Starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort
Screenplay by Colin Higgins
Music by Cat Stevens
Directed by Hal Ashby
Running time 91 minutes
USA 1971
Our last movie Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? told the dark and twisted tale of two sisters growing old together unhappily…
Harold And Maude tackles age very differently. Harold is a young man obsessed with death, given to faking his own suicide in the weirdest ways. Ruth is a much older woman who believes in living life to the absolute full - no matter what the consequences. They meet at a funeral, form a bond and together embark on a series of bizarre escapades. When they become lovers it causes outrage all around them…
Hal Ashby’s beautiful, strange and touching comedy is among the finest films of the 1970s and deals with one of the last great sexual taboos. His other work includes Shampoo, The Last Detail and Being There - all wonderful quirky pictures that got under the skin of American life mercilessly lampooning convention and conservatism. Harold And Maude is perhaps his best movie and features flawless performances from Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon as the misfit pair. Ruth Gordon was a talented writer as well as an actress - her scripts included the Hepburn/Tracy comedies Adam’s Rib and Pat And Mike. She deservedly won an Oscar for her mesmerising performance as the sinister neighbour in Rosemary’s Baby.
Harold And Maude is a deeply eccentric film and perhaps the strangest romantic comedy you will ever see…
