Harold and Maude

1971 "They were meant to be. But exactly what they were meant to be is not quite clear."
7.9| 1h31m| PG| en
Details

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.

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Reviews

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.
Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
davyyells As someone who rarely writes reviews, I must say that this is most definitely the most beautiful movie of all time. I started it with very low hopes and by the end I was stuck looking at the stunning masterpiece. I must also say that I had never cried during a movie or television show before. I've watched many movies. This was the only movie I've ever cried and it wasn't just a tear, I mean I was in full baby mode. The movie shows Maude teaching Harold something about life that I've never seen a movie, or even person, be able to teach anyone. You sit there as a viewer thinking you're watching Maude teach Harold but before you know it, Maude has taught you.
classicalsteve Several Cat Stevens songs appear in this film which were never released on an album until Stevens' greatest hits albums. The song, arguably debuted by Ruth Gordon about midway, carries the message of the film: "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out". Harold (Bud Cort), the only child of a filthy-rich family, a disturbed college-age youth engages in black-humor episodes: he fakes committing suicide. As the film progresses his suicides become more elaborate, beginning with hanging, but then moving onto drowning and shooting himself. His second "suicide" is so gruesome, his single mother doesn't know what to do with him, so she hires a psychologist who becomes as flustered with Harold as his mother.For fun, Harold buys a used Hearse and attends funerals of people he doesn't know. There he notices Maude (Ruth Gordon), an older woman with the spunk of a 25-year-old. She also likes to attend funerals but she has other habits as well. She likes to steal cars, not the least of which is a Volkswagon Bug driven by the priest at a couple of the funerals. She then starts driving Harold's Hearse after one of the funerals and offers to give Harold a ride home. He explains the Hearse is his car to which Maude replies "Then you should give me a ride home." And so begins a rather quirky relationship between a reclusive youth and an older woman who could make Madonna seem like a fuddy-duddy. At one point she even one-up's a motorcycle cop played by Tom Skerritt.The most insufferable character of the film is neither Harold nor Maude but Harold's mother. Mrs. Chasen (Vivian Pickles) never engages with her son except to be outraged at his suicide episodes. More often she knows what he's up to and simply speaks with him normally when he appears to be "dead". What makes her insufferable is her detachment from him. She decides Harold needs to meet women and she signs him up for a computer dating service. She fills out the questionnaires and chooses the women without his input. At several of the meetings with the "prospects", Harold yet again engages in his "suicides", often with horrific consternation on the part of the dating prospect.Although definitely not for all tastes, "Harold and Maude" has become a cult classic. While there's not really a "plot" per se but more of a character study, themes of death and life permeate the entire story. At film's beginning, we learn that Harold seems to be going through life on autopilot except for his suicide episodes. Because of his interest in funerals, he seems preoccupied by "death". The origin of this compulsion is finally revealed to Maude about 2/3rds through the film. On the other side, Maude is a free spirit and Harold learns that he may need to take risks to enjoy life fully. While I wouldn't recommend trying to outdo a motorcycle cop, the point of Maude's behavior is that we often spend too much time worrying about the approval or disapproval of others instead of just doing those things that let us "be free" as the song goes. In other words, death is the price we pay for living life.
SquigglyCrunch My brother told me this was one of his favorite movies, so we watched it together. It was not at all what I expected, not that I had really any expectations to begin with. I'd heard the name mentioned, but never known anything about it, nor cared enough to do any research.As stated in the summary, it was a little to weird for my taste. Sure, it was funny (in a dark way) at points, and the relationship between Harold and Maude was all fine and dandy, but it went a little too far. And it was weird to witness. The ending was unexpected though, which added to it. I felt that the movie was a little rushed, with none of the intended change in Harold being found until the very end of the movie. The movie felt like it wasn't particularly paced well in this sense. Overall, this just isn't my kind of movie. Sure, it was enjoyable enough, but it really just didn't click with me. If you liked it, great. If you loved it, good for you. It's not for everybody, and it certainly wasn't for me. If your looking for something different and have a darker sense of humor, then take a look at Harold and Maude.
orcavine My Mother loved this movie and so do a lot of older baby boom women I know. However as a baby boomer man when I finally it saw recently I was struck by the fact that to me Harold was obliviously gay and not interested in women except for Maude in a very weird non sexual grandmother way. True they sleep together but I suspect that was just some non erotic hugging and keeping each other warm. Harold is like Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory a man child that doesn't know he is gay or even what that is about just that he is not interested in women in a hetero way.The movie however is fun and quirky, but please keep the romance out of the way this is really about friendship at any age not love/lust way. It is worth seeing as an adventure of 2 people who need and like each other- nothing more