{"id":29899,"date":"2013-02-26T19:40:02","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T02:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29899"},"modified":"2020-12-31T13:14:23","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T20:14:23","slug":"on-golden-pond-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29899","title":{"rendered":"On Golden Pond (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You know, Norman, you really are the sweetest man in the world &#8212; but I&#8217;m the only one who knows it!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Poster-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-29900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Poster-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Poster-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Poster.jpg 1001w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile vacationing at their summer home on Golden Pond, an elderly couple &#8212; friendly Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) and crotchety Norman (Henry Fonda), who has a troubled relationship with his grown daughter (Jane Fonda) &#8212; agree to care for the sullen teenage son (Doug McKeon) of Fonda&#8217;s fiance (Dabney Coleman).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Elderly People<\/li>\n<li>Father and Child<\/li>\n<li>Grown Children<\/li>\n<li>Henry Fonda Films<\/li>\n<li>Jane Fonda Films<\/li>\n<li>Katharine Hepburn Films<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary correctly notes that the Oscar-winning script for this &#8220;surprise moneymaker&#8221; &#8212; which earned 80-year-old Henry Fonda his first Oscar, and Hepburn her fourth &#8212; is &#8220;shameless schmaltz where every line is shrewdly calculated to tug at the heart string&#8221;; yet he argues that it&#8217;s nonetheless &#8220;hard not to be taken with&#8221; it. He notes that while &#8220;we&#8217;ve seen the same problematic relationships &#8212; cranky old man and lonely young boy, cold old man and his unloved adult child &#8212; in other films (and TV movies), &#8230; they&#8217;re rooted in real life and are hard not to respond to.&#8221; He further points out that the film &#8220;has special meaning to viewers&#8221; given that &#8220;Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda had an estranged relationship for many years, until reconciliation late in his life&#8221; &#8212; just as happens to their characters in the film. Meanwhile, it&#8217;s gorgeously shot (on location in New Hampshire) by D.P. Billy Williams, and consistently beautiful to look at.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, however, I can&#8217;t profess to sharing Peary&#8217;s guilty fondness for this enormously popular film (the top-grossing movie of 1981), which I find not only calculated and derivative but poorly structured. The emotional pay-off we&#8217;re waiting for is clearly the reconciliation between Henry and Jane, yet Jane&#8217;s underdeveloped character is hardly onscreen, and the bulk of the film focuses instead on Henry&#8217;s mentoring of McKeon. In sum, narrative priorities are confused: if this was meant to be a film about an emotionally troubled young teen coming of age in a gorgeous setting under the guidance of a curmudgeonly yet caring grandfather-figure, then McKeon&#8217;s character needed to be written with much more depth and insight. <\/p>\n<p>Despite these serious complaints, however, the lead performances in <em>OGP<\/em> are certainly a joy to watch, and Hepburn and Fonda Sr. do indeed &#8220;rise above their roles&#8221;. As Peary writes, Fonda Sr. in particular is &#8220;wonderful in this role because he seems to really understand all his character&#8217;s strengths, quirks, self-doubts (especially in regard to aging), weaknesses, and flaws &#8212; particularly as a father&#8221;. Film fanatics will likely want to check out this film once simply to see him in his swan song (and to see Hepburn&#8217;s &#8220;energetic performance&#8221; as well). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Henry Fonda as Norman Thayer<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Fonda.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Fonda.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29902\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Fonda.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Fonda-128x68.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Fonda-300x160.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Katharine Hepburn as Ethel Thayer<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Hepburn.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Hepburn.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29903\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Hepburn.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Hepburn-128x68.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Hepburn-300x160.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gorgeous cinematography by Billy Williams<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29901\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Cinematography.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Cinematography-128x68.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/On-Golden-Pond-Cinematography-300x160.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, simply for the powerful lead performances. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0082846\/?ref_=sr_1\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=9E05E2DF153BF937A35751C1A967948260\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/20343\/on-golden-pond#articles-reviews?articleId=161287\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/on-golden-pond\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You know, Norman, you really are the sweetest man in the world &#8212; but I&#8217;m the only one who knows it!&#8221; Synopsis: While vacationing at their summer home on Golden Pond, an elderly couple &#8212; friendly Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) and crotchety Norman (Henry Fonda), who has a troubled relationship with his grown daughter (Jane Fonda) &#8212; agree to care for the sullen teenage son (Doug McKeon) of Fonda&#8217;s fiance (Dabney Coleman). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Elderly People Father and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29899\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29899"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60719,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899\/revisions\/60719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}