Whenever I hear someone say “this was the best movie ever” about a current release – I always want to take my DVD of Harold & Maude and smack them firmly across the forehead. Harold & Maude may not be the "best movie ever”...

if not for many reasons, at least for the sole reason that I for one haven’t seen “all” movies and can therefore not make an accurate assumption.

...but regardless, Harold & Maude is a fine example of dry humor, a love story that is truly about quote/unquote “love”, great music by Cat Stevens – and above all a story that is both entertaining and thought provoking.

It’s the story of two people who throughout the course of time find and fall in love. It’s an uneasy love – which is obvious because of their age difference, but also because they both have one fascination in common.

Death.

They both are intrigued by death. One because they are close to it – and the other because it’s the only peace seen in the world.

Harold is your everyday innocent shy young boy. He lives the life of luxury – but is poor because his mother cares more about what others see than what Harold himself sees. To get her attention he plays elaborate jokes all of which surround death. The movie begins with one such joke as the camera carefully follows Harold around his home. He slowly walks downstairs, lights a few candles, stands on a chair, swings a rope around a beam, and then proceeds to hang himself. His mother walks in a few minutes later and her reaction – well, I won’t completely spoil the moment but it’s unexpected especially if you watch this movie without any further reading of this review. (Which I know if you are reading this it is mute – since I may of just spoiled it – oh, well!).

Throughout the course of the movie, Harold has to deal with his quote/perhaps-unfortunate-quote “mother” who tries to set him up on various dates with beautiful, well-manner women. Harold meanwhile isn’t interested in any of his dates for one day at a funeral he see someone who stands out from the rest of the crowd. It takes one to know one. When he’s not avoiding his mother and the computer dates she set up for him – he’s out living life freely, with what has to be the most quote/quote “free” person ever depicted on film. Maude.

Maude is an older woman, well spoken, but definitely not well-mannered. She’s not rude, per se, just free from everything around her. Free to look at the world, see the world, talk to the world, and talk to those who don’t see the world. She says to a cop, “Don't get officious, you're not yourself when you're officious. That is the curse of a government job.” That very statement encompasses Maude. She has the benefit of age to know and use the word “officious” properly and the guts to stand up to a cop and say, “that’s the curse of a government job.”

Granted, this movie was made in 1971 which was the beginning of the quote/unquote “free 70’s” – where peace and love went hand in hand – but even so, there’s more of a complexity to Maude. Unlike Harold who could say he “grew up in the 70’s” Maude had to have been born way before those times. The 70’s were in fact the last decade of her life – yet it feels like she lived in that period all of her life. Some of us today still live in the 70’s, some of us dye our hair and live in the 80’s, and quite frankly I have no idea what the 90’s or the 00’s represent (perhaps it’s the disconnection of people such as we are here on Epinions.com that define our generation) but it would seem that Maude looked at life in a beautiful way. She saw beauty where ever she went. Some of her actions may have been quote/unquote a “crime” – but then again were they really? See for yourself.

All of the jokes in Harold & Maude are set up perfectly and delivered in a in your face method. There are not really any inside hidden jokes to be found – but still they are jokes that you least expect to see. And, there are many of them to be found. But when life isn’t being made fun of – Harold & Maude’s life is important. They are two souls – who find each other through circumstance – with an ending that will make just about anyone shed a tear. In the end, life goes on.

"well if you want to sing out, sing out."
"and if you want to be free, be free."
"there's a million things to be"
"you know there are."

The names Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort may be completely unknown today – but each perhaps gives the best performance of their life time, even though just their characters were - they were on opposite ends of their careers. The worst thing about Harold & Maude in relation to both Gordon and Cort is that I know it would be hard to look at them as anyone else but Harold & Maude after this movie. Perhaps that’s why Cort was never able to surpass his performance and grow beyond Harold. I’m not sure. All I know is that being that this movie was made in 1971 – Bud Cort should of evolved into one of the greatest actors of this time today. But alas, I didn’t know of him in the 80’s, the 90’s, or today. This is one of the greatest injustices in cinema – right up there with Hitchcock never winning an Academy Award. Or, perhaps right along the same lines as to why none of us know the current day Macaulay Culkin (now 21!). Sometimes our best performances are just too good.

I include this paragraph only because I’m normally the kind of person to raise my nose way up high at the very mention of Cat Stevens. In terms of Harold & Maude I cannot think of another musical soul who could have captured the essence of the movie so perfectly as Cat Stevens. Perhaps it’s not only what Stevens’ said during this musical inter-logs, perhaps it’s also the way in which the director chose to use his songs – but whatever the case may be, his songs bring light and life to the movie and act as a third party to the story of Harold & Maude. It’s very rare to see the perfect fit of soundtrack songs and movie quote/unquote “action” take place. But Harold & Maude is that prefect combination.

Overall, whenever I see a comedy, whenever I see a social issue movie or a movie that tries to perfectly blend together soundtrack songs and story or a daring social issue – I always look back on Harold & Maude and try to make some sort of a comparison. It may be ill to do so, but the only evidence I can give is – in a time in my life, I never laughed so hard, loved so hard, and felt so hard all at the same time. There was no care about who the actors were – until after I researched who they were. That is perhaps the beauty of quote/unquote “old” movies. We don’t have to wonder what they will do next, who they will date next, or what they will wear or say at the next red carpet. We only have their performance to see. And to react to. Perhaps that why Harold & Maude and perhaps all of the other quote/unquote “best movie(s) ever” will be justified in the years to come.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older