Skip to main content

Wednesday Movie - Harold and Maude

Harold is baby-faced young man obsessed with death. His family is horribly rich and Harold, lacking the need or desire for a job, is mostly employed with faking his suicide—hanging, shooting, or disembowelling himself as the mood takes him. His performances are all for the benefit of his superWASP, ice cold mother, but she has grown so used to his behaviour that she can do laps beside his apparently drowned corpse without breaking stride.

Maude is days short of eighty but more full of life then anyone Harold has ever met. She’s exuberant, irreverent, and quite literally wants to make every moment count. She’s also a car thief a drives a mile a minute.

Natually, Harold and Maude become lovers.

Whoa, whoa—simmer down! Don’t run away. This isn’t Basic Instinct or anything. Beyond a few kisses and a suggestive fade-to-black, there’s nothing all that sexual in the movie. Unless you see the Director’s Cut—now that shit’s crazy! Frottage, auto-erotic asphyxiation; let’s just say there are some things you see that you can’t unsee.

There’s not a lot more to the movie than their slowly growing relationship. Harold’s mother, tired of his antics and of having him underfoot, tries to set him up with women through computer dating (and it’s 1971, so we’re talking punch cards and room-sized mainframes.) Harold’s uncle, a decorated hero and war amputee, tries the lure of the army, but Harold's section eight act keeps him out of the military. So he’s left alone to fall in love with Maude. Of course, everyone assumes it’s an Oedipal thing, but they’re quite honestly and naturally in love.

I really enjoyed this movie. There are some flicks that try to hard to be wacky. The Big Lebowski was like that for me. Wouldn’t it be crazy if there were these random German nihilists, and Julianne Moore flew in naked on a zipline and made art, and there was this weird cowboy narrator? With Harold and Maude, it doesn’t seem contrived. It’s as if you’ve fallen into this universe where everyone is just slightly askew.

What amazes me is that I’d never even heard of this movie until it was mentioned off-hand in There’s Something About Mary, and even then I didn’t actually know what it was about until two or three years ago. What’s also weird is that the actors in these Wednesday movies are strangely connected. Ruth Gordon (Maude) was also the noisy neighbour/pal o’ Satan in Rosemary’s Baby. Bud Cort (Harold) also plays Radar O’Reilly in the movie version of MASH (which I haven’t got to yet, but is certainly on the master list.)

Big thanks to Isha for loaning me this one, and for getting me into Arrested Development—which is the best show ever. If you haven’t seen that show, you have to do something about it right now. Rent, buy, steal, kill kill kill!

Or maybe just rent.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That crazy Isha.
Always getting people hooked on crack..er..I mean movies.

Cool review, Manus. I should probably check this one out.

I still need to see Crash.

Good thing you're the one reviewing the movies. I'd never get the damned articles posted.
Beth said…
Being the innocent person that I am, I had to look up what Frottage means... but it turned out to be not nearly as nasty as what I was expecting.
Dave said…
I bet if Michael Hutchence died during frottage you'd know what it was.
Isha said…
I'm glad you enjoyed the movie and decided to make it your Wednesday review.

The best line is right at the beginning. Harold has just tried to hang himself, and his mother says "Dinner at 8, Harold. And do try and be a little more vivacious."

By the way, I just bought and finished watching season two of Arrested Development. I didn't think it possible but it's funnier than the first season. Pure genius. You are welcome to borrow it any time.
Anonymous said…
Damn you Dave!

You're hogging all the Beth and Isha comments!

Bastard.
Dave said…
Dude, don't beg. It demeans us both.
Jay said…
I still haven't found a rental store up here. Sheesh. I think I'm not looking very hard though. We did go see Wallace & Gromet, which is probably not a classic yet.
Anonymous said…
Wow, you must be in the NEWEST part of Markham, because there are rental stores on every streetcorner in other parts.

:(
Omeaux said…
d00d, Scott Baio is on Arrested Development now....

How many girls wanted Charles in charge of them....hm?
Dave said…
Who wouldn't want Charles in charge of their days and their nights?
Anonymous said…
If you are interested in movies So visit mymovisin and find better way.

biggboss15 season is very popular Indian Tv show. The biggest salman khan television shows, Bigg Boss is back with yet another enthralling season.

colors tv bigg boss
Movierulz4
Movierulz4 or 4movierulz is like a black market of movies. The official domain is named: movierulz.com. 

Popular posts from this blog

I should add...

... that two people were instrumental in my joining Twitter. First, Isha . She sent out an article on it when the application was still brand new. (And I remember thinking, "Screw that noise. Like I need more online commitments.) Second was Rebecca . She joined up just a short while ago, claiming she hadn't met a bandwidth she didn't like . (And then she disappeared entirely from the internets .) It looked nice and pretty over there on her sidebar, and then I got a little jealous. The rest: history. And for those unobservant among you ( Jorge ), the Twitter feed is right there on my sidebar, replacing the old Radio 3 player that I loved, but that I think scared the bejezus out of a lot of people. Also, everyone should join Twitter. I'm needing some diversions , people.
Change Two: Drink More Water Such a simple thing, yet something I just can't seem to find the time to do. About the only water I drink in your average day is whatever sweat happens to trickle off my mustache. Hydration (so the smart people tell me) is a good thing. I'm less fatigued when I drink water. I'm less hungry when I drink water. I'm even less grumpy when I drink water. I promise you nothing especially impressive. Eight glass a day ain't gonna happen. I'm shooting for two on average; two trendy, metallic, not gonna bleed Bisphenol A into my system bottles of water. I know were off to a rip-roaring start, what with the list-making and the hydration, but I'll try to get crazier with future changes. Stuff like: go to work drunk more, and buy a pair of leather pants. For now, let me ease into it.

Discuss Amongst Yourselves - January 30th, 2006

In case you don’t read my comments (and if not, you’re nuts cause that’s where all the good stuff is), Courtney has just declared herself movie illiterate. So, if you had to recommend five essential movies that everyone should see, what would they be? Let me stress: only five. For those of you with break-the-rules tendencies (like--I dunno--just picking a name out of the air... Jorge ?), your comment gets chucked out. Give’r.