On Golden Pond (1981 film)

On Golden Pond is a 1981 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson was adapted from his 1979 play of the same title.

An aging couple, Ethel and Norman Thayer, continue the long tradition of spending each summer at their cottage on a lake in the far reaches of northern New England called Golden Pond. When they first arrive, Ethel notices the loons calling on the lake welcoming them home. As they resettle into their summer home, Normans memory problems arise when he is unable to recognize several family photographs, which he copes with by frequently talking about death and growing old. They are visited by their only child, a daughter, Chelsea, who is somewhat estranged from her curmudgeon of a father. She introduces her parents to her fiance Bill and his thirteenyearold son Billy. Norman tries to play mind games with Bill, an apparent pastime of his, but Bill wont hear of it, saying he can only take so much. In another conversation, Chelsea discusses with Ethel her frustration over her relationship with her overbearing father, feeling that even though she lives thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, she still feels like shes answering to him. Before they depart for a European vacation, Chelsea and Bill ask the Thayers to permit Billy to stay with them while they have some time to themselves. Norman, seeming more senile and cynical than usual due to his 80th birthday and heart palpitations, agrees to Billys staying. Ethel tells him that hes the sweetest man in the world, but she is the only one who knows it.Billy is at first annoyed by being left with elderly strangers with no friends nearby and nothing to do. He resents Normans brusque manner, but eventually comes to enjoy their Golden Pond fishing adventures together. Billy and Norman soon grow obsessed with catching Normans fish rival, named Walter, which leads to the accidental destruction of the Thayers motorboat. Chelsea returns to find out her father has made good friends with her fiances, now husbands, son. But when she sees the change in her fathers demeanor, Chelsea attempts something Billy accomplished that she never cou

Source: Wikipedia