Robert Redford's auspicious debut behind the camera earned him an Academy Award as Best Director for this overwrought study of a well-heeled American family in crisis. The picture took the Best Film Oscar and young Timothy Hutton's passionate performance as the teenage son eaten up by guilt over his brother's death earned him the Best Supporting Actor statuette. Mary Tyler Moore also excels as the cold-hearted mother - a role very much against type. She too was hotly tipped to win an Academy Award but lost to Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter.

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