On Golden Pond
by Mark Rydell
Our Price: $30.45
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.59 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dabney Coleman, Doug McKeon, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Katharine HepburnDirector: Mark Rydell
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-05-20
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Live / Artisan
Movie Reviews of On Golden Pond
Movie Review: One Genuine Movie Classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember with fondness having been booked into a seat next to one of Jane Fonda's production assistants flying back to Boston from Los Angeles early in the 1980s. This was how I learned of the film shooting going on that summer up in rural New Hampshire at Great Squam Lake (the actual setting for the mythical Golden Pond). I really enjoyed having an animated conversation with the young lady, who was obviously very bright and very knowledgeable about various aspects of the movie production, and made sure I was in line to see the new film when it within the following year. Evidently it was rushed through both production and release due to Henry Fonda's failing health and the desire to try to set him up for would certainly be his final attempt to receive the Academy Award that had so long eluded him. After seeing the movie, there was doubt he deserved the award he eventually received for this role of a lifetime.It was indeed a bravura performance, one that is as quintessentially American as apple pie or the fourth of July, and one that will long endure as both a popular and critical favorite. Fonda played Norman Thayer, last of the great American curmudgeons, to perfection, and did so with such convincing energy and verve as to remove any and all doubt he knew from personal experience of what he spoke. Moreover, Everything about the production is first rate, from the splendid adaptation of the Broadway play to a screenplay to the wonderfully bucolic and even idyllic setting of one of New Hampshire's more scenic and pristine lake areas. The cast is also superb, and I was quite surprised that Katharine Hepburn did not receive an Oscar for her stellar performance as Ethel Thayer, the long suffering but devoted wife to Norman.
Also quite good is young Doug McKeon, playing the young and challenging son of the Thayer's wayward daughter's boyfriend, dumped on the elderly Thayers for the summer so the boyfriend and daughter can escape to France for a much-needed romantic escape. It is the developing relationship between Fonda's character and the young boy that ignites Thayer's compassion and warmth to show the warm and vibrant man lurking underneath that crusty exterior. In this sense, the son becomes the catalyst for Thayer's reconciliation with his daughter, which has been Ethel's most fervent hope for the summer. The movie is, for me at least, sheer magic, and I marvel at the banter and repartee written so intelligently into the script, for such wit and warmth is quite rare in today's films, which so often seem to be constructed around demographic appeal surveys rather than meaningful story lines. This one is a keeper, folks, and one you will want to see again and again. Needless to say, I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
Summary of On Golden Pond
Writer Ernest Thompson, who came up with the original stage play of On Golden Pond and adapted it for film, is lucky to have two giants of the screen give dignity and breadth to his sometimes trite dialogue. Henry Fonda, in his last role, plays a prickly English professor at the disagreeable age of 80. Visiting his summer house by a Maine lake with his wife (Katharine Hepburn), the old man forges an unlikely bond with a lonely boy, comes to terms with his daughter (Jane Fonda), and suffers disorienting effects of mild dementia. Even playing a tired old man, Fonda is an absolute lion of a movie star, and Hepburn brings her special spirit to the part of his worried bride. The onscreen relationship between Henry and Jane Fonda naturally makes one think about their much-discussed difficulties offscreen, but that's a side benefit in a movie that is really just a celebration of simple human decency. Directed by Mark Rydell (Harry and Walter Go to New York). --Tom KeoghWriter Ernest Thompson, who came up with the original stageplay of On Golden Pond and adapted it for film, is lucky to have two giants of the screen give dignity and breadth to his sometimes trite dialogue. Henry Fonda, in his last role, plays a prickly English professor at the disagreeable age of 80. Visiting his summer house by a Maine lake with his wife (Katharine Hepburn), the old man forges an unlikely bond with a lonely boy, comes to terms with his daughter (Jane Fonda), and suffers disorienting effects of mild dementia. Even playing a tired old man, Fonda is an absolute lion of a movie star, and Hepburn brings her special spirit to the part of his worried bride. The onscreen relationship between Henry and Jane Fonda naturally makes one think about their much-discussed difficulties offscreen, but that's a side benefit in a movie that is really just a celebration of simple human decency. Directed by Mark Rydell (Harry and Walter Go to New York). --Tom Keogh
Guarding TessSony; Release date: 1998-04-07; DVD
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
The Way We Were (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2004-12-02; DVD
Best price: $3.68
Price in other shops:
Places in the HeartSony; Release date: 2001-10-09; DVD
Best price: $8.01
Price in other shops:
The Four SeasonsUniversal Studios; Release date: 2005-05-31; DVD
Best price: $6.78
Price in other shops:
Steel Magnolias (Special Edition)FIELD,SALLY; Release date: 2000-07-25; DVD
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
Terms of EndearmentPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2009-01-20; DVD
Best price: $5.91
Price in other shops:
The Bridges of Madison CountyWarner Brothers; Release date: 2010-06-01; DVD
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops:
Fried Green Tomatoes (Extended Collector's Edition)BATES,KATHY; Release date: 1998-12-15; Published: 1998-12-01; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Driving Miss Daisy (Keepcase Packaging)WHV; Release date: 2010-02-02; DVD
Best price: $5.64
Price in other shops:
Out of AfricaREDFORD,ROBERT; Release date: 2000-02-29; Published: 2000-02-01; DVD
Best price: $7.63
Price in other shops: