JUMP CUT

A REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY MEDIA

On Golden Pond - The backflip as cultural

solution

by Deborah H. Holdstein

from Jump Cut, no. 27, July 1982, pp. 3-4

copyright Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 1982, 2005

As entertainment and as problem film, ON GOLDEN POND comes as

somewhat of a surprise. And it argues well for Hollywood-formulaic

entertainment value. Mark Rydell's film, adapted by author Ernest Thompson

from his play, insures success by casting Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda

as a loving couple in the twilight of their years. The three Oscars awarded the

film — for Hepburn and Henry Fonda as best actress and actor, and for

Thompson for best adaptation — reinforce its emotional value, already

underscored by the connotative power of a Hepburn-Fonda pairing.

The film offers audiences several important contemporary themes: the

difficulties of growing old, the bonds between woman and man, the difficulties

of being someone's child (someone's daughter, especially), and the difficulties

of being someone in your own right and retaining that dignity throughout life.

Admittedly, these are all things that any audience "can relate to," and easily.

However, while the film poses these questions, it stubbornly refuses to treat
them with the depth or integrity they merit. The answers remain convenient,

stereotyped, and simplistic.

The hackneyed visual metaphor of sunset over a Golden Pond, revived by

breathtakingly beautiful birds-eye pans of beautiful New England scenery,

reinforces the inevitable sentiment of the film. The context of that sentiment

comes from the filmmaker's reliance on the well-publicized problems between

Henry Fonda and his son and daughter, the plight of that deserving yet only

now rewarded actor who had never won an Oscar, and the well-wrought image

of Katharine Hepburn in spunky roles. Audience members may have their

expectations formed before they've actually seen the film. In that sense,

perhaps we’re expected to fill in any developmental flaws regarding theme and

characterization with what we already know — that is, to appreciate the

resonance of real-life relationships and personalities.