Rating: 
Summary: Then and Now
Review: It's curious to contemplate the value of a scenario wherein a healthy young wealthy man, the best of his life before him, can think of nothing else to do with his resources but fake his own death... in an effort, perhaps, to glean pity from others, or somehow pretend to put an end to his own existence. I first saw this movie when I was an angst-ridden, self-absorbed teen, and I thought it was a terrific story. About 20 years later, I happened to watch it again, and discerned what a genuine loser (throughout most of the film) Harold was. Of course, that idiot mother of his didn't help any, and it was pleasing to see Harold's antics rankle her so. On another note, the actors all did a magificent job in this movie. General Victor Ball's vehement carpet-chewing in one scene was so effective that we accidentally see actor Bud Cort unable to suppress a smile (though when the camera shifted back to his face, Harold was appropriately somber again). Everyone who enjoys movies should see this movie... but be careful what values you take away from it.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny and dark
Review: Being progressive and ...open minded I love this movie because it reminds me of many of the people in my life whom I treasure so much. It is a love story and a reverse of the acceptable older male young girl story. A young man becomes close friends with a woman old enough to be his young grandmother and the friendship deepens and love blooms. The young man meets her at a funeral of all places and in his awkward stage of life where things seem dark and death oriented she (using an Auntie Mame quote) tells him that life's a banquet and he needs to snap out of it and start seizing life by the balls. Needless to say his family finds the friendship odd and getting odder. But he stays the course and in the end he discovers a life he never imagined. Ruth Gordon is a woman I would have loved to have met and would have adopted as a second Mother if the chance had ever arisen, simply because she had spunk and didn't suffer boring people well.
Rating:
Summary: An Uplifting Experience
Review: One day I was feeling down and went to the video store to check out a movie. I came across Harold and Maude and decided to give it a try. When I watched that movie, I laughed, I cried, and I felt so deeply moved. If you haven't seen it, it's hard to explain what makes H&M so wonderful. It's an experience that I think everyone should have. I have forced most of my friends to watch it. Yes, they initially think it's creepy about the age difference between Harold and Maude. Yes, it's difficult convincing college kids to watch a 30+ year old movie. But, when it's over, they too can see what makes Harold and Maude my all-time favorite movie.
Rating:
Summary: a must have for your collection!
Review: Harold and Maude is the kind of movie that keeps your mind going back to it after the film is over. It's kind of Zen like! KIND OF! One of the scenes was filmed near my house (going on the Dumbarton Bridge In Newark,California. The way it looked back in 1971)
Rating:
Summary: Lots to say
Review: Harold and Maude is a very moral story. The audience is asked to analyze what is important to them, and to ignore restrictions that were made by irrelevant powers. It supports the idea of an inner law. People determine the rules for themselves, not a society. It is not a story about death, but truly about living. Harold and Maude's fascination with death is not reminscent of the Addams Family, at all. Maude has a fascination with death because she loves every part of life and the cycle. Harold is interested more because he is still trying to find who he is, and what is important to him. Noone should waste their lives, and Ashby does a wonderful job of showing that. We all need to appreciate what we have, while we fight for what we think is right. We should also always act in a way that we believe is moral, this is different for everyone. This film helps viewers analyze what they should be focusing on in their own lives. It also helps to shatter notions of how things should be. Harold and Maude is a fantastic film that is funny, touching, intelligent, and has a lot to say. This is a movie everyone should see.
Rating:
Summary: I JUST WISH THEY MADE MOVIES LIKE THEY USED TO MAKE
Review: YOU KNOW CLASSICS; LIKE THE "KARATE KID" OR "HAROLD AND MAUDE." I THINK THAT "HAROLD AND MAUDE" IS ONE OF THE GREATEST LOVE STORIES OF OUR TIME.
Rating:
Summary: Takes it's audience too much for granted
Review: I'm puzzled as to why some people have adopted this movie as a life manifesto as it is rather a nasty piece of work. Counter culture perniciousness is never far from the surface and the death stuff is pure 'Addams Family' corn, although undeniably amusing on that level.
Someone here mentioned the curious adoption of an 'Ubermensch' philosophy by Maude reminiscent of her war time captors and I don't know whether or not it was intended ironically. Before the fall she was obviously part of the same bourgeoise. Mind you, Hitler was a bit of a pleb and skint, too. Anyway, does 'aiming above morality' mean lack of responsibility to those closest to you? Despite surely being aware of Harold's emotional vulnerability, Maude does not make her 'saturday' intentions clear to him, other than as a vague reference in passing. The expression on Ruth Gordon's face as an actress while dropping this bombshell to Harold suggests she did not truly believe in this scene or the film as a whole, which uses the smokescreen of eccentricity to excuse Maude's lack of clarity. But since she is clearly articulate on most matters, there is an ambivalence at the heart of this picture. She appears to cruelly lead him on, only to crush him with a bromide. What are we to make of all of this? Even an offbeat film needs to maintain a certain internal logic. Likewise, stealing cars that may have been needed in a life and death emergency leaves a nasty taste. If there is an epiphany here, then I cannot see it.
