Harold and Maude
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Movie Reviews of Harold and Maude
Movie Review: It's the anti "The Graduate"
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the most delightfully oddball comedies you'll ever see, "Harold and Maude" features Bud Cort (an eccentric young actor best known otherwise only as a Hollywood party guest) as eccentric young Harold, son of a remarkably self-absorbed and pretentious wealthy widow who sees her son in a notably dysfunctional way. Harold responds by trying to shock her into showing some kind of sign that she cares about him at all, while the only such sign forthcoming is a hilarious scene with the mother filling out Harold's personality survey for a computer dating service by answering all the questions herself, Harold never uttering a word. So much for one's individuality.
Enter Maude, played by Ruth Gordon (forever earning her a permanent and special place in the hearts of millions), the personification of the phrase "free spirit." She sees things quite differently from anyone else in the world, and in a delicious twist of irony Harold, who has been trying to shake up his mother, gets shaken up himself by this elderly hippie. While some of the things that follow are clearly over the edge, Harold ultimately learns that one can be one's own self without being overly concerned of what others think, even his own overbearing mother. Enter a happy ending that's as unconventional as anything else in this film.
There are moral issues a-plenty to deal with here. A young man having an affair with a woman 60 years his senior, suicide, personal property issues, attitudes toward the military, etc. These things had a quite different angle when this film was made in the early 1970s, so in some ways HaM is a bit dated. But it's a very effective and very funny film that you just can't take your eyes off of. Recommended for an adult audience, even for the more thoughtful of our younger generation, but mostly this is highly recommended to anyone who likes their entertainment to make them think and reexamine their view of the world. A hearty sense of humor is a requirement as well.
Movie Review: "Harold loves Maude."... and Maude loves Harold
Summary: 5 Stars
"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.
Movie Review: Maude: "The earth is my body; my head is in the stars."
Summary: 5 Stars
This "coming-of-age" film was almost required viewing for high schoolers back in the '70s. Although somewhat dated by folky Cat Stevens tunes and Vietnam War-era overtones, the main story remains a powerful one.
Harold is a 20-year-old rudderless son of wealth. Obssessed with mortality, Harold frightens off any girls his mother arranges dates for him with by simulating his own suicide, using a variety of tricks in the process. He converts a gift sports car into a creepy mini-hearse and indulges in his favorite pastime, attending the funerals of strangers. It is at one of these that Harold first meets Maude, a spry 79-year-old lady with a zeal for living that is positively infectious.
The two embark on several adventures, which include rescuing a dead city tree to plant it in the woods, and giving Harold's patriotic Army officer uncle a shocking surprise. Through all this, Maude teaches the youth how to play banjo and most importantly: how to embrace life. Harold declares his love for this amazing old gal and clings to her despite protests from family and minister. And then the eve of Maude's 80th birthday arrives....
Related items:
Bud Cort has a minor role in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H (1970).
Ruth Gordon and an enormous cast of loonies appear in the cult comedy/disaster film fave, THE BIG BUS (1976). This precursor to AIRPLANE! (1980) is unequalled in craziness.
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.
(8.1) Harold and Maude (1971) - Ruth Gordon/Bud Cort/Vivian Pickles/Cyril Cusack/Charles Tyner/Ellen Geer/Tom Skerritt
Movie Review: A Perfect Gem
Summary: 5 Stars
I first stumbeled upon this film back in 1987. I think one of the main reasons this film has such a devoted (if cult) following, is the fact that the message it delivers...living your life to the fullest, and embracing love no matter what kind of package it comes in...is rendered in such a quiet, wonderful way, you can't help but believe.The movie introduces us to Harold. a quiet, if slightly odd young man, so desperate for the attention of his mother, that he stages various "suicides" on a regular basis, just to try and get a reaction from her. We soon learn that the one thing that actually makes Harold happy, is to attend funerals. Which is where, he ends up meeting Maude...a fellow funeral groupie. In contrast, Maude is a soon to be 80 yr old fireball of life and chaos, who counts 'barrowing' total strangers cars, and liberating canaries from pet stores, as hobbies.
This movie is at once incredibly funny (as morbid as it sounds...Harold's various "suicides" are carried out with incressingly funnier results), and terribly sad (one of the final sequences, revolving around Cat Steven's gorgeous song "Trouble", is one of the most heartbreaking, and beautifully acted scenes you will ever see on film.).
Harold and Maude's relationship could have very easily come off as contrived, or forced, or just plain unbelivable. But the casting of Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort could not have been more perfect. They completely make these characters their own, and bring them to life in a way no one else would have been able to. And i also have to say that Colin Higgins script and especially the directing of Hal Asby are both top notch. Asby's subtle direction is wonderful, especially in the "Trouble" sequence mentioned above, where he lets Cort's facial expressions convey far more to the audience then any amount of dialogue ever could.
Movie Review: What It Means to be Alive
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the most life-affirming films ever made. I've seen the movie as a teenager, as a mother of sons, and, now, as one who has just reached middle age. The movie speaks in different ways to each phase of a person's life, but in all cases it shows us how to live a life that is vibrant under any circumstances.
Harold is obsessed with death. In a story Harold tells Maude, Harold once had a devastating experience with a science experiment in school and authorities thought he was dead. His mother was mistakingly told he was dead, causing her to express authentic grief. Therefore, Harold tries to recreate his death through mock suicide attempts in order to recapture the moment his mother expressed genuine love for him. Harold's obsession with death is also metaphorical, portraying his lack of connection to what it means to feel alive.
Maude is the conduit through which Harold discovers this connection. She shows him how to live. In response, Harold falls desperately in love with her. When Maude dies, he is released from his obsession with death and in contrast becomes engaged with life.
All of this may sound rather corney, but it's not. The acting is first-rate and the movie isn't afraid to delve philosophically into the main theme, such as when Harold recognizes the Holocaust tattoo on Maude's arm and she reveals her wonder at the seagulls. Maude tells Harold of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish soldier wrongfully incarcerated on Devil's Island, who as a child felt amazement when he first encountered seagulls. Later, he realized they were "only seagulls." This is the challenge of life: to keep one's initial wonderment.
This is the gift Maude gives to Harold. The movie is timeless and moving and one of the best to come out of that golden non-conformist era in movie-making between 1967 and 1975.