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Harold and Maude

It’s on amazon prime. I watched 5 minutes and it was weird but I wasn’t sure I’d like it. Is it worth the watch?

by Anonymousreply 64June 14, 2020 7:39 PM

Yes, it is somewhat weird, but also excellent . . . Many funny moments and lots of good music . . .

Dark comedy at its best . . .

by Anonymousreply 1November 19, 2019 10:04 PM

There used to be a theater in Boston where it played every day for more than a year.

by Anonymousreply 2November 19, 2019 10:13 PM

Yes, great music too.

by Anonymousreply 3November 19, 2019 10:14 PM

For it's time it was probably more surprising and funny. But you'll have seen that dark humor style a lot in the 80s, and the quirky Indy character thing that got popular in the late 90s and oughts. If Harold and Maude came out today it would be considered predictable and not that funny. It hasn't held up.

by Anonymousreply 4November 19, 2019 10:20 PM

It's wonderful. A classic.

by Anonymousreply 5November 19, 2019 10:23 PM

Eat up your beets, Harold.

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by Anonymousreply 6November 19, 2019 10:30 PM

Vivien Pickles is hilarious in this. Watch it , OP. Thing get very interesting between Harold and Maude.....

by Anonymousreply 7November 19, 2019 10:40 PM

"Do you find wife swapping distasteful?"

"I find the question distasteful."

by Anonymousreply 8November 19, 2019 10:43 PM

Interesting and provocative for the time. But meaningful now for the idea that a young person could love an old woman. Or that old people are interesting. Pre-hypercapitalism world.

by Anonymousreply 9November 19, 2019 10:46 PM

"Harold! That was your LAST DATE!"

by Anonymousreply 10November 19, 2019 10:47 PM

[quote]Vivien Pickles is hilarious in this.

Do you think the sexual revolution sexual revolution has gone too far?

I most certainly DO!

by Anonymousreply 11November 19, 2019 11:25 PM

^ oh, shit - I fucked that up - oh, well.

by Anonymousreply 12November 19, 2019 11:25 PM

I’m watching it now. First time. It took a bit for for me to get into, but now I’m charmed and obsessed!

by Anonymousreply 13December 18, 2019 2:28 AM

My parents took me to see it at a drive in theater, as an 11 year old I found it confusing.

by Anonymousreply 14December 18, 2019 2:30 AM

Hal Ashby's films have all aged rather awkwardly: they're all overlong and only mildly amusing messes. "Harold and Maude" and "Being There" are probably the best of the bunch, but that's not saying much.

by Anonymousreply 15December 18, 2019 2:32 AM

Eh. Almost as lame as Donnie Darko.

by Anonymousreply 16December 18, 2019 2:32 AM

It should be revived with Meryl in the Maude role.

by Anonymousreply 17December 18, 2019 2:35 AM

If you like dark comedy with some heart, do yourself a favor and stick it out; if not, it might be too weird for you. I think it's a brilliant movie. It was my best friend's favorite movie when we were in high school, and I watched it with her a bunch when we were teenagers. I picked up the Criterion Blu-ray edition a few weeks ago when Barnes and Noble was having their 50% off sale. It still holds up.

by Anonymousreply 18December 18, 2019 2:42 AM

How can you even ask this OP you stupid kunt. Yeah and don’t watch Withnail and I.

by Anonymousreply 19December 18, 2019 2:42 AM

FI saw it at a college a few years after it was released. I'd loved Ruth Gordon and expected something great. I found it...meh.

by Anonymousreply 20December 18, 2019 2:52 AM

This movie is why Im to this day obsessed with living in a railroad car !

by Anonymousreply 21December 18, 2019 2:53 AM

Never could finish myself.

by Anonymousreply 22December 18, 2019 2:54 AM

Just finished it on Prime. I loved it ❤️ I’m having feelings about the final scene

by Anonymousreply 23December 18, 2019 3:01 AM

It was unique for its time - and possibly after. But not a great movie or engaging. Thought provoking maybe.

by Anonymousreply 24December 18, 2019 3:11 AM

Tasteful Friends: for a long time as a child I was in love with the idea of Maude living in a refurbished train car.

I wanted one ... and still occassionally do an idle google search for ones for sale.

