Asri-unix.225
net.movies
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!mclure
Tue Dec 15 15:01:26 1981
On Golden Pond
4 1204 03 Dec 81
BC-REVIEW-''POND''
(Newhouse 003)
Film review, suggested for use when ''On Golden Pond'' opens at local
theaters
By RICHARD FREEDMAN
Newhouse News Service
(UNDATED) Last year it was ''Ordinary People.'' Two years ago it was
''Kramer vs. Kramer.'' Every year seems to produce its big,
heart-warming, Oscar-cadging domestic drama - and this year's prime
candidate is ''On Golden Pond.''
Consider the failsafe ingredients: a hit Broadway play by Ernest
Thompson that neatly Neil Simonizes the problems of growing old,
acted to perfection by America's own geriatric sweethearts, Henry
Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, with Fonda's real-life daughter Jane
playing his fictional daughter Chelsea.
All are a joy to watch as they're put through their carefully
calibrated paces by director Mark Rydell, and so are Dabney Coleman
as Chelsea's jargon-spouting dentist fiance Bill and Doug McKeon as
his tow-headed, 13-year-old son by a previous marriage.
So is the nature photography of Billy Williams, as it lovingly
captures the idyllic New Hampshire summer resort in all its moods and
seasons, making you wonder if the title shouldn't really be ''On
Walden Pond.''
But for all the shots we get of loons nesting and trout jumping, for
all the talk about impending death and the generation gap, ''On
Golden Pond'' remains a slickly sentimental Broadway confection.
Fonda is retired Prof. Norman Thayer Jr. (We never are told what he
taught), and Hepburn is his spunky, long-suffering, but adoring wife
Ethel. They are preparing to spend their at the
pond.
They hope to be joined for Norman's 80th birthday party chelsea. We also ne-
ver are told what estranged
her, except that maybe Dad really wanted a son he could instruct in
the manly art of fishiy daughter who turned out
to be Jane Fonda.
For Norman is what used to be ectionately called a ''character''
- crabby, bumbling, self-absorbed, but good as gold underneath it
all. Ethel perfectly complements him her zest for bird-watching
and generally upbeat view of life.
But there are signs that this summer may be Norman's last. Even at
the bof the season, the golden sunlight shimmering on the
w. Norman is beginning to have
memory lapses; sent out to gather strawberries, he panics when he
forgets the oft-traveled road home.
Entaughter Chelsea with Bill and his son in tow. She's made the
mistake of deserting crusty old New England for glitzy Southern
California. So the fiance uses words like ''ambiance'' and ''feels
good about himself'' while his son uses cuss words and never has read
''Treasure Island.''
An opportunity comes to educate the lad when his father and future
stepmother take off for a month in Europe, leaving him with Norman
and Ethel.
At first nobody is happy about this, but by the time Bill and
Chelsea return - properly married now - Norman has taught thh instead of cruise-
for girls, and the boy has taught Gramps to
take a more positive view of the little life remaining to him.
Even fathd daughter have become reconciled, and the film ends
with the general love-in necessary to send audiences home with a song
in their hearts anetermination - usually brief - to be kinder to
their kinfolk.
''On Golden Pond'' is filled with the requisite dumb symbolism (a
md a papa loon left alone on the lake at the end); the
requisite cuteness (Norman is out to catch a particular giant old
trout he's named WER(: THE REQUISITE MELODRAMA (a near-drowning
while fishing); and machine-tooled gags aplenty.
What saves it is the truly extraordinary performances, especially by
Fonda pere, whose bumbling irritability, glum acceptancdeath
(and love) and dry way with a one-liner g...
ive ''On Golden Pond'' the
backbone it needs.
Like a loon landing on Golden Pondfilm itself just skims the
issues of aging and parent-child-grandchild relationships. But it
does so warmly, humorously and as comfortably f Fonda's old
fishing boots.
To ask more - say, the uncomfortts into selfish old
age Ingmar Bergman provided in ''Wild Strawberries'' - would be to
ask for box office disaster. So let's be haith the limited
emotional gifts ''On Golden Pond'' has for us. X X X
FILM CLIP: ''On Golden Pond.'' Henry Fonda and Katharinepburn
face what probably will be their last summer together, joined by
daughter Jane Fonda, her fiance and his son. Sentimental about age and the gene-
ration gap, but consummately acted by stars.
SG END FREEDMAN
nyt-12-03-81 1503est
**********
-------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen <
[email protected]>
of
http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/
This Usenet Oldnews Archive
article may be copied and distributed freely, provided:
1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles.
2. The following notice remains appended to each copy:
The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996
Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.
