Synopsis
For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.
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Cast
- Katharine HepburnEthel Thayer
- Henry FondaNorman Thayer Jr.
- Jane FondaChelsea Thayer Wayne
- Doug McKeonBilly Ray
- Dabney ColemanBill Ray
- William LanteauCharlie Martin
- Christopher RydellSumner Todd
- Troy GarityYoung Boy on Jetty (uncredited)
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
On Golden Pond is a treasure for many reasons, but the best one, I think, is that I could believe it. I could believe in its major characters and their relationships, and in the things they felt for one another, and there were moments when the movie was witness to human growth and change. I left the theater feeling good and warm, and with a certain resolve to try to mend my own relationships and learn to start listening better. - 100
San Francisco Chronicle
None of these issues are fully resolved, but just enough ... and that’s what makes On Golden Pond cinema gold. - 90
The New York Times
Mr. Fonda gives one of the great performances of his long, truly distinguished career. Here is film acting of the highest order, the kind that is not discovered overnight in the laboratory, but seems to be the distillation of hundreds of performances. - 88
TV Guide Magazine
A beautifully photographed movie filled with poignancy, humor, and (of course) some superb acting. - 80
Empire
Okay, so it does cloy in places, but there is truth in its fractures and its seals, a soft-shimmering landscape of real people. - 80
Variety
The film’s most moving interlude, (spoiler omitted), is saved for the end, and both Fonda (pere) and Hepburn are miraculous together here, conveying heartrending intimations of mortality which are doubly powerful due to the stars’ venerable status. - 75
Chicago Tribune
The biggest surprise with On Golden Pond is that the best performance in the film is not turned in by a Fonda. Rather, it is Katharine Hepburn, in a performance without gimmicks or "great scenes," who communicates so much of the film's emotional power as a portrait of the serenity and anger associated with old age. - 50
Time Out
Two of Hollywood's best-loved veterans deserved a far better swan song than this sticky confection.
