On Golden Pond (film)
**On Golden Pond** is a film adapted from a Broadway play by Ernest Thompson and released in 1981, achieving significant commercial success and winning three Academy Awards. The story revolves around an elderly couple, Norman Thayer, portrayed by Henry Fonda, and his devoted wife Ethel, played by Katharine Hepburn, as they spend their summer at a lakeside cottage in New England. The film explores themes of aging, familial relationships, and the complexities of love through the interactions of the Thayers and their estranged daughter Chelsea, played by Jane Fonda, who visits with her boyfriend and his son, Billy.
As the narrative unfolds, the characters engage in various summer activities while navigating underlying family issues common in the 1980s, such as divorce and the challenges of intergenerational relationships. Unlike many films of the era that deal with darker themes, *On Golden Pond* presents a lighter tone, emphasizing humor and heartfelt connections within the family. Critics have noted the film's sentimentality and predictable plot, but it has also been praised for its portrayal of resilient family dynamics. Additionally, this film marked Henry Fonda's final performance, symbolizing the end of an era in Hollywood. Overall, *On Golden Pond* offers a reflective look at the emotional nuances of family life while suggesting that even in the face of life's challenges, positive resolutions are possible.
On Golden Pond (film)
Identification American film
Director Mark Rydell (1934- )
Date Released December 4, 1981
One of a few subdued family dramas among the blockbuster films of the 1980’s, triple Academy Award-winning On Golden Pond featured legendary screen actors in a sensitive portrayal of old age—and of an American family attempting to overcome resentments and common intergenerational conflicts.
Adapted for film by playwright Ernest Thompson from his original Broadway play, On Golden Pond was one of the highest-grossing films of 1981, winning three Oscars out of ten Academy Award nominations. The film centers on an older, long-married couple—crotchety retired professor Norman Thayer (played by Henry Fonda ) and his steadfast and spirited wife Ethel (Katharine Hepburn )—summering at their lakeside cottage in New England. Norman, daunted by sight, memory, and heart problems, uses sarcasm to distance others; Ethel, the stabilizing force of the family, loves her husband wholeheartedly but is often exasperated by him and his antagonistic relationship with their adult child. To celebrate Norman’s eightieth birthday, the Thayers’ estranged daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda ), a middle-aged divorcée, visits from California with her dentist boyfriend, divorcé Bill Ray (Dabney Coleman), and his thirteen-year-old son, Billy (Doug McKeon). When the two middle-agers depart for a European vacation, Billy stays with the senior Thayers for a month.
Underlying the birthday party, board games, berry picking, swimming, and fishing excursions that constitute the action of this quiet film are key generational and family issues of the 1980’s, including the health and quality of life of an aging senior population, widespread divorce, family blending via remarriage, and coming of age in a media-driven decade. While other 1980’s films depict families distraught by suicide, fatal illness, or the death of a child, On Golden Pond explores more common domestic problems, offering glimpses into an American family’s multifaceted inner workings: The film reveals love and contention within a solid marriage, sparring and reassurance in family celebrations, and intimate conversations wherein family members sort out feelings. Arguments peppered with humor make On Golden Pond notably lighter in tone than many of its 1980’s film counterparts, as do awkward interactions that turn unexpectedly frank and insightful.
During and since the 1980’s, critics and some audiences have taken issue with the sentimentality and predictable, tidy plot of On Golden Pond. Indeed, by the story’s end, Billy and Norman have bonded over fishing and salty language, Chelsea has begun to make peace with her father, Norman and Ethel have weathered a coronary episode, and a boating accident has made life seem dearer. Nevertheless, to the film’s supporters in the 1980’s, On Golden Pond suggested that the decade’s complicated social and familial problems might find positive resolutions.
Impact
As depicted in On Golden Pond, the 1980’s family—for all its friction and strain—remained a viable structure for growth and emotional sustenance. The film is also notable as the last to feature legendary actor Henry Fonda, whose death a year later helped mark the passing of Hollywood’s golden age.
Bibliography
Constantakis, Sarah, ed. Drama for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Dramas. Vol. 23. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2006.
Shale, Richard. The Academy Awards Index: The Complete Categorical and Chronological Record. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.