On Golden Pond (1981) on Netflix
Norman Thayer, a retired professor, returns with his wife Ethel to their summer cottage on Golden Pond. Their estranged daughter Chelsea arrives with her fiance and his young son Billy.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.6/1038,142 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ethel and Norman Thayer have spent their summers at a cottage on Golden Pond in northern New England since early in their marriage. Norman, a retired professor about to turn 80, has trouble recognizing family photographs and often talks about growing old, while Ethel keeps things lively and the mailman Charlie stops by in his boat. Chelsea, their only child, lives in Los Angeles and feels she still answers to her father. She arrives at the pond with Bill, the man she is engaged to, and his son Billy, and the couple asks the Thayers to look after the boy for a month while they travel through Europe.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about On Golden Pond (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Despite decades in show business together, Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn had never met until working on this film; on the first day of shooting, Hepburn gave Fonda the "lucky" hat that had belonged to her longtime companion Spencer Tracy, and Fonda wore it in the movie.
- Jane Fonda bought the film rights to the play specifically so her father, Henry Fonda, could play Norman Thayer, and the strained father-daughter relationship shown on screen closely mirrored the real relationship between the two Fondas.
- The water in Squam Lake was so low and cold during the rock-clinging scene that Henry Fonda and Doug McKeon had to wear wetsuits under their clothes, while Katharine Hepburn dived in without one because she wanted the scene to keep its authenticity.
- The vintage 1951 mahogany Chris-Craft boat used for the crash scene was so sturdy that it kept bouncing off the rocks undamaged, forcing the crew to modify it so it would break apart on camera.
- James Stewart was the producers' original choice to play Norman Thayer but turned the role down, and Anthony Michael Hall auditioned for the part of Billy Ray Jr. before it went to Doug McKeon.
- Leftover footage of Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn driving through the New Hampshire countryside, shot for this film's opening credits, was later reused for the opening titles of the CBS sitcom Newhart.
