Harold and Maude (1971)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I watched Harold and Maude when it came out in the 70's and I will NEVER forget it for every worthwhile reason! The personalities of those two were loaded and bursting at the seams with a uniqueness so special you would blessed to meet just one person that original in a lifetime and they found each other. Good people to me and hilarious! You must see it! Your life can only be made better for it! Truly!

For the young public, a film with the versions of Elijah Wood and Bette Middler. absurde, hilarious, eccentric. in fact, one of the magnificent love stories. impressive, touching, sensitive, great. because it is a love story with life. a form of self discover, using the solitude, an unconventional friendship and the legacy of an old lady for who to live is more significant than to be. the fresh air of this film remains lovely each time. not surprising - it represents the key /note/originality defining it in profound sense. so, a masterpiece. because, for a part of its public, it represents the right answer to so many questions.

I've been choosing movies from 'best of' lists on the internet. This eclectic method is fraught with widely varying opinions that may not reflect your own, and doesn't necessarily cull out the dross.HAROLD AND MAUDE is not dross, yet it is not the high art some would have you believe. It's an inoffensive, entertaining story nevertheless, and most of the action held my attention throughout. I had absolutely no idea how old this film was, though this historical factor merely made the subject matter more interesting.Harold is hard to identify with as a super-rich, attention-deprived, depressed and lonely man-child. Maude is a hyperactive, unconventional, kleptomaniac. As a holocaust survivor we are supposed to forgive the fact she steals whatever she wants while spouting truisms. I presume we're supposed to take away the message that life holds many wonders as long as we don't waste time trying to fit in or observe social norms. Unfortunately, style overrides substance and this movie fails to deliver its metaphors effectively.Both Harold and Maude were well acted in a deliberate over-the-top manner. The direction and writing is also very good. They must have bought the rights to Cat Stevens' entire album and I liked these touches of 70's culture as they popped up here and there. Overall HAROLD AND MAUDE is too clever for its own good but an entertaining watch.

Harold and Maude was one of the all too rare film experiences in which I immediately added it to my monthly film schedule without knowing anything about it. I knew nothing of what the 1971 film was about but had heard so much about it and was aware of its legacy as somewhat of a cult classic, so I took the chance to include it on my watchlist. I really enjoy going into a film blind, but it simply doesn't get to happen that often. Hal Ashby's film about the attraction of opposites caught me by surprise, and I am grateful for it.Harold (Bud Cort) is a 20-year-old who seems to be afraid of the future, so afraid in fact that he spends a majority of his time thinking of and staging his own death. In his spare time, when he's not "committing suicide" in front of his mother, Harold attends funerals. At one of the funerals he attends, Harold meets Maude (Ruth Gordon) a 79-year-old woman with a thirst for life. Harold is stunned upon meeting his polar opposite that one can enjoy and find such fulfillment in a temporary state that appears so pointless. Maude is able to expose Harold to the world that has previously been closed to him by his mother who is too busy planning Harry's life to take interest in what he wants to do. The more time Harold and Maude spend together, the more complicated their relationship becomes. Harold has fallen in love with Maude and wishes to be with her over the women his mother attempt to set him up with. Maude, however, has been keeping a secret from Harold, that has devastating consequences for the both of them.Granted, I had no expectations for this film, however, if I had expectations they could have only been exceeded. Harold and Maude is a brilliant coming-of-age tale and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to see it. In a Woody Allen-esque film, Harold and Maude deals with death and the pointlessness of life in a beautiful way. There is no happy ending to life. Every good thing we experience is temporary, as we all eventually die. The narrative of Harold and Maude doesn't ignore this fact and the audience is the better for it. In an ending reminiscent of a personal favorite, Jules and Jim, Harold and Maude is a breathtaking portrait of two different individuals and their perception on the temporary state that life is.