I didn't see this until a couple of years after it's initial theatrical release as it was becoming a college cult classic. I knew a lot of people who raved about this film and I do like original quirky films but when I saw it I couldn't embrace it as others did. It's an interesting story of an 80 year old widow who gets her kicks out of looking at the obituaries and selecting funerals to attend as if she were looking for movies to see in the entertainment section of the newspaper. At one of the funerals she meets a 20 year old man who is a loser and they began a unlikely alliance. Ruth Gordon is charming and funny in her role of the elder woman. A revered stage actress she made few films and fewer still where she had a lead role. Bud Cort as a promising young actor had a few films in the 70's beginning with a small role in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H and with Altman again in the starring role in Brewster Mccloud. His career quirky tapered off to supporting cast film roles in mostly forgettable movies and some supporting television roles. Gordon is funny in this film but he is not and his character becomes irritating after a while. This was only the second film from promising director director Hal Ashby. He would fire off a series of good films after Harold And Maude including The Last Detail, Shampoo, Coming Home, Bound for Glory and Being There. Ashby then went through the 1980's making only four forgettable feature films and one documentary and destroyed his health through drug abuse and never re lit the spark he had in the 70's before his untimely death. Screenwriter Collin Higgins turned in a good story here as his career was just beginning. He would go on to write some a handful of good comedies including Silver Streak, Nine to five, Foul Play and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas before his untimely death. I've seen this a couple times since when I first saw it in about 1974 mainly for the Cat Stevens soundtrack and Ruth Gordon's performance. I would give this a 7.0 out of 10.
Review of Harold and Maude
