Harold and Maude is one of those few movies whose very plot-line is enough to make it stand out from the crowd. In the subsequent forty plus years since it came out, movies about intergenerational romances are still conspicuous by their absence. Well, that's not exactly right really because we still have lots of films where elderly men wind up in sexual relationships with women half their age. But those films don't really count because they are essentially only male wishful thinking fantasies, where these relationships are presented as completely natural and common place; as far as I can see though in the real world old guys don't bag off with gorgeous thirty year old women on a regular basis. No, to be more precise, cinematic intergenerational romances remain conspicuous by their absence if the sexes are swapped the other way around.
In this film, a young man with a death-fixation called Harold meets Maude, a 79 year old woman with a lust for life. She lives by her rules alone and she teaches Harold how to grasp life by the scruff of the neck. They fall in love. But one of the many wonderful things about this film is that this scenario is actually presented rather believably and the romance itself is never played for laughs and is treated with respect. Bud Cort with his sickly pallor and bizarre eccentricities, such as driving a hearse and attending funerals recreationally, is believable as a lost young man, while Ruth Gordon makes for a genuinely alluring 79 year old. The great chemistry between the leads is what underpins the success of the movie as a whole. Despite all this, it bombed at the box office. Clearly, the basic idea must've seemed too off-putting for general audiences to get behind, even if it's theme of youthful disillusionment and its anti-establishment message was certainly in tune with the times. But over the years it picked up a cult audience, eventually making money by the mid 80's; evidentially once people actually saw the movie, they understood.
At its heart though it's a comedy and a genuinely funny one at that. Unlike a lot of comedies from bygone years its humour remains potent. Maybe it was ahead of its time in some ways and a lot of folks weren't prepared for its peculiar black comedy? Whatever the case, there are many funny moments such as Harold staging elaborate faux suicide performances for the benefit of his uncaring mother and his succession of disastrous blind dates. Then there is Maude's criminal behaviour and couldn't-care-less attitude, which leads to a hilarious scene with a hapless traffic cop - played by Tom Skerritt under the name M. Borman – which ranks as maybe the funniest moment in the whole film. But another reason to cherish this film is that it mixes the madcap humour with understated seriousness, for instance at one point Harold notices a Holocaust concentration camp serial number tattooed on Maude's forearm. It's never referred to again but it doesn't need to be, this moment tells so much about what made Maude who she is.
Director Hal Ashby really turned out a true one-off with Harold and Maude. Ashby was one of the leading directors of the New Hollywood era and this may well rank as his best achievement. In some ways it makes for an interesting counterpart to the earlier film The Graduate which also shares a similar relationship dynamic at its core – although admittedly far less extreme age-wise. Both male characters are rich disillusioned boys whose lives are controlled by their parents' generation. But while the affair in The Graduate is emotionally empty, in Harold and Maude it is the exact opposite. And as great a film as Mike Hodges one is, it doesn't have the same level of originality in its characters that Hal Ashby's one does. Both films too have wonderful folk rock soundtracks and while Simon & Garfunkel edges it, Cat Stevens soundtrack for Harold and Maude is still a beautiful and perfect accompaniment to this great film.
In this film, a young man with a death-fixation called Harold meets Maude, a 79 year old woman with a lust for life. She lives by her rules alone and she teaches Harold how to grasp life by the scruff of the neck. They fall in love. But one of the many wonderful things about this film is that this scenario is actually presented rather believably and the romance itself is never played for laughs and is treated with respect. Bud Cort with his sickly pallor and bizarre eccentricities, such as driving a hearse and attending funerals recreationally, is believable as a lost young man, while Ruth Gordon makes for a genuinely alluring 79 year old. The great chemistry between the leads is what underpins the success of the movie as a whole. Despite all this, it bombed at the box office. Clearly, the basic idea must've seemed too off-putting for general audiences to get behind, even if it's theme of youthful disillusionment and its anti-establishment message was certainly in tune with the times. But over the years it picked up a cult audience, eventually making money by the mid 80's; evidentially once people actually saw the movie, they understood.
At its heart though it's a comedy and a genuinely funny one at that. Unlike a lot of comedies from bygone years its humour remains potent. Maybe it was ahead of its time in some ways and a lot of folks weren't prepared for its peculiar black comedy? Whatever the case, there are many funny moments such as Harold staging elaborate faux suicide performances for the benefit of his uncaring mother and his succession of disastrous blind dates. Then there is Maude's criminal behaviour and couldn't-care-less attitude, which leads to a hilarious scene with a hapless traffic cop - played by Tom Skerritt under the name M. Borman – which ranks as maybe the funniest moment in the whole film. But another reason to cherish this film is that it mixes the madcap humour with understated seriousness, for instance at one point Harold notices a Holocaust concentration camp serial number tattooed on Maude's forearm. It's never referred to again but it doesn't need to be, this moment tells so much about what made Maude who she is.
Director Hal Ashby really turned out a true one-off with Harold and Maude. Ashby was one of the leading directors of the New Hollywood era and this may well rank as his best achievement. In some ways it makes for an interesting counterpart to the earlier film The Graduate which also shares a similar relationship dynamic at its core – although admittedly far less extreme age-wise. Both male characters are rich disillusioned boys whose lives are controlled by their parents' generation. But while the affair in The Graduate is emotionally empty, in Harold and Maude it is the exact opposite. And as great a film as Mike Hodges one is, it doesn't have the same level of originality in its characters that Hal Ashby's one does. Both films too have wonderful folk rock soundtracks and while Simon & Garfunkel edges it, Cat Stevens soundtrack for Harold and Maude is still a beautiful and perfect accompaniment to this great film.