Harold and Maude, a review by Antares
Harold and Maude
Year: 1971
Film Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Length: 91 Min.
DirectorHal Ashby (1929)
WritingColin Higgins (1941)...Written By
ProducerColin Higgins (1941)
Mildred Lewis
Charles Mulvehill
CinematographerJohn A. Alonzo (1934)
MusicCat Stevens...Song Writer
StarsReview When the term
is mentioned in regards to film most people think of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show or
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but my thoughts turn towards the best of all the
,
Harold and Maude. Released in 1971 and directed by Hal Ashby, the film introduces us to Harold (Bud Cort), a privileged but neglected young man whose fascination with death has morphed itself into an endless series of staged phony suicides for the benefit of his mother (Vivian Pickles). He hopes that she will show him the attention he craves as she once did when an accident at school had Harold presumed dead. By now his mother is used to these
Maude asks Harold,
HAROLD: I don't know. One of these maybe.
MAUDE: Why do you say that?
HAROLD: Because they are all alike.
MAUDE: Oh, but they're not. Look, see... some are smaller, some are fatter...
some grow to the left, some to the right, some even have some petals missing.
All kinds of observable differences.
(Maude picks a daisy)
You see Harold,
I believe much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are this...
(describing the daisy in her hand)
...yet let themselves be treated as that.
(She waves her hand, gesturing to the overflowing field of flowers)
The scene then cuts to the two of them in a military cemetery, surrounded by endless rows of white, homogeneous headstones. As the camera pans back away from the couple, director Hal Ashby uses the metaphor of the daisies to point out, that behind every white tombstone is an individual, unique and full of promise, but whose life was squandered for the sake of political or religious ideologies. It is one of the most powerfully visual anti-war statements ever put on film.
This is not a film I would recommend to everyone, if you are a fan of Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell, it is not a film for you. If
This is Spinal Tap or
Kind Hearts and CoronetsRatings Criterion5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.(From Harold and Maude (1971) on December 14th, 2009)
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June 15, 2025, 09:18:51 PM
