On Golden Pond (1981)

On Golden Pond is a film that I never thought I would enjoy watching because as a young person, I never thought I could identify with the characters or story. But in recent months I've been seeking out films dealing with reconnecting with one's parents, as I've been faced with reuniting with my own birth-father after many years of estrangement (this may likely be a topic of another blog post or two in the future...). My reunion experience has been difficult for me to discuss with other family members; it was a very emotional experience. I have an older relative who has expressed disagreement with me reconnecting with my birth-father because of his abandonment of my mother and I. The difficulty I've had with communicating with certain family members has made me feel as if there's something wrong with me, and that I'm the only one who has trouble communicating with family members; this personal experience has affected me so much that I've even had to take some time off from blogging for a long time as well.

I knew of some of the main themes of On Golden Pond, including reconnecting with your elderly parents/relatives, but it's only been in recent days that I felt ready to watch the film.

The main character, Norman Thayer, played by Henry Fonda, has a cranky, stubborn, and blunt personality that rubs people the wrong way; that becomes clear as we see him interact with several characters at the start of the film. For many of us, if we meet someone like that, we might likely not want to be friends with them. However, one person who loves him dearly is his devoted wife of over 40 years played by Katherine Hepburn. Her character is very interesting and ultimately inspiring because she demonstrates by example how to have to patience with him, and we understand through her character that the Fonda character has flaws, and is not perfect. He's having memory problems, and is slowing down, and at one point almost accidentally burns their New England summer cottage down, their cottage on the lake "Golden Pond". I have relatives that live near a lake in suburban Chicago, and it's not too unlike Golden Pond, so I could imagine what life is like for the characters.

The other characters in the film all have to deal with Norman in their own way, including his daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda), who is very busy with her career in Los Angeles yet finds the time to come to visit her parents at the cottage after many years. After she arrives, Norman, always an overbearing father, makes her feel like a child again. I've felt the same way when I visit older relatives. I have a relative who is 87 and can say some embarrassing and hurtful things, and can make me feel like a child at holiday gatherings.

There's a poignant scene in the film where Chelsea has a heart-to-heart talk with her mom, saying how she wishes to be friends with her father, and wishes they could be more compatible. But her mom reminds her that Norman is a man of 80 years old, and that we need to accept him as who he is and tries to encourage her to not be so disagreeable with her past. "Life goes on", she says. "Get on with it."  It's a reminder to me when I relate to my own older family members, as their personalities are theirs and will not change.

There's also a great sequence in the film where Norman takes Chelesa's soon-to-be-stepson out on the lake to go fishing, and they have a great time trying to catch a legendary elusive fish. Norman isn't really such a bad guy after all; he's really a hero to the members of his family.

I was really amazed to learn that the film (and the play it was based on) was written by a young man (Ernest Thompson) who was in his 20s at the time. That's fascinating to me because the characters are much older, and complex.

All of the characters in On Golden Pond are ones I could either identify with or are ones that remind me of real people in my own life, and after watching the film I now feel as if I'm not alone in my familial plight. For these reasons, I consider the film to be a very inspirational one to me personally, and I hope you have a chance to enjoy it sometime too if you haven't seen it.

Adam's Rib (1949)

Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn as husband and wife lawyers on opposing sides of the same murder case. One of Hollywood's greatest comedies about the battle of the sexes. Co-starring Judy Holiday. Directed by George Cukor.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Hepburn and Tracy are liberal white parents whose attitudes and beliefs are tested when their daughter announces she's marrying a black physician (Sidney Poitier).

It's an important film of its time.

Tracey died within days of completing his part and Hepburn won her third Oscar for her performance.

This was Poitier's year: He also starred in 1967's Best Picture Winner "In the Heat of the Night".

Turhan Bey (1922-2012)

Boot Hill and The LA Times are reporting the passing of 1940s Hollywood actor Turhan Bey.

Some of his best remembered films are Arabian Nights, The Amazing Mr. X, and Dragonseed with Katherine Hepburn.

Nearly all of his movies are from the 1940s. 

From the LA Times:

Turhan Bey, 90, an actor whose exotic good looks earned him the nickname of "Turkish Delight" in films with Errol Flynn and Katharine Hepburn before he left Hollywood for a quieter life in Vienna, died Sept. 30 in the Austrian capital after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. His friend Marita Ruiter, who exhibited Bey's photos in her Luxembourg gallery, confirmed his death, according to the Austria Press Agency.

Born in Austria as Gilbert Selahettin Schultavey, the son of a Turkish diplomat, Bey assumed his stage name shortly after moving to the United States from Vienna with his Jewish Czech mother to escape the Nazis and being discovered by talent scouts from Warner Bros. studios.

Bey was celebrated for supporting roles alongside Flynn, Hepburn, John Wayne, Peter Lorre and other film greats of the 1940s. His popular name of "Turkish Delight" was a reference to his suave good looks, which made him an ideal partner to exotics like Maria Montez in escapist Technicolor adventure fantasies set in faraway places.

He starred or had major roles in films such as "A Night in Paradise," "Out of the Blue" and "The Amazing Mr. X" until the popularity of the genre faded in the 1950s.

Moving back to Vienna, he made living as a photographer and occasional stage director, again returning after a brief film and television comeback in the 1990s that earned him an Emmy nomination for his performance as the venerable Turval in the "Babylon 5" space fantasy TV series.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

This film is often considered the definitive screwball comedy.

Cary Grant plays the uptight anthropologist.

Determined to win him over, Katherine uses her brother's pet leopard Baby to get his attention.

Directed by Howard Hawks.

Great comic performances by Grant and Hepburn.