Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This movie has a wonderful cast. Especially Henry Fonda as Norman Fayer. He was very realistic and humerous in his own way. You can actually feel the fresh air of Golden Pond. That is how great the scenary and mood is. END
Rating:
Summary: Life On Golden Pond
Review: This movie is truly awesome! It deals with the true facts of growing old and family life. Henry Fonda & Kate Hepburn are spectacular in their role as husband and wife. As they deal with the trials and tribulations of growing old and forming unlikely friendships with others and rebuilding the bond of Father and Daughter! Great for all! Language is sometimes controversial... but overall it reminds me of my grandparents whom I miss so much!
Rating:
Summary: Golden Treasure
Review: This review refers to the VHS edition .....
Old age and all the problems that go with it, have turned Norman Thayer(Henry Fonda)into a curmudgeon.He is forgetful and thoughts of dieing are foremost in his mind. It doesn't seem to bother his wife Ethel much though(Katherine Hepburn).Always in high spirits and happy to be alive. Her biggest woe is worrying about him. The Thayers are spending their 48th year at their summer home On Golden Pond. It will be Norman's 80th birthday, and joining in the celebration will be their daughter Chelsea(Jane Fonda), who Norman has never been able to connect with emotionally.
Chelsea brings with her to the lake her fiance(Dabney Coleman) and his 13 year old son Billy(Doug McKeon)who has some emotional problems of his own. Billy is left to spend the summer with the older couple, which was not what the 13 year old had in mind for a fun vacation.Norman and Billy form an unusal bond over the summer as Ethel watches her husband's renewed zest for life.
The film is one of those that the expression "I laughed. I cried" really is true. The story is an emotional rollercoaster, that you'll want to watch over and over.Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn shine and both recieved best Acting awards in 1981 for their on screen magic. All I could see in the scenes with Henry and Jane together was love. Even when their characters were at odds they too loved each other, and managed to work through it.An incredible acting job by the young Doug McKeon, and Coleman excellent as he goes toe to toe with Henry Fonda.
The music and the scenery are as beautiful as the movie. The pond with the sun shining, the woodsy areas, the loons ever present, were a joy to watch. Directed by Mark Rydell, who seemed to find the beauty of life. Fonda's last film, he left us with one that we can treasure for years to come.
Kick back and enjoy.........Laurie
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie - could have done without Jane
Review: Watched it last night, having seen it once years ago. This is a great movie about relationships, and dying, but in a comical way. I really liked Henry Fonda ("good...GOD!") the best, and the movie really focussed on him. Katharine Hepburn was good, too (duh, they both got Oscars), but I found Jane Fonda was a downer. I understand real-life flowing into the characters and all that, but a) she was depressed, or depressing, take your pick b) she was on display during her bikini scenes (you could tell she was posing) and c) can hair get any bigger? (well, it was the 80's). If you like guns and car chases, this is not the movie for you. If you like thoughtful dialogue, some swearing by young and old, and some interesting things to think about, then you probably will like it.
Rating:
Summary: On Golden Pond is GOLD!
Review: What a great film! I've purchased several DVD movies that ended up just sitting on my shelf collecting dust after 1 or 2 viewings. ON GOLDEN POND is not one of them. This film is a classic that I could watch over and over. I feel the story has some important things to say. It makes you look good and hard at your own life, your own family relationships, and your own fears concerning growing older and death. I like to think I have a deeper understanding and respect for seniors each time I see this picture. Henry Fonda and Kate Hepburn are wonderful and perfectly cast. Great chemistry! Jane Fonda is great too. (I wish she'd start making movies again!) Jane wanted this film made so that she and her Father could act in a picture together before his death. This film is a perfect blend of comedy and serious subjects all rolled into one. If your heart isn't touched by this one, there is no hope for you! I really enjoyed the DVD documentary on the making of the movie. Mark Rydell has a lot of interesting things to say in the director's commentary also. There are interviews with Jane Fonda, Dabney Coleman, Doug McKeon, Mark Rydell, and Ernest Thompson, the author and screenplay writer of ON GOLDEN POND. I wish there had been some sort of interviews with Henry and Kate. I believe the documentary was probably done fairly recently. Everyone looks a little older than they appeared in the movie. Doug McKeon(played 13 year old Billy Ray Jr.) looks to be in his early 30's during his interview. Well... If you are still reading, here is my recommendation.... BUY THIS MOVIE! I really feel I got my money's worth from this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Oh boy
Review: What a marvelous sayonara of a movie for Henry Fonda. Paired with another screen giant, Katharine Hepburn, he shines in this part that turned out to be his last role before death. What courage it took to play a part that was so close to life at his age, that of a prickly English professor wandering with some degree of dementia into his 8th decade of life. Visiting his summer home in Maine with his wife (Hepburn), he reaches some accord with his daughter (played by his real daughter, Jane Fonda), befriends a lonely local boy, struggles with issues of dependence/independence with his wife - and just generally makes one of the best movies of all times.
