On Golden Pond

On Golden Pond (1981)

  • 91% of critics liked it
    (23 reviews)

  • 84% of users liked it
    (19,533 ratings)

There's little that happens in On Golden Pond that isn't thoroughly predictable from the start, but the film is blessed with so much star power, charm and honest sentiment that everyone in the audience is willing to ignore the cliches and go the distance. In his last film, Henry Fonda plays Norman… More

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PG, 1 hr. 49 min.
Directed By
Mark Rydell
Written By
Ernest Thompson
Genres
Drama
In Theaters
Dec 4, 1981 Wide
On DVD
Mar 20, 2001
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

  • Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine

    When it sometimes seems the whole society has spiritually decamped for Tinseltown, the movie offers the hope that people can come home again-at least for a visit.

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    Without question, these are major, meaty roles for Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, and there could have been little doubt that the two would work superbly together.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    Watching the movie, I felt I was witnessing something rare and valuable.

  • Vincent Canby, New York Times

    On Golden Pond is a mixed blessing, but it offers one performance of rare quality and three others that are very good. That's not half-bad.

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    The cinematic equivalent of shrink-wrapping, in which all of the ideas, feelings, characters, and images are neatly separated and hermetically sealed to prevent spoilage, abrasion, or any contact with the natural world.

Read all 13 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • KJ P


    On Golden Pond may have a very straight forward story about a couple growing old together as they now live on "Golden Pond", a quite little place on the water where family and friends come to visit. As their daughter brings her new fiance to visit, they are blessed with a 13… More

  • Spencer S


    With the subject matter circulating around death, failed relationships, and troubled families it would seem that this would be a shouting match waiting to happen. Instead the plot plays coy, reeling you in with the calm wooded surroundings and the fraility of Ethel and Norman in their… More

  • Arash X


    Nauseous feel-good wannabe crap

  • Cherry D


    "Everyone looks back on their childhood with a certain amount of bitterness and regret? It doesn't have to ruin your life darling!"

  • Cassie H


    An Exellent feel-good movie!

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

Cast

See full cast

Trailers & Clips

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