How others will see it. This film explores the fear of death, the discovery of common ground between different generations, and the notion that inside every ornery curmudgeon beats a heart of gold. Still, this film is famous for its screen union of the two most famous Fondas, shortly before Henry met his maker.
Once again, the draw for On Golden Pond is its three leads. Jane Fonda only has a supporting role, but she makes the most of it by displaying the effects of the Jane Fonda Workout (a popular video of the day) while posing firm in a swimsuit.
How I felt about it. Not surprisingly, the screen chemistry is charming between veteran actors Hepburn and (the elder) Fonda. Young Doug McKeon also redeems himself, although his transition from resentful cusser to enthusiastic fisherman is perhaps too sudden and sweeping. Well, that's the director's fault.
Coleman has one real scene, where he finally informs Henry Fonda that he won't take no guff, and that he intends to do the nasty with the daughter in daddy's own cabin. But only with his permission.
Henry Fonda, still stuck in the position of a father interviewing his daughter's suitors after all these years, knows the conversation is a charade, and can only get through it with jokes and insults. 'Serious' discussion is too tedious. Can you really blame him?
A couple of storylines doen't work. Henry Fonda runs through the woods as if the Blair Witch or killer bees were after him, the latter perhaps a holdover from his dreadful 1978 film The Swarm. Just keep walking, Henry. You're not in the middle of the Amazon. Civilization is around the corner.
A greater problem is the onscreen communication breakdown between father and daughter, no doubt an allusion to the presumed real life problems between the famed Fondas. After all, could daddy have approved of Hanoi Jane or her notorious sex goddess fantasy flick, Barbarella?
But in On Golden Pond, at least, Jane's attitude doesn't fit. Her frail, sometimes confused father is no longer The Enemy for a grown woman involved in a highly promising romance. Get over it, and move on, something that the real Jane Fonda has done many times in her life.