Review of Harold and Maude (1971) by Wesley S — 18 May 2010

Harold and Maude review.

Release date 1971.

Mario Alejandro Lopez Jackson McGoober/ 5-17-2010.

Harold and Maude is an interesting film to say the least; the screen play was written in 1971 by Collin Higgins and produced the same year under the direction of Hal Ashby. The film stars Bud Court as Harold, and Ruth Gordon as Maude, there are a few supporting rolls, Harold's mother, a priest but the movie is largely focused on as the title would imply Harold and Maude. The film takes place in the San Francisco bay area but some shots can be identified as areas other that San Francisco. I think this is a great movie and everyone looking for a goofy fun adventure with a good life lesson should watch.

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The plot in this story is basically, Maude and Harold meet and throughout the movie Maude is attempting to teach Harold, who is a depressed teen when we meat him, how to 'live' like she does. The first time we see Maude she is sitting off to the side of a funeral Harold is at, neither of them know the person who died but they both enjoy attending funeral, at the end of the seen Maude tells Harold they should meet again and drives off in a car that we soon find out does not belong to her.

The next plot advancement comes when Harold drops Maude of after a funeral which they meet at. Maude gives Harold a tour of her home, all of her memorabilia, including an umbrella she says she used to defend herself with when she was fighting for the big issues. This is a turning point in the movie. Before this point Harold only wears dark colors and for the most part doesn't talk, but after Maude shows him around Harold realizes he does have a friend in this world, and when his therapist asks if he has any friends he first answers no and hesitantly says yes, after this Harold and Maude are in almost every scene together and Harold even starts to wear lighter white cloths in order to show his mood.

That the same time we are keyed into Maude's way of life, as the two go into Maude's house Harold states his opinion that stealing people's cars is upsetting them. And Maude's response goes a little like, "I'm just a simple reminder to people, here today gone tomorrow so don't get to attached to things." This tells use that Maude is not materialistic and wants other people to be like her, reminding people that there is more in life than materialistic things; she does this by taking whatever car she wants off the street.

Later in the movie we find Harold and Maude sitting on the edge of a highway with a blanket, a rather simple scene but with one short shot that tells us a whole lot. One tiny shot of Maude's arm reviles numbers tattooed on the inside of it. It means she was in a concentration camp back in World War Two, so that umbrella she had hanging up that was for defense while fighting for the big issues was probably the only thing she had during that time, and the issue she was fighting for, most likely would have been fighting a war against the Nazis. This also explains why she lives her life the way she does. She didn't have much then, every day could have been her last so now she takes advantage of life not taking life for granted she wants to 'live' life and doesn't want to have all the materialistic things because she know when you don't have those things, they don't matter, the non material things do, like your family.

After looking at the entirety of this movie I would recommend it to others to view. From the plot development to the outrageous things like stealing cars its all comes together to create a great movie watching experience.

Warning; this movie is not for everyone it does include 'fake' suicide attempts and even a real one unfortunately, which may cause stress to some who have had to deal with such situations in the past. Also there are many instances were sexual themes are implied, from paintings to blowing bobbles in bed with no shirt on, so view with a little bit of caution.