blu-ray.

And, when it is, there will obviously be no commentary from MTM.

I wish they'd hurry because Sutherland isn't getting any younger either.

But then again, there are so many older movies where the main actors are no longer alive to provide commentaries.

R89 I agree. It's a travesty they never got to do a retrospective or commentary with the cast or even just Redford.

They need to release it on Blu-ray and get Redford to record a commentary track at the very least.

Raging Bull was robbed for Best Oscar.

Mary is mythical in this.

A gorgeous and misunderstood ice creature.

I think Cal understood Beth quite well by the end of the movie. She more than anyone in that family needed serious therapy.

Very nice.

Beth Jarrett had zero spunk.

R82 I agree with MTM that just calling Beth a bitch is dismissive and judgmental. Whatever created Beth was really her albatross. But she doesn't try to really change her ways as an adult. In fact she resist change. That is not being a victim but a tyrant of one's own feelings and beliefs. It's the control that she can't lose. And the illusions in her own head about Buck, why he died, and why Conrad lived. Redford tells us this over and over. Her false concern about children's safety at the golf course. The lack of visits to Conrad at the hospital. The stupid way she thinks that the Christmas in Dickens was beautiful and not about the horrible class system it exposed. She is obtuse to any feeling but her own. That's why she leaves she quickly because she knows that fact. Any character like that can invoke pity but not concern.

Also the shock of MTM's performance after Laura and Mary Richards is really what grabs you.

Shame that OP didn’t open more doors for MTM. She was really quite great given the material.

If you can find it I highly recommend “Finnegan Begin Again”, a romantic comedy she did for HBO in the mid 80s opposite Robert Preston.

Finnegan Begin Again

Ann-Margret was considered for the role and she would have been fucking amazing.

Beth!

My mother was a Beth Jarrett. Her name was even Beth.

What kind of family background makes a “Beth Jarrett”?

A lot of you seem to have first hand experiences with her type and I’ve always been curious...

Ordinary People was filmed not long after Mary's first facelift. The film was released on September 19, 1980.

On October 14, 1980 at the age of 24, Moore's only child, Richard (from her first marriage), died of a supposed accidental gunshot to the head while handling a small .410 shotgun. Richard had on-and-off again drug problems.

Mary lost the 1981 Best Actress Oscar to Sissy Spacek, but did win the Golden Globe that year. Nominees included Gena Rowlands, Deborah Raffin, Natassja Kinski, and Ellen Burtsyn, but not Sissy Spacek.

She and Grant Tinker divorced later that year. In 1983, she married cardiologist Dr. Robert Levine, who was 15 years her junior. They remained married until her death in 2017.

Do we think the son killed himself on purpose after seeing the film and realizing how close he and his mom were to Conrad and Beth in real life?

I’ll never understand why the thing with her son didn’t get her a sympathy Oscar.

Isn’t that usually how these things work?

Her first facelift was great ; she should have stopped there (at least for a while).

Although...so she was born in Dec 1936, OP filmed in ‘79 so she was only 42 when she got her first face lift? Holy fuck. I’m almost that age.

That’s really young to need a facelift isn’t it?

I didn’t know this bitch was black!!

I THOUGHT THE BITCH WAS BLACK!!!!!!!

That's how you do it, R106.

R105, she was a heavy smoker and drinker, plus about to shoot a high-profile feature, so she was probably ready for a facelift by then. Didn't a big part of her plastic surgery problems stem from the fact that she was diabetic so her surgeries didn't 'heal' properly?

R108, Diabetes + Heavy Smoking = Major Problems.

I love Beth Jarrett.

i never understood why so many people like this movie. i saw it on tcm once and thought it was dour and that it sucked.

Well. R111 has told us now, so that he didn't have to tell us all those times since 1980.

Lansbury got her first face lift for the original production of Mame at 40.

All these gay men with cold distant mothers...

I had the Italian version: a women in a state of open constant anger and hysteria.

flick your fuckin' bean, woman!

R115 You poor baby. Let me soothe you. :::nuzzles you with love and warmth:::

R116 lmfao. How disgusting yet hilarious.

R115 that’s funny. As a WASP who grew up around Italians, i actually kinda envied the directness. But they were a handful.

She mentioned that she’d be blind from the drinking but for the fact that she got cornea transplants.

an interesting (an odd) tidbit I found online: If Elizabeth McGovern turned down her role Redford was going to ask Marie Osmond.

Surely Marie could have healed Conrad and warmed Beth's heart with a song or two?

R114 I know what is up with that? Clearly why they love the movie so...

Please adopt me, Mrs. Jarrett. I love French toast.

I miss Beth Jarrett.

[quote]Please adopt me, Mrs. Jarrett. I love French toast.

Hey Darfur Orphan, today I made a Monte Cristo sandwich for breakfast. I used French toast for the bread.