by Julian Spivey

Mark Rydell’s 1981 film “On Golden Pond” proved to be a great swan song for Henry Fonda.

Fonda, who is definitely one of cinema’s greatest actor of all time (in my opinion, he’s the second greatest ever behind James Stewart), won his only career Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of Norman Thayer. Despite being one of the greatest film actors of all time, Fonda had only previously been nominated for one best actor award, more than 40 years before for his role of Tom Joad in John Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940).

Sadly, Fonda was too sick to accept his best actor award and his daughter/actress Jane Fonda, who also played Fonda’s daughter in the film, accepted it on his behalf. “On Golden Pond” was released on in late 1981. Less than a year later in August of 1982 Fonda had died at the age of 78.

“On Golden Pond” was written by Ernest Thompson and based on his own play. Thompson earned an Oscar for the film for best writing, screenplay based on material from another medium.

Not only was this film the perfect swan song for Fonda, it also proved to be a great swan song for Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn played Thayer’s wife, Ethel, and won the fourth best actress Oscar of her career for the role. No other actress has won more than two best actress awards. Hepburn, also wasn’t present at the award ceremony, presenter Jon Voight accepted it on her behalf. Hepburn would only appear in two more films in her career. She died in 2003 at the age of 96.

“On Golden Pond” is the wonderful story of an elderly couple who return to their summer home lakeside cottage on Golden Pond. You get the feeling that this might be the final time that the Thayer couple gets the chance to come to this magical beauty of nature. Norman is clearly forgetting his whereabouts and is likely suffering from Alzheimer’s. Much like Fonda himself, Thayer probably wasn’t long for this world.

The Thayer’s daughter, Chelsea, shows up with her new boyfriend, Bill, played by Dabney Coleman, and her boyfriend’s son, Billy, played by Doug McKeon, for Norman’s birthday. Soon it is revealed that Chelsea and Bill are going on vacation to Europe and want Norman and Ethel to watch Billy while they are away.

It doesn’t take long for Norman and Billy to become friends and Norman treats Billy like the son he never had. The two spend the summer trying to catch the illustrious fish, Walter, that has eluded Norman for years. Much of the film’s delightful humor comes from watching the old man and the younger teen attempt to catch this fish. There really isn’t anything better than hearing an elderly Fonda scream, “Walter, you son-of-a-bitch.”    

When Chelsea returns she sees that Norman has bonded with Billy and is upset because her father and her have never had the greatest relationship in the world. The two come to a rather quickly understanding and the film is wrapped up.

“On Golden Pond” wasn’t the finest film of Henry Fonda’s career. It’s likely that it’s not even in the top five best movies or film roles in his career.

However, it’s the perfect way for him to go out. Some movie stars don’t receive this luxury. Stewart’s final film role was that as the voice of Wylie Burp in the poorly received 1991 animated feature “An American Tale: Fievel Goes West” and Orson Welles final film role was as the voice of Unicorn in the 1986 animated film “The Transformers: The Movie.” Fonda was able to go out on his own terms in the right way.