- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
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- 18,420
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Mark Rydell's wonderful 1981, On Golden Pond, stars two of Hollywood's classic era legends toward the end of their careers, as a "middle age" couple spending a summer at their seasonal home in New Hampshire.
Katharine Hepburn, in one of her finest performances, and Henry Fonda, in his last, and also one of his best.
Jane Fonda is along on this one, and seeing her act with her dad... just seems special.
Watching this beautiful piece of cinema today is a bit like saying goodbye to old friends -- how many hundreds of hours have we spent in the dark watching their shadows reflect off a large silver sheet?
I get a similar feeling when I watch Lindsay Anderson's The Whales of August.
With their Blu-ray release of On Golden Pond, Shout Factory takes another major step toward being a purveyor of extremely high end programming.
As a Blu-ray, while I wish it had been taken a step further with a new 4k scan, full preservation, and the Blu-ray being a down-razzed recipient of that work, what we receive is quite enough.
The only thing missing might be a bit more digital cleansing and a some light stabilization, although so many scenes are on the pond, it probably makes little difference.
Color is basically as I recall it being, although I'd love to try to take a point or so of cyan out of some of Jane Fonda's shots. Grain looks just fine, as are black levels and shadow detail.
Young Doug McKeon, who has now had a long and successful career on both sides of the camera, is a major part of the story, which I'll not get into. I cannot imagine the learning experience for a 14 or whatever year-old to work on this film.
A magnificent film, now with a quality Blu-ray release courtesy of Shout Factory.
A film that should be in every serious cinema library.
Image - 4
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Very Highly Recommended
RAH