Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda has always made interesting choices
with regard the roles she has accepted and her choices prove
she is not afraid to take risks. Cat Ballou was Jane Fonda's
first big movie in which she starred with Lee Marvin. A year
later Jane Fonda starred in The Chase with Marlon Brando and,
at the time, an unknown Robert Redford. A year after that
Jane made what, in my opinion, is her best film, the Neil
Simon classic, Bare Foot In The Park, where she starred again
with Robert Redford. Fonda and Redford were brilliant with
Fonda proving her comedic timing is faultless. I thought Jane
Fonda was hillarious in that film. After "Barefoot",
Jane starred in Barbarella, proving to the world she wasn't
afraid to explore and exploit her considerable sex appeal.
Barbarella, although a tongue-in-cheek film was seriously
horny for its time. Jane Fonda goes from starring in a spoof
to starring in the Sidney Pollack classic, They Shoot Horses
Don't They.
Other classics in Jane Fonda's career include
Klute, Nine To Five and a reunion with Robert Redford in The
Electric Horseman and, of course, I must not forget to mention
The China Syndrom where Jane Fonda starred with Jack Lemmon
and Michael Douglas. But, in my opinion, Jane Fonda's greatest
moment came when she purchased the film rights for On Golden
Pond because she wanted to be in a fim with her father, Henry
Fonda. It is a fantastic piece of drama and Jane recognised
the script reflected a little of her troubled relationship
with her father. Henry Fonda won his only Oscar for best actor
for his role, but he was too ill to attend the ceremony so
Jane accepted on his behalf. Henry Fonda died 5 months later.
But even though Jane and Henry's relationship was difficult,
I would like to think that the fact it was Jane who purchased
the rights to the film that won Henry his only Oscar would
have gone a long way to heal any rift that remained...
Tim Rees
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