"Like Normal People"

[philipdalton]

This an American TV movie from 1979 about a mentally retarded couple who get married. It is available to watch on YouTube, according to one poster it has only ever been shown on British TV once, in 1980. I remember watching it with my parents. Does anyone else have any recollections of seeing it?

[staffslad]

Re: "Like Normal People"

I remember it vaguely. I think it was a bit controversial at the time.

[philipdalton]

Re: "Like Normal People"

It was actually based on a true story. The real Roger Myers, the retarded person in question, who in the film was played by Shaun Cassidy, is said to have disliked it because it made him and his wife look more retarded than they really were.

[Mulletino]

Re: "Like Normal People"

I seem to remember watching this, rings a very distant bell.

[philipdalton]

Re: "Like Normal People"

Actually the real Roger and his wife Virginia are actually shown in one scene, towards the end of the film, at a party, laughing with the other guests.

[philipdalton]

Re: "Like Normal People"

I recently used the word 'retarded' on Facebook to refer to a boy I used to go to college with who was unusually child-like, and someone responded by saying 'I don't think retarded is the word Phil'. Does anyone have any opinions on this? Is it a word we should use, or is it too offensive? When I was a teenager the word 'mongol' was commonly used to refer to Down Syndromes, even by the father of a boy born with the condition. Nowadays, though, the term seems archaic.

[philipdalton]

Re: "Like Normal People"

I watched some film about a woman who was slow married to a normal man. She was in some court case where they were trying to get her children taken away from her. I can't remember what it was called, though, and therefore any attempts to Google it have proved unfruitful. A similar film is "I Am Sam", a film about a single father with a mental age of seven who is involved in a court battle to keep raising his child.

[ann22]

Re: "Like Normal People"

I remember my sister telling me about this film. She was on about a scene in it where a woman who had special needs who was with her partner in an art gallery I think...turned to him(who was also slow)"Roger did we pay al this money just to come in and look at a wall?" My sister being a child thought it was funny the way she said it. She would repeat that sentence many more times if memory serves!

[philipdalton]

Re: "Like Normal People"

I remember my sister telling me about this film. She was on about a scene in it where a woman who had special needs who was with her partner in an art gallery I think...turned to him(who was also slow)"Roger did we pay al this money just to come in and look at a wall?" My sister being a child thought it was funny the way she said it. She would repeat that sentence many more times if memory serves!

I think the scene you're referring to is at the end of the film where they complain about their accommodation when on their honeymoon.

[philipdalton]

Re: "Like Normal People"

It is stated at the end of the film that, at the time of its being made, one in four states in the US forbade the retarded to marry. Does anyone have any opinions on this?