I thoroughly
enjoy cult movies as well as movies that colour outside the lines and Hal
Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971)
checks off those two boxes with a big fat checkmark. Like many cult movies it
was a commercial failure when first released, which is not too surprising considering
it is a comedy that deals with death, suicide and a romantic relationship
between an 18-year-old man and a 79-year-old woman. Despite the grim subject
matter it is an often funny, and yes, romantic movie.
Unlike cult films
like The Rocky Horror Picture Show I
don’t think there are any midnight showings of Harold and Maude so it took me a while to even hear about it. I
first read about it in Empire magazine
and the premise definitely struck me as unique. You can easily pitch a movie
about superheroes, spies, or romance, but how do you sell a movie about a
senior citizen who steals police motorcycles and a young man who fakes
elaborate suicides? Thanks to good old Netflix I managed to finally see it a
few years ago and now I wish it were playing at a midnight screening just to
see people’s reaction to the movie’s two oddball characters.
First there is
Harold (Bud Cort) a young man living on the American west coast who on paper
should have a sunny disposition since he comes from a wealthy family, but is
obsessed with death. In fact death almost seems to be his hobby given that he drives
around in a hearse, frightens away his dates by faking self-immolation and
attends random funerals. Goth kids would look at this guy’s lifestyle and tell
him to take it down a notch.
While attending a
stranger’s funeral he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon) who seems to be on the opposite
end of his spectrum. Whereas Harold obsesses over the end of life, Maude is
determined to embrace every minute of life whether that means enjoying works of
art, playing music, or stealing a motorcycle from a befuddled police officer
(Tom Skeritt). That last part is obviously illegal, but the advantage of being
Maude’s age is that there is less and less time for her to suffer the
consequences of breaking the rules. Also, let’s imagine for a second in which a
cop is explaining to his superiors how a septuagenarian politely stole his
vehicle with a big smile on her face. I don’t imagine he would to write an
official report for that particular traffic stop.
Drawn to Maude’s
approach to life, Harold forms a relationship with her much to the dismay of
his socialite mother (Vivian Pickles). Like many moms she wishes her son to get
married as soon as possible, hence a the succession of blind dates she sets up
for him. What she fails to understand is that forcing you child to do something
will most often result in them doing the exact opposite. Although in her
defence, not many people would expect a young man to fall in love with a woman
old enough to be his grandmother.
In addition to
its two uniquely quirky characters, Ashby’s film reminds viewers that sometimes
life is not about the destination, but the journey. I recently saw the second
season of the show Fargo in which a
character argues that all actions taken in life are meaningless since we are
all going to die anyway. Maude’s philosophy seems to be that until that moment
comes we should try to enjoy life as much as possible. Not a bad message for a
little cult movie.
Comments
Post a Comment