MARK RYDELL

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB. 

United Kingdom/USA, 1981.  IPC Films, Incorporated Television Company.  Screenplay by Ernest Thompson, based on his play.  Cinematography by Billy Williams.  Produced by Bruce Gilbert.  Music by Dave Grusin.  Production Design by Stephen B. Grimes.  Costume Design by Dorothy Jeakins.  Film Editing by Robert L. Wolfe.  Academy Awards 1981.  Golden Globe Awards 1981.  National Board of Review Awards 1981.  New York Film Critics Awards 1981.  

Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda play an aging couple who have never fully reconciled his differences with their daughter (Jane Fonda).  They get their chance when she leaves her husband’s son with them for a few weeks and comes back from her vacation to find the young boy having developed the relationship with old Henry that she never had. This prompts some dramatic exposition, and Ernest Thompson’s intelligent screenplay (based on his own play) brings it out with genuine humanity and warmth. Hepburn is at her most energetic, ornery and feisty despite the passing of time, while Fonda is a crotchety old fogey with a golden heart at his core. Lovely stuff, not particularly challenging, but lovely all the same.