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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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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!
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there's about 10 minutes of written content in this film, the rest is filling in space. do we need to see 15 seconds of the policeman getting off his motorbike, putting the kickstand down, and walking over to the car? the way it's edited seems like they struggled to reach feature length. as for what content there is, in terms of drama the characters and plot are relatively underdeveloped and in terms of comedy what may have been original in 1971 seems cliched today.
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Not for me!
While we like quirky, funny movies, just could not get into this one. It was just too odd and dated for us to enjoy.
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a great movie..
about death and life and death and life.. saw it for the first time in high school and have many times since then. one of those amazing films that tells you the obvious, enjoy life while you can! memento mori. just wish i had his car, never saw a better looking jag!
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Harold and Maude
funny movie. very individualistic (which is a good thing).
Love knows no limits, life is all about choices, and it shouldn't matter what people think.
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