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by Anonymousreply 25December 18, 2019 3:34 AM
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by Anonymousreply 26December 18, 2019 3:38 AM

IMHO it's one of the best films ever made, incredibly hilarious, and in the end, incredibly profound.

It's one of those films like "Vertigo", where you have to watch it more than once to see what's really going on.

by Anonymousreply 27December 18, 2019 5:04 AM

Like another movie being discussed on DL this week, Eating Raoul, you either get it or you don't. Neither movie goes for cheap laughs, appealing instead to a sense of the bizarre. I think both are still very funny.

by Anonymousreply 28December 18, 2019 5:11 AM

Yes OP

Thousand times yes.

Brilliantly dark movie. The reveal of the tattoo towards the end is incredible.

by Anonymousreply 29December 18, 2019 5:13 AM

The scene where she steals the motorcycle from the cop is my favorite.

As a survivor of the death camps, she knows that cops are just enforcers for the government.

by Anonymousreply 30December 18, 2019 5:16 AM

R15 Perhaps, but I've always had a soft spot for Ashby's films, there's a warmth to them that I really appreciate now. A warmth that doesn't exist in many newer films.

by Anonymousreply 31December 18, 2019 5:19 AM

R15 Yes, I suspect H&M has not aged well. What was so radically "deconstructingly" quirky in the late 60s and 70s, now just seems a waste of time.

by Anonymousreply 32December 18, 2019 5:23 AM

The motorcycle cop is Tom Skerritt credited as M. Borman.

by Anonymousreply 33December 18, 2019 5:23 AM

I just finished watching it for the first time in probably 30 years. What a wonderfully delightful film with both heart and humor. Even though I had seen it before I actually laughed out loud several times. Ruth Gordon was a national treasure. And the soundtrack was so joyful.

by Anonymousreply 34June 13, 2020 4:13 PM

Was there any nudity in it?

by Anonymousreply 35June 13, 2020 4:25 PM

R35, no, but Bud Cort had a surprisingly hairy chest.

by Anonymousreply 36June 13, 2020 4:42 PM

Very quirky, funny, and yeah...moving. It’s probably a little dated and not as bold/transgressive as it was when it came out but worth the watch. I’m afraid to see it again because I’m probably halfway between Harold and Maude agewise now, and I was a teen when I last saw it. I’m sure it would be a different viewing experience in middle age.

by Anonymousreply 37June 13, 2020 5:00 PM

Cute as can be.

by Anonymousreply 38June 13, 2020 5:01 PM

A clip from Harold and Maude including Tom Skerritt's motorcycle cop.

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by Anonymousreply 39June 13, 2020 5:10 PM

I saw it a very long time ago and loved it. I'm afraid to watch it again in case I don't like it. I've forgotten most of it (like living in a train car) but I remember the scene where Harold gives her a ring and she throws it off the pier saying now she'll always know where it is.

by Anonymousreply 40June 13, 2020 5:28 PM

It’s one of my favourite films and I haven’t seen it for a good ten years, so it’s about time again.

I love it when Maude steals Harold’s car and then offers him a lift home in it.

by Anonymousreply 41June 13, 2020 6:04 PM

R2. Cult classic “Harold and Maude played for two years at the Allston Cinema located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston in the 1970s. The theatre became very well known and took on its own celebrity status as home to “Harold and Maude.”

At the first year anniversary of the showing of “Harold and Maude,” Allston Cinema held a special screening and celebration of the film with Ruth Gordon attending as the special guest. I had already seen “Harold and Maude” a couple of times, but I also attended that night and got to meet Ms. Gordon . It was great fun to have hometown girl, Ruth Gordon (originally from nearby Quincy. Mass.), celebrate with the audience, do a Q&A and ‘meet and greet’ at the end of the evening.

“Harold and Maude” is a great film, and both Ms. Gordon and Bud Court gives an outstanding performances. Music by Cat Stevens beautifully adds to the film’s free spirit theme.

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by Anonymousreply 42June 13, 2020 7:25 PM

Charming. Offbeat. Ruth Gordon is terrific - although you will think it's Minnie Castevet from Rosemary's Baby. The music by Cat Stevens adds a lot to the storyline. Loved the movie when I first saw it as a young gayling.

by Anonymousreply 43June 13, 2020 7:41 PM

Go on and finish it. Otherwise, you'll have nothing to talk about in the locker room.

