On Golden Pond: Bring a Hanky

The Cooper Point Journal Volume 10, Issue 14 (February 11, 1982)

On Golden Pond, directed by Mark Rydell

On Golden Pond is an absolutely warm and loving movie; a metaphor for decline, for those final years when there is little left save reminiscences. Sadder still is when these reflections are already beginning to blur as though seen through antique glass. This is the tragic aspect, and the source of power in the film: the inevitable decaying of the human body and mind.

Norman and Ethel Thayer, played by Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn, return every summer to their cabin on Golden Pond in the New Hampshire countryside to bask in the peace and solitude befitting their golden years. The years have been good to them, as they have been for each other but this summer there is a specter stalking them in their blissful retreat. The specter is death. Indeed, for Norman Thayer at least, this may weII be the last summer on Golden Pond.

The decaying, in the guise of creeping senility closing in around him, is portrayed with incredible realism by Henry Fonda. His helplessness is something more terrible than any manner of ghost or monster could ever be. A sunny outing to pick strawberries is turned into a frightful, heart-wrenching odyssey of terror when he gets lost on the same path he has been traversing for countless summers. This performance is almost certain to win for Henry Fonda, the next Academy Award for best actor.

Hepburn’s performance is less poignant and far less tragic. She is the epitome of sweet strength; the woman any man would want to share the end with. Together with Henry Fonda they make a most winning team- as good as Tracy/ Hepburn, Bogart/Bacall or Allen/ Keaton This combination is all the more amazing in that the actors are by necessity dealing with a theme perhaps a bit too close for personal comfort.

This applies as well to the father-daughter relationship portrayed by Henry and Jane Fonda. An artful parallel theme is developed when the younger Fonda return, to Golden Pond in the hopes of finally establishing a rapprochement with her dad. But is it not already too late? Who is left to become friends with now – only the shadow of the man she has feared and hated for better than 40 years?

The screen tension between them is electric; nurtured no doubt by their off-screen relationship. Mark Rydell’s direction is unobtrusive; he has the good sense to let his cast shine, unobstructed by any heavy-handed visual techniques. Dave Gruisin’s score, too, is simple, bittersweet; it harmonizes well with the action. This is a tear-jerker folks, so bring plenty of hankies. You may even find that this is one movie that will stay with you. With a theme so universal, and acting so superb, not a few of you may well leave with a renewed determination to try to make a friend where there was only a parent before. To make a friend that is before it is too late.