Rating:
Summary: Two of the greatest ever!
Review: What an incredible movie!! I found it in a stack of DVDs my father gave me and since I had never seen this I watched it with my boyfriend this weekend. An amazing story and great, great performances. Highly recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: an unexpected classic
Review: why the title? too many reasons of the sentimental kind, so let's just stick to the obvious ones - after six decades of movie making, Henry Fonda actually gets an oscar for playing Norman - it's no small thing, it's Film History happening before wur very eyes, and you know why, too. He's tackling ageing. And slight dementia. And he does so against his strongest backup. the pnçy person he can 'afford' to let his emotons come through to - his wife of so many years, Ethel. Ethel played here by the extraordinary Katharine Hepburn - who nurtures him, protects him, is furious with him about his his incompetence in showing love for their daugther Chelsea whom she also protects.
In the end it all turns out so real/magically kind of way that all Pylea sinSeyARW SPELLED OUT OF WAY
Rating:
Summary: The Lions in Winter
Review: With pursed lips, sparkling eyes, and an old fisherman's cap, Henry Fonda creates an indelible image. Norman Thayer Jr., crusty old English professor, ranks right up there with the best of the great curmudgeons. Regular readers of this space will know of my fondness for curmudgeons; they are my favourite of all character types. Norman ranks right up there with the best of them. Hank does a fine job showing the outer shell of gruffness, while hinting at the affection hiding in Norman's heart. He also does a fine job essaying the slow deterioration of what used to be a lightning fast mind. Norman's big brain is still in there fighting, but can't keep up the same pace that it used to. Katherine Hepburn (as Ethel Thayer; "Sounds like I'm lisping" says Norman with glee) is more than Hank's match. Her role could have been nothing more than a dowdy housewife, crawling feebly to the end. But Kate gives Ethel such vibrancy and pep (Pep!) that you'd swear she was in her twenties rather than her seventies (she does some nifty high-stepping at one point, while picking berries in a clearing). And her chemistry with Hank is divine. There's one telling scene, after a late-night skinny dip, where the two of them discuss the prospect of their daughter and her boyfriend sleeping in the same bed. There's not a trace of panic in either of their voices, but Kate shows such tangible pragmatism, you're bound to admire her for her progressive thinking alone. These aren't your typical, stuck-in-the-mud senior citizens. These are thoughtful human beings. Close to the end, sure, but hanging on with all the faculties they have. The scenes with Jane Fonda are flat. Someone must have thought that her real-life tormented relationship with Papa Hank would have carried the day, seeing as it mirrors their characters' relationships in the movie. But she is sappy, sentimental, weak, and seemingly driven by fashion (check out her feathered 'do). She's the kind of women Norman would verbally skewer on first sight. But she's his daughter, so he has to settle for reminding her that she was once his "fat little girl". She's hardly a worthy opponent for the old lion. Dabney Coleman (Billy Ray Sr.), in his one scene of substance, proves that he is. Dressed in a ridiculous powder-blue suit, and sporting a bushy beard to hide his compromised fat face, Dabney's dentist-boyfriend at first comes off as the typical '80s sensitive baby boomer. But he sheds that veneer pretty quickly, earning Norman's respect with a well-placed speech. These two aren't on screen for very long, and really, the story's not about them. What it *is* about is Norman's relationship with young Billy Ray Jr., played by Doug McKeon. Billy Ray is dumped in the Thayer's laps so that his Pop and prospective stepmom can go giggling around Europe for a month. Typically, young Billy Ray is not happy at the prospect of spending his summer with a couple of rotting octogenarians. But that turns out to be a misconceived perception. Neither Norman nor Ethel flinch at his repeated use of the term ....thus gaining his respect. Norman bullies Billy Ray (or as he lovingly calls him, the "dwarf") into liking and respecting him. Their scenes together, usually fishing for a mythical trout, are cute. Sometimes overly cute, but not enough to ruin things. And for a man on the verge of death, Norman find himself enjoying the joie de vivre that Billy Ray brings to Golden Pond. McKeon does a serviceable job (he's better than Jane, that's for sure), but not great. You can see him trying to be precocious and rebellious all at once. However, he gets credit for never getting trampled by Hank's gargantuan performance, and their chemistry together is fun to watch. Sure "On Golden Pond" is designed to tug at your heartstrings. But it works emotionally without being manipulative. Even after multiple viewings, I still get choked up when Ethel calls Norman "her knight in shining armour". It's sappy, true, but it still manages to carry a lot of weight.
Rating:
Summary: What a great ending to Henry Fonda's career
Review: You couldn't write a movie in real life what happened to Henry Fonda.He finnaly acts with one of his kids,wins the Oscar,and dies shortly after. I fell in love with this movie.I love being near water,and going away for the summer.Its so fantastic what happens to Norman and the young boy. The jokes about being old are so funny.I even fell in love with the soundtrack to this film.This movie is like a two hour vacation.
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