Review for Harold and Maude

Director: Hal Ashby

Released: 1971
Genre: Pitch Black Comedy

Harold and Maude was released in 1971 that has since become a cult fixture of the New Hollywood movement. It is very similar to the 1967 work The Graduate, in that it seeks to portray the generational conflict occurring at the time- specifically the disconnection from convention many members of America's youth sought in search of their identity. I thought The Graduate was an excellent movie, but I personally liked Harold and Maude even more; I now consider it to be my personal favorite of the pre-Godfather New Hollywood movies.

I say this because I have always been drawn to the macabre and morbid elements of art and literature, and Harold and Maude is at heart a scathing, pitch black comedy. It captures the dull and affluent lifestyle of its main character, Harold, who epitomizes the term "gothic." He stages various suicides around the house in an attempt to provoke a reaction from his mother. When asked by his therapist what he does for fun, Harold responds with, "I go to funerals." Later on in the film, Harold is given a new audience with which to indulge in his theatrics; the girls his mother brings over in an attempt to set him up with a date. What ensues are darkly hilarious performances involving gasoline, severed hands, and a mock sword ritual.

Harold and Maude is also a love story- an old lady named Maude shadows Harold at the funerals he attends, much to the chagrin of the surrounding mourners. In many ways, Maude is the polar opposite of the boy; she is spontaneous and extremely vivacious for her age, and drives around in whatever car happens to be closest to her when she decides to go somewhere. The two soon become very close to one another, rescuing ailing curbside trees and going for drives on the windy backroads they live by. Later on in the movie, Harold decides to marry Maude, which elicits hilarious reactions from his mother, his uncle (a one armed military General), his therapist, and above all a Catholic Priest. By the end, Harold is brought to his senses by Maude, and in a wonderfully symbolic fashion, decides to abandon his obsession with death and start his life anew.

I urge everybody to see Harold and Maude at least once in their lifetime- everything about the movie is enjoyable, from the characters (both resoundingly eccentric and unbearably conventional), to the soundtrack by Cat Stevens, to the wonderfully shot cinematography. It serves as a wonderful commentary on the social upheaval that America's reactionary, upper crust society was experiencing at the time, and is a good story about personal growth and discovery to boot.

4.00/4.00