Harold and Maude (1971)

Harold and Maude

I purchased this movie at my daughters request, but found it to be funny and sad. Harold is a troubled young man, who looks even younger than his 20 years, living under a most repressive, overbearing, single(?) mother. He meets and is fascinated by Maude, a MUCH older woman that enjoys life to the fullest. The spring/winter love they find is touching and kind of weird, but understandable when you watch the whole movie. All in all, a good movie. July 18, 2008

I haven't lived ... but I've died a few times ...

Hal Ashby's masterpiece Harold and Maude is so many people's favourite movie, that it's mind-boggling. When the film was released in 1971 it was panned by the bulk of the reviewers and was thought of as something that would be quickly forgotten as it was not easy for the Academic journalists to pigeonhole. Both, Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon won Golden Globes for best Actress and Best Actor that year even though the press was grossly unkind. Several theatres even played this film repetitively for two years, day after day, just because it was that good.

The screenplay for Harold and Maude was an idea that was spawned for Collin Higgin's thesis for the UCLA screenwriting MFA program and the film took off from there. The book is also available, for those interested, but be advised the book was put together after the film and reads a bit dry, and doesn't tell an expanded story as one would think it would, but rather a slightly `different story', if you will. But don't get me wrong, the book is still very entertaining and a good read.

The film is about a struggle between the value of life and a young man named Harold Chasen and the mentoring brought by his new friend Maude. Not until he meets and forms a bond with Maude does he start to understand that the world, and himself isn't on the verge of an apocalypse as he might have been led to believe by his self-indulgent and caddish mother, wonderfully imagined and portrayed by Vivian Pickles. Don't you just love that accent, and her random French phrasing?

Harold obviously was meant to be portrayed as someone suffering, as we see multiple attempts at suicide, which is a large part of his verbal and physical vocabulary. He has either an absent or dead father which is a theme that is not addressed but does make the viewer wonder how much it plays upon his psyche. The real story is the grand coupe of how Maude wins him over, getting him to really embrace and appreciate life, which is incredibly touching, making this movie one of the most unforgettable films of all time. The score, woven in beautifully by Cat Stevens, heightens the importance and greatness of the film, which continually pull at the heart-strings and the mind.

Some people, smirk and pull away if they've heard about this film, but haven't seen it. They always say: "Oh, that film. Not interested." I've met about a handful of these types and they're typically bothered by Harold and Maude's relationship. Yawwwnnnnn. Others say they're always bothered by the suicide aspect, let me tell you that the thought of suicide has got me through many a dark night, and I don't find it offensive or inappropriate in the slightest. All I can say is do yourself a favor and watch it from beginning to end, uninterrupted and just accept it for what it is. Just because an element of a film bothers you -- doesn't mean that the film is bad, it just means that the film stirred an uncomfortable emotion in you. That's all.

It would be nice to see this film get the re-master and frame-by-frame cleaning and color correction treatment. The DVD quality looks like a really good video transfer, but a video transfer nonetheless. It's presented in 5.1 Dolby surround, which is a plus, but this film really begs a commentary, extras, stills, all of that which is common on other releases.

And yes, for the record ... this is in my top three favourite all-time films. Magnificent.


July 2, 2008

I love this movie

I absolutely love this movie. I had to watch it for a Cult Films class that I am taking at my university, and it ended up being my favorite film out of the quarter. It is a story about a boy (Harold) who is obsessed with staging his own suicide, drives a hearse, and attends funerals for fun. While he is at one of these funerals, he meets an elderly lady named Maude, who he finds absolutely captivating and eventually falls in love with. However, at the mean time, the boy's mother decides that it is about time for Harold to meet a girl and get married. So, she uses a computer program to generate dates for him.

Pretty funny movie, kind of off-beat, but I really enjoyed it, so i ended up purchasing it so that i could watch it whenever i feel like it. June 9, 2008

"Harold loves Maude."... and Maude loves Harold

"Harold and Maude" is a delightful, funny, moving, off-beat black comedy with a lot of heart. It is also one of the best and unusual on-screen romances I've seen. If the opposites attract each other, there have not been perhaps more different in every possible way screen couple than 20 years old Harold (Bud Cort) and Maude(charming, clever, multi-talented Ruth Gordon, the Oscar winning actress and three times Oscar nominee for writing) who is just about to turn 80. Harold is a rich kid who is obsessed with death and likes to stage very believable and hilarious succession of suicide attempts to impress his unflappable socialite mother who got used to them and not impressed anymore. Harold's others hobbies are driving the hearse and to attend funerals where he meets one day a woman who will change his life forever, 79 years young free-spirit, rebel, and fighter for "Liberty. Rights. Justice", Maude. She also likes to attend the funerals of the strangers. We won't learn much about Maude's life story but there will be one visual flash which gives us a very good idea that Maude knew a lot about death, losses, and suffering but she chose to celebrate, worship, and enjoy life to the fullest. This short poignant moment is a stroke of genius, and there are many of them in the truly unique, one of its kind movie. Maybe Hal Ashby had brought some of memories from his own childhood that included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide, his dropping out of high school, getting married and divorced all before he was 19, into "Harold and Maude". Hal Ashby had made a series of memorable, intelligent, well acted films in the 70s, that included The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Coming Home (1978) and Being There (1979) but it is "Harold and Maude" that has become the cult classic from the first days of its release and it more than deserves its status. The movie also benefits tremendously from the soundtrack of songs by Cat Stevens.

April 13, 2008

Great 60's story

I've heard about this film for years but somehow never saw it till now. I'm sure that if I'd seen it when it came out in the early 70's I would have adored it. Now....well, it is dated. The themes which were very important in those breakaway years are a little old now.

We see a young, very disturbed man, trying to get his mother's attention by various stagings of suicides. She is a wealthy socialite whose values Harold despises. She buys him a Jaguar but he prefers driving an old hearse. She arranges him to meet girls but he succeeds in acting so wierd that they all run away. We are supposed to hate her and feel sorry for him...but after a while I was more sympathetic to her than I knew the film intended. He really is a putz!

His only interest, beyond staging suicides is attending funerals. This is where he meets his match--Maude, a frisky woman on the verge of turning 80. We don't know how old Harold is, exactly. To me he looked like a very young teenager. Maude loves life as much as Harold seeks death so she teaches him to dance, to sing, to play music, smoke dope, drink and ultimately to make love. Obviously she is the antithesis of his mom. Maude somehow has the knack for driving any car she picks up on the street and has no compunction about taking them. That's part of her "live free!" agenda. Again, all of this was wonderful during the years the picture was made. We see photos of Nixon and Pope Paul (the grim one) and Freud on the walls of various experts he is sent to consult. We get the message loud and clear---this is a time to throw off traditional authority and go for it.

The cast is great. Ruth Gordon, a one-of-kind herself is perfect for the role of Maude. (She was married to a much younger man, in "real life.") Bud Cort is excellent as Harold--at first so repressed and then gradually coming to life. When you first see the hints of a smile on his mask like face, you really do want to cheer.

Obviously there are a whole lot of people who love the film and if you think you might be one of them, after reading a variety of reviews, then go for it. Personally about halfway through I got a little tired of the increasingly zany antics Maude would pull and they ceased being charming and cute. I lived through those times and I can appreciate the message but enough, already! April 7, 2008

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