This lack of internal logic extends to the direction, too. Ashby has great quirky timing but there is also a curious dishonesty at work. On the first date, how could Harold have got out from under those sheets and replaced them with a dummy without the girl in the house noticing? It would have taken exceptional sleight of hand and the director doesn't convince us. Likewise the business with Harold's hand on the second date. He clearly uses his real hands for the mouth freshner but are we then expected to believe he could have somehow slipped a false hand on to his sleave (miraculously lengthened) in front of his guest? This sloppy attitude can be seen in the opening scene. The shot behind Harold's head shows the rope not touching his body. From the other side we clearly see the rope going into his shoulder to support his weight. Also, in a later scene, the motorcycle cop aiming to shoot the fleeing protaganists with a civilian clearly walking into view. Should any of this matter in what is basically a comedy of (bad) manners? I think the film wants it both ways, that is seriousness and silliness, but it doesn't think it has to try too hard. However, if you sacrifice credibility in a style of dead pan realism you will not get away with it. Perhaps someone should have reminded Mr Ashby that comedy is, in fact, a serious business.
The main compensations in 'Harold and Maude' are the little details. The motorcycle cop's trouser problem. The way various vehicles splutter into life and barely get going suggesting the vulnerability of us all in a changing world. Harold's legs in the opening scene and his petulant reaction to furniture obstructing his way. The peculiar pause when Maude asks Harold whether it's wrong to pose nude.
As a whole though, it is distinctly uneven. The 'took my head' scene does not work but the actress scene is absolutely inspired.
This is the archetypal cult movie and beggers the question as to whether films can ever be 'cult' like this again, what with the closure of 'rep' cinemas which traditionally supported these pictures and the ready avaliability of home video. Will the definition of 'cult' simply mean failure at the box office?
The picture quality is reasonable. The chief advantage is the sound which is hugely superior to my video copy.
Rating:
Summary: A Hippie Manifesto
Review: Harold and Maude is neither the cinema's greatest movie, nor is it the worst. Instead, it is a highly original, quirky black comedy that combines inventive characters with a devastating attack on the pillars of America's Establishment. It's no accident that Harold comes from a conformist upper-class family, over which mom presides lavishly, but like a petty demeaning tyrant. Nor is it happenstance that Maude's origins lie outside a youthful US, in an older, more experienced Europe devastated by the death-dealing Holocaust of which she is a survivor. Hers is understood as a life-affirming perspective that has been earned, and stands as the perfect antidote to the zombified Harold, whose soul has shriveled in the midst of repressive norms and repressed instincts. Probably no movie from that rebellious era captures the counter-culture's positive image of itself better than this one. Nor are the forces in conflict more sharply and humorously drawn than the encounters with organized religion, psychiatry, the military, and other of America's domineering institutions. Even at age 80, Maude represents the pure flower child riposte, showing that age is no barrier to affirmative values, while Harold overcomes alienation by at last responding to enlivening people rather than deadening duties. In capsule, we have both the class origin and universal ambitions of that insurgent period, when suburban white kids sought to lead a global parade that would break the shackles that bind us. H&M celebrates that spirit, and while I grow a bit weary of Ruth Gordon's unrelenting girlishness and Harold's hollow-eyed deadpan, they do remain unique and compelling figures. As does the movie, even 30 years later.
Rating:
Summary: Harold and Maude love story......
Review: This is a love story at it's finest. It knows no boundaries, and honesty is what works here. The fact that Ruth Gordon is nearly 80 and the boy is still in his teens says that there can be love for everyone. I believe it could happen, because in our world today, anything can and has happened. Everyone hopes they fall in love completely, someday, and I have found someone younger than me. Not to this extreme, but he is 8 years younger. We have been together for almost 7 years now. He is my rock, my friend, my lover and my guardian angel here on earth.
Rating:
Summary: A cult classic.
Review: I usually don't have a single "favorite" of anything, but this film is overall my favorite movie of all time. Some of this has to do with the time when I first saw "Harold and Maude" (in my sullen late teens), but also because it is just such a mix of fun, sadness and joy, that still moves me to tears every time I see it (despite being rather cynical much of the time, I can still be a sentimental sap as well! :) *Great* soundtrack by Cat Stevens (if you like his music). This film was my first introduction to Cat Stevens, and I still love his music from this film. Overall, "Harold and Maude" is a great, yet unconventional love story, and one that stands the test of time. Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon are magic together. Unfortunately, the DVD picture quality is not very good, and the sound is a bit muddy in spots, but I don't feel that this detracts from the film that much. (Normally I am a somewhat of an audio/video quality snob). It is *much* better than the worn out VHS copies I have viewed in the past. Also, yeah for widescreen! (Full screen "formated to fit your TV" is a MAJOR pet peave of mine.)
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