Harold N Maude

Here's my very long analysis of Harold and Maude. Hope you enjoy.

Harold and Maude remains in many ways a timeless film that celebrates life through characters who either are obsessed with death or are very well acquainted with dying and suffering. We are all going to die, and no matter how we embrace or deny that fact, at some point life as we know it ends.

Now isn't that a wonderful way to begin a very long analysis about a very funny and poignant film?

When I reviewed the film here many months ago, I did not write a review that was personal enough. Maybe I was chicken, maybe I was lazy or maybe it just wasn't time for me to write the review I needed to about this film. The review I did write, (included below) is a pretty mediocre (and much shorter) one.

Harold and Maude is a unique one of a kind film. It has very dark and broad humor, but is also a film full of quiet under-stated moments. It is a film that risks everything as it veers away from being a quirky comic character study and focuses on the unique life-changing romance. A romance that was bold, controversial and shocking then and still remains so today. A romance, which still makes viewers very uncomfortable. The film has a memorable soundtrack by Cat Stevens whose song lyrics are used to further the mood, tone and texture of the film. The two original Steven's songs written specifically for the film are DON'T BE SHY and IF YOU WANT TO SING OUT, SING OUT. IF YOU WANT TO SING OUT serves as an anthem for Maude's philosophy of living. Both Hal Ashby and Cat Stevens purposely decided against releasing an official soundtrack album. The film contained several previously recorded Stevens's songs (from Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman), and the two original songs only became available many years later on record and CD (with the exception of an un-official and illegal Japanese soundtrack album)..

This is your last warning. If you haven't seen this cult film classic, stop reading this review right now and go see it Please. Pretty please. You can only see the film with virgin eyes once. If you are interested in a unique quirky, one of a kind comedy that will amuse, shock, and touch you... Harold and Maude will do that and more. Come back and read my review later.

The opening sequence for those watching the film, Harold and Maude for the first time is a shocker. A shocker that twists into a delicious bit of dark comedy. It should be noted that while Bud Court and Ruth Gordon will forever be identified and remembered as Harold and Maude, a great deal of the film's success is also because of the perfect casting and brilliant performance of Vivian Pickles as Harold's Mom. Her impeccable line readings and comedic timing allow the dark humor to have a cruel edge, yet be laugh out loud funny. She is a perfect foil for Harold's suicidal tableaux's. It is her underplayed reactions, which make the comedy even more memorable than it would have been

Harold and Maude was originally written by Colin Higgins to be a half hour Master's thesis film. Instead Higgins expanded it to feature length and quickly sold it to Paramount with an agreement that he would do a test and prove he was capable of directing the film. Higgins did shoot test footage but Paramount decided they didn't want to make a low budget film with Higgins directing but wanted a medium budgeted 1.2 million film made with the material and that required a more seasoned director to direct the film. Higgins would write Silver Streak and finally get his chance to write and direct a film with 1978's Foul Play (Chevy Chase) and 1980's Nine to Five. He also wrote and directed Best Little Who-house in Texas. (Higgins died of Aids in 1988 at age 47)

Director Hal Ashby (The Landlord -1970) was hired to direct Harold and Maude. Ashby had a couple of important strengths, which served the Harold, and Maude project well. Strengths which later became even more apparent with his subsequent films. First was his timing-both comedic and dramatic. Ashby's sense of pace was different from many filmmakers and no doubt developed as a result of his experience being a film editor. All of his best films have a wonderful, unique sense of timing and pace-Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound for Glory and to slightly lesser extent, The LandLord, Being There and Coming Home. He was also able to coax the very best out of his actors (look at what he did for Peter Sellers in Being There, Ruth Gordon and Vivian Pickles in Harold and Maude or David Carradine in Bound for Glory, not to mention the casts of Shampoo, The Last Detail or Coming Home). He needed a strong cinematographer to make his films really sing out visually however. He was able to compose impressive frames, but we can see something altogether different in a film such as Bound for Glory (which was shot by Haskell Wexler). Ashby's downfall was undoubtedly due to changing times which meant he had less control over his films then studio executives and marketing departments did. His delicate sense of timing was lost when non-film-maker committees got involved with the creation of the film as is evidenced with the last film's he made The Sluggers Wife and Eigh Million Ways to Die

Just prior to Harold and Maude's release, Variety declared that the "tasteless film" was unlikely to meet with any box-office success. However many critics found much to like about the unique film. Film Quarterly in 1972 declared the film an important, daring and successful political film that dared to allow the character of Maude to mouth controversial libertarian beliefs. It was viewed and embraced by audiences and some critics as an anti-establishment film and gained a strong cult following that increased, as the film was periodically re-released over the next several years

One of the reasons Harold and Maude works as well as it does is because of its near perfect sense of pacing. Even though a particular scene may be dated and it's satire too obvious the film's internal rhythms and beats never feel forced. It's also easy to forgive a film, whose heart and soul are in the right place. In addition the film contains some surprisingly subtle moments which add an incredible depth and richness to the film. A richness few discover until they have watched the film a few times. What do I mean? I'll explain that later.

Harold and Maude is a film that continually surprises the viewer. It's a film which seems at times to embrace anarchy but then shows us in it's tale of a seemingly death obsessed youth's unique romance with a live for the moment 79 year old woman how precious and