OCR Text |
Show DDQCB The Newspaper Guide to the U.S. Film and Video Festival begins on Page B5 S Page Bl Thursday, January 28, 1982 Heel WowrM bv Rick i(rouli (1 C r ' - .f j . si ' I m 'I $7 ' i ' ' " i " ' Slic perfect (Combination Authentic Oicvmnn Cniotnc(fntcvinn 10k plain 5t.yarlt(fitt,lltal (M 0-50 11 t Maybe this popular movie should be called "Smash of the Titans"! The legendary Hepburn, father Henry , Fonda and daughter Jane play a family confronting old wounds during a summer "On Golden Pond". Three great spirits in Golden Pond' ' A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer Formasochists . only On Golden Pond The captivating warmth of "On Golden Pond" asks to be shared. It overwhelms the irritation we might feel about losing the picture as our much-vaunted "Inter-mountain "Inter-mountain Premiere". (It opened down in Salt Lake, and country-wide, on the same day.) "Golden Pond" shows contact con-tact being made between characters who look at each other gloomily across gaps of age, culture, and long-strained long-strained family ties of blood. The show opens as Walter and Ethel Thayer (Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn) Hep-burn) arrive at their traditional tradi-tional summer vacation spot on the Pond. Ethel bubbles with delight at every cry of the loons, every budding flower. Walter, on the other hand, brings with him a pack of grumpy one-liners about his advancing age and his inner fear of death. (Picking up "Treasure Island", he says : "Read this when I was a kid. 'Course, now that my memory's going, it'll all be new to me.'") Playwright Ernest Thompson Thomp-son throws in a few running gags (like a screen door that keeps falling off its hinges). If the entire two hours were like this, it would resemble the effort of a geriatric Neil Simon. But Thompson brings out the strengths of the older couple by presenting them with the problems of three summer visitors. Daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) is all pent-up angers and fears about the cool relationship with her father; her current boyfriend, a West Coast dentist, (Dabney Coleman) is out of place and feels it; and his son Billy (Doug McKeon) is a posturing punk who resents being left with the Thayers while Dad and Chelsea vacation in Europe. But the old folks are his chance to form a family and he is Walter and Ethel's last chance. Their growing friendship is the charming core of the film. The movie would not be so good, however, without its three stars. "Golden Pond" is an appreciation for their spirit and their talents. Henry Fonda has given, sentimentality aside, one of the great performances of his career. It is one of those landmark cases where he throws off the judicious "Mr. President" character usually usu-ally associated with him. In 1942's "Lady Eve" he was a pratfalling, bug-eyed millionaire's son who liked snakes and was an easy mark for a con lady (Barbara (Bar-bara Stanwyck). In "Once Upon a Time in the West", he was a deep-dyed villain. Walter is another broad departure that still stays within the "make-it-look-easy" style. He hop-shuffles around, his mouth hanging open, snapping out insults like the most ramshackle Fonda impressionist. Daughter Jane as Chelsea had the courage to confront the memories of her real-life stormy relationship with her father. We've seen her play this forthright, gut vulnerable vulner-able character before, but rarely with the feeling we get 'Make-Over Magic' seminar scheduled here like she's treading around an open wound. Her best moment comes about halfway through, as she desperately nuzzles against Hepburn's bosom for comfort. com-fort. Hepburn, soars around this movie as surely as Superman ever would, to judge by the audience applause ap-plause that marked some of her appearances. If Golden Pond is Thompson's metaphorical meta-phorical adaptation setting for Life, then it is significant that Hepburn is the most adaptable to it and at ease-whether skinny-dipping, zipping around on a speedboat or rescuing a ship-wrecked Fonda. (The Park City audience applauded ap-plauded when they saw it was recognizably Hepburn doing a heroic dive into rock-filled waters.) Thompson or Rydell (or both) have developed a skillful device a character is defined when he is shown fishing in a gloomy Purgatory Cove, an area that "eats boats". When the young Billy takes a boat for a joyride, Rydell treats the pond like a big lake, exuding space and freedom. Given this effective device, de-vice, I wish they had given up that awful business of the two symbolic loons out on the lake. Hepburn's character is so enamored of them she looks a little dotty. And when a bird turns up dead an awful portent for Walter we can't even be trusted to recognize it. Somebody has to say, "Look! A dead loon!" Another irritating habit in Thompson the playwright is the way each character is pegged down in dialogue from the moment he steps on screen. Chelsea no sooner enters the scene than she is greeted by her father as "that fat little girl". Her boyfriend first speaks up to ask about a scary animal he thought he saw in the woods, fright amount of snotty rough and the fiance keeps up this fedges without alienating nervous stance throughout Jyou and he is undaunted by the picture. J&is heavyweight company. (To be fair, though, the Despite instances of over character, played with Dab- obviousness, "Golden Pond" ney coieman, is treated with considerable sympathy and respect. He is the first person to throw Walter Fonda's guff back in his face. Coleman's moment by the pond is, fittingly, a pratfall he ends up stretched stretch-ed over the water with one foot on a drifting boat, the other on the dock. But before falling into the water, he manages to give a little shrug of equanimity. Doug McKeon has the also displays a talent for sharpening its most important impor-tant moments with understatementWalter's under-statementWalter's first mumbled apology to Billy (or to anyone); the sad catastrophe that douses Walter's Wal-ter's triumphal day of fishinghe fish-inghe accidentally starts a fire in the living room, and Billy must spill the kettle of fish on the flames. "On Golden Pond" is not perfection. It is unforget-able. muiic JEfiaxtm.nt Li. now uccsfiting ajifilicationi. fox a im.its.cl numlj.x of (jofuntzzzi. to ivoi& on th (2Caaica cAui.ic ljxoad.ca.iti.. Uzdication, ool of ctaiiicat muiic and a fsixr fiouxi of time zacfi U7& axs. tfzs. ony ptxexsauiiiUi. ox fuxtfisx infoxmation contact cAx. cfolj.xt tyl'dfiami co DiPCcW IP. O. Rok 1372 !Pax& City ox ca ft 649 -9004. 2.adinz eCnua't ix y lit. A "Make-Over Magic" seminar has been scheduled at the Kimball Art Center Feb. 1, 2, 8 and 9. The seminar will be taught by Carmen Jones, the owner of the Salt Lake Modeling School and Talent Agency. On Monday, Feb. 1 at noon, Ms. Jones will discuss individual indi-vidual color-key, wardrobe and accessories. The seminar semi-nar will be repeated on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. On Monday, Feb. 8 at noon, she will discuss skin care and makeup. The same information will be covered Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. Students may attend both discussions. If necessary, they may attend one evening and one day class. A $10 deposit is required at time of registration. Cost for the course is $65. For further information, call Carmen Jones at 649-6568. " ; " - j f J, ' 00 lift - - ' 1'iNi'r -tT . - v i- , DON BRADY ASSOCIATES lean your jeans on us. L Interior Design, Residential and Commercial, Furniture Packages available starting at $5,000. Park Meadows Plaza Building, Park City, Utah. Box 1678 801-649-4044 2 |