Amazon.co.uk Review
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 off screen, 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
Customer Reviews:
Feels like they filmed the stage play........2007-10-24
I certainly enjoyed what is a comfortable if slightly predictable story, but as a film this one falls somewhat short of deserving its "classic" status, never mind its three academy awards, especially so, the award for best screenplay. Why? Well surely the mark of a truly great film is its ability to draw the viewer in, to remove the camera and allow the audience to immerse themselves in the scene, to become in effect, silent participants. The actors become "real" characters caught in a moment of "real life"; the artificiality of actors actually acting is lost.
Well you certainly don't get that here. The whole effect is rather like watching a stage play from way back in the stalls. The actors might play their characters perfectly competently, but the audience can never escape the reality of watching actors on a stage. With this film the chief culprit is probably the script, which never appears obviously artificial but equally seems not quite to reflect how real people converse. A slightly artificial delivery also seems to afflict the leads, Hepburn and the two Fondas, all of whom deliver their lines as if for the benefit of unseen others in the scene who also happen to be slightly deaf.
A delightfully heartwarming movie.......2001-02-13
In this delightfully heartwarming film two cinema legend's ,Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, are matched up for the first time ,with spectacular results .Hepburn and Fonda play an elderly,bickering married couple coming to terms with age .They are celebrating his 80th birthday when their estranged daughter (played by Henry's real life daughter Jane) turns up out of the blue with a new fiancee' and his 12 year old son in tow . The daughter and her dentist boyfreind plan to go on vacation to Europe and leave the 12 year old boy with the old couple .First off the boy is rude and unappreactive of the efforts of Katherine Hepburns character to welcome him ,but towards the end he slowly warms to them and by the end doesn't want to leave .In between this time there are some worrying sequences dealing with senile dementia and some funny sequences that will have you laughing . So sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the oscar winning performances of the leads and laugh at the subtle humour .Overall a brilliant feelgood movie complete with sparkling perfomances by all involved .Enjoy .
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 off screen, 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
Customer Reviews:
Feels like they filmed the stage play........2007-10-24
I certainly enjoyed what is a comfortable if slightly predictable story, but as a film this one falls somewhat short of deserving its "classic" status, never mind its three academy awards, especially so, the award for best screenplay. Why? Well surely the mark of a truly great film is its ability to draw the viewer in, to remove the camera and allow the audience to immerse themselves in the scene, to become in effect, silent participants. The actors become "real" characters caught in a moment of "real life"; the artificiality of actors actually acting is lost.
Well you certainly don't get that here. The whole effect is rather like watching a stage play from way back in the stalls. The actors might play their characters perfectly competently, but the audience can never escape the reality of watching actors on a stage. With this film the chief culprit is probably the script, which never appears obviously artificial but equally seems not quite to reflect how real people converse. A slightly artificial delivery also seems to afflict the leads, Hepburn and the two Fondas, all of whom deliver their lines as if for the benefit of unseen others in the scene who also happen to be slightly deaf.
A delightfully heartwarming movie.......2001-02-13
In this delightfully heartwarming film two cinema legend's ,Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, are matched up for the first time ,with spectacular results .Hepburn and Fonda play an elderly,bickering married couple coming to terms with age .They are celebrating his 80th birthday when their estranged daughter (played by Henry's real life daughter Jane) turns up out of the blue with a new fiancee' and his 12 year old son in tow . The daughter and her dentist boyfreind plan to go on vacation to Europe and leave the 12 year old boy with the old couple .First off the boy is rude and unappreactive of the efforts of Katherine Hepburns character to welcome him ,but towards the end he slowly warms to them and by the end doesn't want to leave .In between this time there are some worrying sequences dealing with senile dementia and some funny sequences that will have you laughing . So sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the oscar winning performances of the leads and laugh at the subtle humour .Overall a brilliant feelgood movie complete with sparkling perfomances by all involved .Enjoy .
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 off screen, 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
Customer Reviews:
Feels like they filmed the stage play........2007-10-24
I certainly enjoyed what is a comfortable if slightly predictable story, but as a film this one falls somewhat short of deserving its "classic" status, never mind its three academy awards, especially so, the award for best screenplay. Why? Well surely the mark of a truly great film is its ability to draw the viewer in, to remove the camera and allow the audience to immerse themselves in the scene, to become in effect, silent participants. The actors become "real" characters caught in a moment of "real life"; the artificiality of actors actually acting is lost.
Well you certainly don't get that here. The whole effect is rather like watching a stage play from way back in the stalls. The actors might play their characters perfectly competently, but the audience can never escape the reality of watching actors on a stage. With this film the chief culprit is probably the script, which never appears obviously artificial but equally seems not quite to reflect how real people converse. A slightly artificial delivery also seems to afflict the leads, Hepburn and the two Fondas, all of whom deliver their lines as if for the benefit of unseen others in the scene who also happen to be slightly deaf.
A delightfully heartwarming movie.......2001-02-13
In this delightfully heartwarming film two cinema legend's ,Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, are matched up for the first time ,with spectacular results .Hepburn and Fonda play an elderly,bickering married couple coming to terms with age .They are celebrating his 80th birthday when their estranged daughter (played by Henry's real life daughter Jane) turns up out of the blue with a new fiancee' and his 12 year old son in tow . The daughter and her dentist boyfreind plan to go on vacation to Europe and leave the 12 year old boy with the old couple .First off the boy is rude and unappreactive of the efforts of Katherine Hepburns character to welcome him ,but towards the end he slowly warms to them and by the end doesn't want to leave .In between this time there are some worrying sequences dealing with senile dementia and some funny sequences that will have you laughing . So sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the oscar winning performances of the leads and laugh at the subtle humour .Overall a brilliant feelgood movie complete with sparkling perfomances by all involved .Enjoy .
UK DVD:
- Oppenheimer : The Complete BBC Series (3 Disc Box Set)
- Out - The Complete Series - Special Edition [1978]
- Oz: The Complete Fourth Season [1998] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- P.D. James - Death In Holy Orders / The Murder Room
- Perfect Man/Honey
- Plenty
- Pollock [2002]
- Pretty Baby [1978]
- Provoked [2006]
- Pusher Trilogy - Pusher / Pusher II / Pusher III
UK DVD List
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