I love H&M for itself, but also because it captured the Bay Area scenes of my youth, including Palo Alto, Atherton, Menlo Park, Redmond City, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, and that incredible national cemetery just south of San Francisco.

by Anonymousreply 44June 13, 2020 7:46 PM

Its biggest problems are its two stars. Bud Cort is flaccid and creepy, and Ruth Gordon is annoying and relies on her Rosemary's Baby shtick.

But Vivien Pickles is hilarious, and deserved an Oscar.

by Anonymousreply 45June 13, 2020 7:56 PM

R42 what was Ruth like?

by Anonymousreply 46June 13, 2020 8:15 PM

Now I want to rewatch other Hal Ashby films, like Shampoo and Being There.

by Anonymousreply 47June 13, 2020 8:23 PM

One of the coolest, sweetest, most profound movies of the early 1970s.

Definitely worth your time.

by Anonymousreply 48June 13, 2020 8:25 PM

The music is so sad.

by Anonymousreply 49June 13, 2020 8:25 PM

I’m sure that when it came out the movie was fresh and funny but I saw it recently and hated every minute of it. I wanted to drown that obnoxious old bitch and that wimpy smartass kid. So fake and stupid and contrived. Why is anyone supposed to care about these selfish, awful people?

by Anonymousreply 50June 13, 2020 8:40 PM

R46. Ruth was delightful, charming, funny, engaging, a lovely wonderful woman who was very appreciative toward everyone who came to celebrate her and the film. She was a great New England dame. It was a night to remember.

by Anonymousreply 51June 13, 2020 8:48 PM

"Like the movie and the novel that preceded it, "Harold and Maude," at the Martin Beck Theater, seeks to make believable the unlikely relationship between a fey octogenarian countess and a suicidal 19-year-old boy. The notion succeeds as make-believe thanks to the light-hearted performance directed by Robert Lewis and to the glowing presence of former film star Janet Gaynor. Miss Gaynor makes her Broadway stage debut as the zestfully moving life force of Colin Higgins' offbeat upbeat comedy."

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by Anonymousreply 52June 13, 2020 8:52 PM

R47 Watch his first film The Landlord. It deals with black and white relations in Park Slope Brooklyn. Something which is very topical today. Peter Bart saw it and thought Ashby would be perfect for Harold and Maude. How right he was.Lee Grant gives a star turn in what garnered her an Oscar nomination. She won for her nomination in Ashby's Shampoo but really deserved one for The Landlord.

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by Anonymousreply 53June 13, 2020 8:59 PM

Pearl Bailey is hilarious in "The Landlord."

by Anonymousreply 54June 13, 2020 9:10 PM

I love saying "Vivien Pickles" as much as I love saying "Fredricka Whitfield"

by Anonymousreply 55June 13, 2020 9:16 PM

Question: does some girl (I forget which character) get killed with a knife, or is it a trick knife? If I recall the camera cut away, and I wasn't sure if she lived or not.

by Anonymousreply 56June 13, 2020 9:18 PM

What about me, r55?

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by Anonymousreply 57June 13, 2020 9:23 PM

[quote] I love saying "Vivien Pickles" as much as I love saying "Fredricka Whitfield"

How about "Imogen Poots"?

by Anonymousreply 58June 13, 2020 9:34 PM

I never liked it. And not just because of the idea of having sex with Ruth Gordon.

by Anonymousreply 59June 13, 2020 9:34 PM

Beau Bridges was super cute in "The Landlord".

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by Anonymousreply 60June 13, 2020 11:26 PM

R59. Why? Harold and Maude is a great, unforgettable film with wonderful performances.

by Anonymousreply 61June 14, 2020 12:56 AM

Ruth Gordon was sublime.

by Anonymousreply 62June 14, 2020 7:40 AM

One of my favorite books is Ruth's An Open Book. It's absolutely charming and evocative of a theatrical era long gone.

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by Anonymousreply 63June 14, 2020 7:11 PM

Absolutely love this movie. It has so many interesting facets and details that can easily be missed unless rewatched ( for example: empty photo frames on her piano - that’s fascinating). Decades later, I still enjoy this movie so much.

by Anonymousreply 64June 14, 2020 7:39 PM
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