On Golden Pond

I mentioned that for a long time, my birthday celebrations centered on movies. Well, it seems at least one friend had the same idea, as that's how I came about seeing On Golden Pond on March 6th, 1982.

I can't remember what friend it was, but she, (I am assuming it was a girl), had a party that culminated in a bunch of us going to see the surprise hit about a couple of old coots hanging out on a lake listening to loons. And I think this was at least a second viewing for this friend. Which is fine. There's nothing really wrong with On Golden Pond. It's perfectly acceptable PG-rated material. (And I'm actually surprised to learn it was rated PG and not G. I guess there's some cussing. And Jane Fonda in a bikini might have pushed it over the edge into PG land.) It's just not a movie that made any real lasting impression on me, nor is it one I've felt compelled to return to.

We saw the movie at the Regency II, which, of the two Regencys located on the corner of Van Ness and Sutter, was by far the preferable one. The Regency I really sucked, (a sentiment I am glad to see is echoed here). Its conversion to a movie theater was poorly done, with the theater seats at a weird angle facing the (relatively small) screen, and lousy sound. The people who managed the theater for years were also notorious assholes. There were many instances of rudeness, but the most vivid memory is one night when me and my parents were trying to see Saturday Night Fever. We had stood in line in the pouring rain, for what seemed like forever, and when they finally started letting people in, they started the movie before even half the line was in the theater, which meant we all got to stumble around the theater in the dark, sopping wet, looking for seats, much to the chagrin of those already seated. I think my dad got so fed up that we left and he demanded our money back.

ANYWAY, the Regency II was much nicer. The screen and the theater itself was bigger than the Regency I, it had an actual lobby, and the theater doors were at the rear of the theater instead of the side. The management, unfortunately, wasn't much better, and I'll have a story about that in a later post.

Since I don't have much to say about On Golden Pond itself, I'll leave you with a link to a great article about the life of one of its stars, Katharine Hepburn. She really was an awesome, awesome lady.