On Golden Pond (1981)

Why so much hype?

Sorry, this movie sucks

Lack of good storyline.

Absolutely brilliant

It seems weird to say something about this film. because it is source of states, emotions, delicate touches, cold war, admirable pledge for family, a meeting, almost magic, between Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda and, in few scenes, great clash between realism and nostalgia. a film who gives the measure of things, out of masks, appearences or expectations. because its subject is the fair form of happiness, the peace of past and the essence of the life of an old couple. a film like a precious remember. about yourself.

A few things struck me while I was watching "On Golden Pond". The obvious thing was the co-starring of two generations of Fondas. I understand that Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda hadn't been on the best terms due to her political activism in the '60s, and so this movie was a sort of reconciliation for both of them.As for the plot, the movie comes across as a "nice movie" that you can take the kids to see. Katharine Hepburn's "knight in shining armor" quote pretty much sums up the movie's feeling. I'm not saying that it's a bad movie, just a little too fluffy. It's a surprise seeing Jane Fonda and Dabney Coleman play wife and husband, since they had just played enemies in "9 to 5".Basically, it's a watchable movie, but not any sort of masterpiece. Probably worth seeing once. So strange to think that Henry Fonda won an Academy Award for the role and died a few months later.

Simple affection is so rare in the movies. Love is much talked-about, but how often do we really believe that the characters are in love and not simply in a pleasant state of lust and like? 'On Golden Pond' is a treasure for many reasons, but the best one, I think, is that I could believe it.The story of 'On Golden Pond' begins with the arrival of an old, long-married couple - retired professor Norman Thayer (Fonda) and his wife Ethel (Hepburn) - at the lakeside cottage where they have summered for many years. But this year they'll come to know their grown daughter, a teen visitor, and each other a little better. Obsessed with aging, Norman finds himself getting lost on walks and scarcely able to drive his boat anymore. To celebrate Norman's eightieth birthday, daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda - a commendable supporting act) arrives with new boyfriend Bill and Bill's rebellious teen son in tow. Chelsea and Bill plan for Billy Jr. to stay at the cottage while they head for a summer in Europe. The gruff Norman and the irritating Billy are immediately at odds - much as the father and daughter have always been. The two come to a better understanding of one another over the course of the summer, while Fonda also tries to come to terms with his mortality. Through learning to relate to the young boy, old Norman learns, belatedly, how to also trust his own daughter and communicate with her. When Chelsea returns, now married, will she manage to make up with her father before it's too late? Viewed simply as a stage plot,'On Golden Pond' is so predictable we can almost hear the gears squeaking. Forty-five minutes into the movie, almost everyone in the audience can probably predict what is going to happen to the characters, emotionally. And yet the movie transcends its predictability and the transparent role of the young boy, and becomes a film with passages of greatness.Mark Rydell directs Ernest Thompson's screenplay of pure gold with a lot of warmth, giving us an intricate interplay between the principal characters. But what imbues the movie with such poignancy is the standout performances by the two stalwarts. Katherine Hepburn is radiant as the sprightly matriarch, with her wide smile and warbling cry of "Nooorman". In a performance without gimmicks, she communicates most of the film's emotional power as a portrait of the serenity and anger associated with old age. Her terror when Norman is felled by his angina attack is genuinely moving. Henry Fonda, as the grouchy old professor whose facade conceals a great deal of shyness, is appropriately crusty and there could have been no finer final curtain for him than this.'On Golden Pond' is a beautiful film, honoring nature as much as the survivors of human life. There is a natural rhythm to the film that makes its own quiet, life-affirming statement.

Getting old is tough but beats the alternative. Putting as nice a bow on that situation as possible is the mission of this comedy- drama about an aging couple taking in life at their summer cottage; for me, a sturdy if low-key pleasure.Approaching his 80th birthday, retired professor Norman Thayer, Jr. (Henry Fonda) finds himself forgetting things. A lot of things. About the only thing he can remember is that he's standing at the edge of his actuarial table, and the more he brings up this fact, the more it annoys his longtime wife Ethel (Katharine Hepburn). The arrival of their daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) adds friction to the pot."I think I'll start a new book so I can finish it before I'm finished myself," Norman tells Chelsea's new boyfriend Bill Ray (Dabney Coleman). When he picks up one he's read before, he just shrugs: "My mind is going, so it'll all be new to me."This kind of humor pops up a lot in "On Golden Pond," which along with the beautiful Billy Williams cinematography and immersive set design, make it a kind of destination spot among movies. You don't watch it for story or even character development as much as an amiable place where quiet, rueful beauty reigns. An opening shot of the title lake (set in Maine, filmed in New Hampshire) transformed into burnished copper by a rising (or setting) sun is pure heaven.The syrup runs pretty thick on this pancake. Director Mark Rydell does a fine job recreating the Thayers' quiet pattern of life, but occasionally reaches for a bigger moment that isn't there, like Norman trying to find his way out of some woods. Composer Dave Grusin gets so busy with his trills and minor chords, he never develops an engaging central melody. Hepburn delivers one of her typical kabuki performances, with much too much eye-flashing and hand-waving.She's not one of my favorite actors, but here at least she has the right counterweight in Henry Fonda. He has the Norman character down so well it never feels like acting with him. You see the pain and fear in his eyes, but when he talks, it's in a low growl with W. C. Fields overtones. As Hepburn pushes, he pulls back, and the result feels like you are watching a real couple who have been together for decades, not a pair of movie stars who never met before this shoot.He has many great scenes here. My favorite is the awkward comedy when he teases Bill Ray about sleeping with his daughter, a scene Coleman also plays very well. It's odd seeing Coleman acting so awkward and uncomfortable, given the hard-case types he usually plays, but it's easy to understand with Old Man Thayer giving him the third degree. He should have done light comedy more often.The real-life situation of making "On Golden Pond" was at least as interesting as the movie. They shot it on location and around an actors' strike, and the set was apparently a tense one. A commentary track with screenwriter Ernest Thompson is especially illuminating and candid, talking about the challenges of reconfiguring his Broadway play around a cast and director who didn't always share his vision. At times, you can see where they got it right, especially in the second-half scenes where Norman teaches chippy young Billy Ray (Doug McKeon) about fishing on the lake. Overall, they went for a more dramatic flavor than the play had, and seem to get the balance right; a bit soppy, a bit heavy, affecting in the right places but never overbearing.Much of the talk about this movie centers around the troubled real- life relationship Fonda had with his daughter, something I feel is a burden to "On Golden Pond." For one thing, it's a distraction to the Thayer situation the film is supposed to be about. For another, the relationship between father and daughter, whether Thayer or Fonda, isn't so much developed or resolved as it is waved aside in a wink and a hug. I didn't care about Chelsea at the end of the film and doubt anyone else did, either.What "On Golden Pond" does offer is atmosphere, and a lot of it. The interiors of the Thayer house are so marvelously furnished and lit, I just want to hang out inside them and listen to Norman grouse at whoever has the misfortune of visiting, as long as it's not me.