Harold and Maude (1971)

Long a gap in my viewing experience, director Hal Ashby's black comedy Harold and Maude was a very pleasant surprise. Part of my cinematic to-do list is viewing the films detailed in Danny Peary's Cult Movies books. Absolute reading gems by the way, dear reader, and highly recommended. Still, the task could become a tick-the-box exercise on any given film – in the case of Harold and Maude it brought some real movie magic. Let's dive into this delightful dark sweetness and see what comes to light.

Baby-faced young man Harold Chasen lives a life of unfulfilled wealth and ease with his cold and commanding mother. Harold's only pleasure in life seems to be staging elaborate suicides, resulting in fake deaths which, while not convincing his mother one iota, nonetheless leave her more and more disturbed and looking for psychiatric help for her hearse-driving son.

Another of Harold's pleasures is attending the funerals of strangers. Joining in this odd hobby is the soon-to-be eighty years-old Maude Chardin, a free spirit who loves stealing cars, singing and dancing and living life to the full. Despite their polar opposite personalities, the strange pair appear to hit it off, and begin to fall in love. This is contrary to the wishes of Mrs Chasen, who continues to try to match Harold up with multiple clueless - and weird in their own way - women of his own age.

The May-December romance continues to escalate, and becomes physically intimate. Harold couldn't be happier but Maude, who has already revealed a concentration camp tattoo on her arm, has a sadder side and her own plans for her looming eightieth birthday. Will their relationship survive, and will Harold continue to open up to life under Maude's influence?

Ashby's little masterpiece struck me on a few different levels. No-one seems to wax lyrical about how beautiful the film looks but John Alonzo's Technicolour cinematography absolutely pops with colour. There's a kind of soft mistiness to the film which I adore – you can often see it in John Boorman's films like Zardoz and Excalibur. Cat Stevens' music throughout is such a folky time capsule and provides the warmth that Harold seems to be looking for. Maude even mangles one of his songs in her own inimitable way but it's a key narrative point!

It's interesting to note that, from a 2026 viewpoint, Harold and Maude is about an archetypal "Manic Pixie Dream Girl". But only up to a point – then Maude reveals what she's been planning all along and pulls the rug out from under us. Who was the real Maude? The zany car thief or the weeping Holocaust victim? Acting-wise Ruth Gordon is flawless with the character, as given in the script. Vivacious, full of life, sexy at 79 and totally nuts, Maude is an unforgettable character. We can understand Bud Cort's Harold falling for her.

Cort is also a standout as Harold. His pale, lifeless boy-face gradually gains colour and expression under Maude's influence, and we're finally left with a character who can sing, dance, do somersaults and embrace life anew. Vivian Pickles as Harold's mother is a broad performance that helps us understand Harold's frustration even as she tries to drag him into 'normal' society life. Charles Tyner plays comic relief character General Victor Ball, Harold's uncle who is recruited into bringing his errant nephew into the army. This does not go well. The general is memorable for having a saluting prosthetic arm which appears to be a piece of folded cardboard with a string attached.

Generally thought of as a "black comedy", Harold and Maude probably does fit that category particularly well. Death, both fake and real, is definitely the stream running through the story. Harold loves staging fake and at times bloody suicides, attending funerals and driving a hearse. This viewer did enjoy the humour though – Maude's love for car theft provides several funny gags. I particularly liked the couple's encounter with a motorcycle cop which culminated in Maude stealing his bike. Nothing stops Maude! As I mentioned earlier, this film is dark and sweet in equal measure.

If I have any reservations about the film, it's that it all wraps up very quickly. At an hour and a half we don't have time to dwell on anything, and the final scenes whiz by at a frantic rate. I would have liked to explore Maude's motivations a bit more, but maybe it's better that they're enigmatic. Maude drops hints at what's going to happen, but that's all we get. I would have liked to spend more time with this oddball couple – I guess that's a good sign that the film's provided an engaging set of characters.

Definitely recommended on a number of fronts, Harold and Maude, for me at least, succeeds on virtually every level. Visuals, music, script and performances are all top-notch and I'll be watching this one again, down the track. There's nothing really as odd and adventurous as this in the mainstream cinema of the 2000s and that's a pity. We need mainstream cinema, not just the independent type, to grow some courage and put out original content that pushes the boundaries and makes us think. Still, things cycle around over time and who knows, maybe we'll see characters like this on the big screen again. Here's hoping!

Do have a pleasant evening.