Not surprisingly, Harold and Maude was a box office dud when first released. Paramount didn't know how to market the film, which lovingly depicts a romance between a withdrawn, death-obsessed young man and a free-spirited woman sixty years his senior. The movie eventually found a cult audience among college students, with some art theaters showing the film weekly for years. The relationship between Harold (Bud Cort) and Maude (Ruth Gordon) is surprisingly natural and affecting. That was primarily due to the direction and casting, with both Cort and Gordon excellent in their roles. Maude's character is deepened through hints that she has seen tragedy and suffering at times during her long life, which she has overcome with time and her optimistic nature.

Summary by Brian Koller

SPOILER ALERT. This film is a life-affirming delight. I was charmed seeing it for the first time 30 years after its release. Parts are dated, but overall it holds up very well. The themes are not terribly original, but it feels fresh due to some of the twists. For example, I was quite shocked by Harold and Maude's relationship. I expected a friendship and never expected it to turn physically romantic. Although Maude has this great zest for life and the need to break the rules, I thought she would show decorum in their relationship. I was wrong, and that was one of the twists that took this into original territory. The other twist was the ending which seems to have left many people confused. Many people have said they thought her final action was contradictory to her philosophy of life, but it wasn't. There are many times she makes references that foreshadow the ending. She makes a remark that you're living life at 75 but only marking time at 85. She frequently talks about the great circle of life. She talks about how she loves the smell of earth, and earlier how she'd like to come back as a sunflower. She also makes a couple of references to her 80th birthday, and how that will be the end. All of these remarks are part of her constant torrent of dialogue, and it's easy to miss some or all of them.

One criticism of this film would be that it's not terribly subtle, but there are subtle moments. The best was when there's a quick flash of the numeric tattoo on Maude's forearm. This quick flash explained many of her previous arcane references to her earlier life where she hinted at great tragedy. The direction in this scene is flawless. There's no closeup of the tattoo, and it's never mentioned--I'm not sure Harold even sees it or recognizes it. By showing it very briefly in a standard shot, it becomes very powerful.

The scene where Harold's aristocratic mother fills out the personality questionaire for Harold is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. She answers half of the questions for Harold and half for herself. She's completely oblivious to the fact she's emasculating and denigrating him in this scene, just as she's oblivious to everything about her son. Vivian Pickles was excellent in this role.

Since Harold and maude met at several funerals before they started their friendship, I expected the film to end with Maude's funeral. I thought this would serve as Harold's cure for his obsession with death, which was caused by his desire for his mother's attention. This is kind of what happened. It did end with a figurative funeral for Harold's death-obsessed personality but no funeral for Maude. This was another twist that took an obligatory scene and morphed it into something slightly different, and I appreciate everything that avoids the obvious patterns.

Overall, this is a fun, funny film that helps drive home the fact that we're given a very short time to live our lives, and we need to enjoy it as much as possible. --Bill Alward, July 7, 2001