Alvin Sargent

Ordinary People (1980)

[10] Robert Redford directs this adaptation of Judith Guest’s novel, about a family reeling from the accidental death of the eldest child. Unlike so many dramas, it’s what you don’t see and what isn’t said that makes Ordinary People such a gut-wrenching, powerfully moving film. Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, and Mary Tyler Moore give superb performances as family members struggling to reconnect with one another …

Paper Moon (1973)

[10] In the Depression-era Dust Bowl, a traveling con man strikes up an unlikely relationship with an orphan girl who may or may not be his daughter. Director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) coaxes magnificent performances from real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, working from a beautiful screenplay adaptation by two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent (Julia, Ordinary People). The magic of Paper …