Alan Smithee's favorite Fonda family films

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Four actors from the Fonda clan will gather Monday at the Woodruff Arts Center to talk about the family's film legacy. In honor of the event, movie critic Alan Smithee's favorite Fonda family movies.

Four actors from the Fonda clan -- Peter and Jane (shown with their father Henry in their younger days), Peter's daughter Bridget and Jane's son Troy Garity -- will gather Monday at the Woodruff Arts Center to talk about the family's film legacy. The Fonda Fest is a chance to look at one of Hollywood's premier acting families. Here are some of movie critic Alan Smithee's favorite Fonda family movies. Some are tremendous classics. Some ... are guilty pleasures.

HENRY FONDA, "On Golden Pond" (1991): Fonda and Katharine Hepburn were so perfect that long before the movie was over I knew I was watching performances that would win Oscars. And his scenes with Jane were a striking mix of art and real-life history.

HENRY FONDA, "The Wrong Man" (1956): Fonda and Alfred Hitchcock paired for an unsettling, neorealistic drama about an Everyman accused of a robbery. The film delivers a haunting message to moviegoers: "What if this happened to you?"

HENRY FONDA, "The Lady Eve" (1941): I like this witty comedy pairing Fonda with an on-fire Barbara Stanwyck as much as "The Thin Man." Which means when I watch it, I laugh a lot.

HENRY FONDA, "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940): Classic Fonda with classic director John Ford in a classic film based on a classic book.

HENRY FONDA, "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939): I was once wee and in those years probably watched this 18th-century historic drama five times. It crackles with danger, adventure and Fonda's heroic run to seek help for settlers under siege in their fort.

JANE FONDA, "Coming Home" (1978): The journey Fonda's character takes through this Vietnam-era drama seems a dead-on match for what's happened in the minds of many Americans regarding the ongoing struggle in Iraq.

JANE FONDA, "Julia" (1977): I like the intrigue and the uncertainty and raging nervousness that wordlessly dwells below the surface as Fonda, as writer Lillian Hellman, steels herself in a dangerous bid to help her closest friend in Nazi Germany.

JANE FONDA, "Klute" (1971): You think Javier Bardem's hair was memorable in "No Country for Old Men"? Here, Fonda's is sleek but clipped and boldly shaped, adding dimension to her call girl Bree's feisty personality. Result: one of the best female movie performances.

JANE FONDA, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969): To me, this is the movie where Fonda matured from girl to woman. She plays one of many desperate dance marathon contestants. The film is devastating. So is she.

JANE FONDA, "Barefoot in the Park" (1967): Sometimes I just like a light, breezy, funny comedy. This is a romantic comedy that fires on all cylinders.

PETER FONDA, "The Limey" (1999): An inventive, often even incredible, drama from director Steven Soderbergh with Fonda as a record exec who may or may not have been responsible for a young woman's death.

PETER FONDA, "Ulee's Gold" (1997): I've always thought the subtlety in Fonda's performance as a resilient beekeeper should have won him the Oscar.

PETER FONDA, "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" (1974): I love car-chase movies, especially "Ronin" and something as over-the-top, dirty, crazy and watchable as this must-see drive-in classic.

PETER FONDA, "Easy Rider" (1969): The definitive film of the era when counterculture collided with Hollywood ... and counterculture won.

PETER FONDA, "The Trip" (1967): A veritable time capsule for the California-based, drug-infused hippie era.

BRIDGET FONDA, "A Simple Plan" (1998): She's the Lady MacBeth in a fine drama that includes millions of discovered dollars, Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton.

BRIDGET FONDA, "It Could Happen To You" (1994): I'm not usually much of a fan of Nicolas Cage. But in this romantic comedy with a lottery ticket, he's paired with Fonda's humane and endearing waitress. And it works.

BRIDGET FONDA, "Single White Female" (1992): Cat fight!

TROY GARITY, "Soldier's Girl" (2003): It may be a Showtime movie and not a big-screen theatrical release, but this drama is easily Garrity's best work yet, playing a complex character based on a real-life tragedy.

TROY GARITY, "Sunshine" (2007): He delivers solid work in a talented sci-fi ensemble and is long gone before this initially promising drama devolves into kitschy horror.

TROY GARITY, "Barbershop" (2002): He's the white guy who deep down inside insists he's a black man. It's a tricky role to pull off. But Garity does it.

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Four actors from the Fonda clan -- Peter and Jane (shown with their father Henry in their younger days), Peter's daughter Bridget and Jane's son Troy Garity -- will gather Monday at the Woodruff Arts Center to talk about the family's film legacy. The Fonda Fest is a chance to look at one of Hollywood's premier acting families. Here are some of movie critic Alan Smithee's favorite Fonda family movies. Some are tremendous classics. Some ... are guilty pleasures.

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