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On Golden Pond (Special Edition) Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 36 Reviews)

a timeless film
in the tradition of "i laughed, i cried" movies, On Golden Pond is definently at the top of that list. combining smart dialouge, a lovely story, and two of the screens best actors you got a formula for success. Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn play two elderly people who go up to there cottage on Golden Pond to spend a summer. over the course of that trip, they befriend a lonely boy, evaluate there lives, and forge a relationship with there daughter (Jane Fonda). all the performers are great but the two standouts are Fonda and Hepburn. each one plays a foil to another, Fonda as Norman, is a crochity, wise cracking, disputible old man whil Hepburn as Ethel is a gentle, loving, all around caring person who acts as the peacemaker. when there both on screen, they are dynamite and both richley deserved those oscars. also, when both Fonda's are on screen they each show that no mater what they both love each other. a truley great film that will just leave you feeling great, On Golden Pond is recomended for anyone who loves movies.

Some Treasures Refuse to Tarnish
ON GOLDEN POND may be twenty-five years old but the film is of such high quality that it has retained the luminous quality that garnered so many awards when released. It not only has a fine script adapted by the playwright Ernest Thompson from his own play, but it benefits from the sensitive direction by Mark Rydell and a cast of superb actors.

The story is rather simple: Ethel (Katherine Hepburn) and Norman (Henry Fonda) Thayer have returned to their summer home beside Golden Pond and while they are elderly, their lives are still significant. They receive a rare visit from their distant daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) who stops by with her current boyfriend Bill (Dabney Coleman) to drop off Bill's ruffian teenage son Billy (Doug McKeon) to reluctantly stay with them while Chelsea and Bill are off to Europe. It is a battle of age differences: Billy sees no future in starting a relationship with the old turkeys and Norman is resentful at the youth's attitude (Ethel is the wise mediator). Slowly but surely the three bond, age differences diminish as negatives and Billy sees Norman as a wise teacher he has never had. Chelsea returns at summer's end with her now husband Bill and faces confrontation with Norman for never being the father she needed: Chelsea knows Norman has spent his life rejecting her because she was not the 'son' he wanted! Finally the family reconciles past differences and Ethel and Thayer face their aging and its effects as they listen to the loons on the lake.

Hepburn, both Fondas, Coleman and McKeon give outstanding performances, but it is the knowledge that this was H. Fonda's last film and for all intents and purposes Hepburn's last film AND the only time the Fonda father/daughter team acted together on the screen that makes the film even more meaningful. The awards were many and well deserved, not only for the picture, but also for the actors and the production crew. It is a shining example of Hollywood films rising to the standards of Indy movies that makes it such a treat. Grady Harp, August 06

On Golden Pond
I just went through all the reviews put in here for this marvelous story. We are presently celebrating the 25th anniversary of the making of this film on Big Squam Lake in NH, and still are impacted by this production. We remember much, and know the film represents so many of the older people who have to come to this beloved lake for generations. The tensions expressed in the film between Hank Fonda and his daughter are so typical of the inter-generational differences the USA is experiencing, and some of the lightweight, yuppie comments about this work printed here indicate that, too. I know many people on the lake who are so like this aging couple, and I always love to see the film represent those realities I have encountered. This NH lake works fine for raising young children, just like it did for the lad in the film, and folks on Squam intend to "keep it like it WAS" for those reasons. We pray that younger adult, excessively affluent types with nothing between their ears continue to stay away....... You can believe this film production crew found the right New England lake to create this masterpiece! We so love it here.

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