Movie Dissection: Harold & Maude
Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral. (IMDB)
1971 | PG | 1h31m
Harold - Bud Cort
Maude - Ruth Gordon
Director - Hal Ashby
Paramount Pictures
Dark Comedy, Drama, Romance
Explain a film plot badly:
Emo guy falls in love with elderly criminal
One of the best funeral related movies EVER, Harold & Maude was originally a flop. Roger Ebert panned it with a scathing 1.5 out of 4 stars. Luckily, it survived the test of time and graduated to cult classic status. Let’s begin our inaugural movie dissection!
If you’ve never had the pleasure, the movie is a dark comedy about a death obsessed young man learning how to live from a wacky old lady with her head in the clouds. The peculiar Harold lives in a mansion with his socialite mother. He’s rich, bored, and ignored. He creates elaborate fake suicide scenes to try and get a rise out of his mother, but she dismisses them as amateur theatrics and sends him to a psychiatrist. In an effort to normalize Harold, his mother sets him up with women using a dating service. Predictably, Harold terrorizes them into fleeing.
Harold’s other favorite pastime is attending the funerals of strangers. He begins to notice an old woman doing the same. The unlikely pair strike up a friendship after Maude (whimsical car thief) steals Harold’s own car and offers him a ride home. Over the span of a week, Harold absorbs Maude’s free spirited lessons on life, singing, dancing, music, and breaking minor laws. Even though the movie is 50 (!) years old, I’ll refrain from spoilers in this portion of the dissection. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it right now, then come back and continue reading.
Finished? Good. Let’s resume the examination.
How was Harold & Maude born? The movie began as a 20 minute script, written for a UCLA student’s master thesis. Colin Higgins, Hollywood hopeful and literal part-time chauffeur and pool boy, showed the script to his employer. The employer happened to be a producer. He passed the script upwards, where it sold to Paramount Pictures.
Where was Harold & Maude filmed? All around San Mateo County, California. Locations included San Francisco, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, and the delightful cemetery city of Colma. There are scenes at Holy Cross Cemetery and Golden Gate National Cemetery.
Harold’s elaborate fake suicide scenes were prompted by an accident at his school’s chemistry lab. After he accidentally caused an explosion, he surreptitiously disappeared home. The police arrived to notify Harold’s mother of his presumed death, and she collapsed into a overtly staged faint. Mrs. Chasen later became accustomed to Harold’s pranks, responding with “I suppose you think that's very funny, Harold... Oh, dinner at eight, Harold. And do try and be a little more vivacious” and “Harold! That was your last date!” Harold’s gruesome theatrics included:
hanging in the drawing room
exsanguination in the bathtub
drowning in the pool
gunshot to the head
self immolation (fire)
chopping off hand with butcher knife
harakiri (seppuku, disemboweling)
driving off a cliff
The cars are one of the highlights of the film. Not only does Maude steal a variety of random cars, there are also two of the most fabulous hearses ever made. Early on, Harold visits a junkyard and picks up a 1959 Cadillac Superior 3 Way funeral coach. One pass through the car wash restores it to its former glory. At the time of production, the 1959 hearse was not a very desirable car, and was purchased for only a few hundred dollars. People today would sell their own body parts to get their hands on one of these magnificent beasts! Harold’s mother deemed the car to be a monstrosity. She had it taken away and replaced with a cute little Jag.
Harold is appalled by the 1971 Jaguar XKE roadster. He immediately sets to work with a torch, and converts it into a drop dead gorgeous mini hearse. In reality, the movie makers spent six months customizing a 1967 Jaguar XKE 2+2 extended hard top coupe, which was 13” longer than the roadster. It was the only one they built, which made its destruction at the end of the film absolutely devastating. An enthusiast recently recreated Harold’s custom Jag, which you can see here.
Fun fact: Ruth Gordon (Maude) never learned to drive. The hearse had to be towed while she was at the wheel. The dialogue in the scene where she gets pulled over by a police officer is very apt. Officer: License, lady? Maude: I don’t have one. I don’t believe in them. Officer: How long have you been driving, lady? Maude: About 45 minutes.
A few more favorites quotes and moments…
Harold & Maude has so many delightful moments, it’s difficult to include them all. It’s entirely odd and quirky. From the marching band parading past the pallbearers loading a casket into the hearse, to Maude’s obsession with “odorifics,” to Uncle Victor pulling a string on his uniform to make his missing arm salute, every detail seems a treasure.The messages and lessons are heavy handed, but sweet. The morbid twists in this film are not necessarily meant for everyone (the original critics didn’t seem to care for the dark humor or the May-December romance). The actors are more or less caricatures or tropes. None of that diminishes the complete enjoyment I feel when I watch it. I highly recommend that everyone visits the story of Harold and Maude at least once in their lifetime.
What are your thoughts on Harold & Maude? Comment with your rating, your favorite scenes, or questions you’d like to discuss!
