There's lots to love about this movie. Bud Cort as Harold is sad yet hilarious. Vying for his mother's attention but unable to truly express how he is feeling. There's a playful tone to all the characters but they never veer fully into comedic performances. When Maude is finally introduced it's both funny and intriguing. Harold is drawn to her but not in the usual way. Their age gap is not played for cheap laughs nor as her being a predator. It simply is. They are at different points in their lives but they instantly connect and become companions.It's difficult to explain what makes this all work so well other than on paper it seems like it could be a disaster. Great performances, wonderful songs from Cat Stevens and beautiful to look at. A definite must see. There's nothing else like it.

Several Cat Stevens songs appear in this film which were never released on an album until Stevens' greatest hits albums. The song, arguably debuted by Ruth Gordon about midway, carries the message of the film: "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out". Harold (Bud Cort), the only child of a filthy-rich family, a disturbed college-age youth engages in black-humor episodes: he fakes committing suicide. As the film progresses his suicides become more elaborate, beginning with hanging, but then moving onto drowning and shooting himself. His second "suicide" is so gruesome, his single mother doesn't know what to do with him, so she hires a psychologist who becomes as flustered with Harold as his mother.For fun, Harold buys a used Hearse and attends funerals of people he doesn't know. There he notices Maude (Ruth Gordon), an older woman with the spunk of a 25-year-old. She also likes to attend funerals but she has other habits as well. She likes to steal cars, not the least of which is a Volkswagon Bug driven by the priest at a couple of the funerals. She then starts driving Harold's Hearse after one of the funerals and offers to give Harold a ride home. He explains the Hearse is his car to which Maude replies "Then you should give me a ride home." And so begins a rather quirky relationship between a reclusive youth and an older woman who could make Madonna seem like a fuddy-duddy. At one point she even one-up's a motorcycle cop played by Tom Skerritt.The most insufferable character of the film is neither Harold nor Maude but Harold's mother. Mrs. Chasen (Vivian Pickles) never engages with her son except to be outraged at his suicide episodes. More often she knows what he's up to and simply speaks with him normally when he appears to be "dead". What makes her insufferable is her detachment from him. She decides Harold needs to meet women and she signs him up for a computer dating service. She fills out the questionnaires and chooses the women without his input. At several of the meetings with the "prospects", Harold yet again engages in his "suicides", often with horrific consternation on the part of the dating prospect.Although definitely not for all tastes, "Harold and Maude" has become a cult classic. While there's not really a "plot" per se but more of a character study, themes of death and life permeate the entire story. At film's beginning, we learn that Harold seems to be going through life on autopilot except for his suicide episodes. Because of his interest in funerals, he seems preoccupied by "death". The origin of this compulsion is finally revealed to Maude about 2/3rds through the film. On the other side, Maude is a free spirit and Harold learns that he may need to take risks to enjoy life fully. While I wouldn't recommend trying to outdo a motorcycle cop, the point of Maude's behavior is that we often spend too much time worrying about the approval or disapproval of others instead of just doing those things that let us "be free" as the song goes. In other words, death is the price we pay for living life.

Beautifully weird , twisted and dark with pitch black humour and some serious style and truly lovely chemistry between Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort. I loved the 4th wall breaks and overall attitude that comes with Harold and Maude... some people will be disgusted and put off by the premise and this film doesn't care in the slightness .Apart from a few pacing issues and instances of editing that has clearly aged badly , Harold and Maude is a wild and strange ride of a movie with a big big big (slightly deranged) heart.Honestly, I'm surprised it took me this long to watch Harold and Maude. It's such a fantastically fun film, with some really memorable characters and an atmospheric soundtrack provided by the legendary Cat Stevens.

Being a Minnesotan, we know that this movie ran consecutively for over two years at the Westgate in Edina, 1957 performances. It drove the locals crazy. They wanted another movie to replace it. But on both the first and second anniversaries, Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort came to the showings. The theater is long gone, but I will long remember finally seeing it. This is the story of a young man obsessed with death. He stages phony suicide attempts which drives his mother crazy. One day, he meets an elderly woman, Maude, played by Ruth Gordon. The begin to have a relationship. At first it is just a friendship, but then it is taken to the next step. This drives his family and others crazy, but they are happy with the way things are. This film defies description, but is thoroughly enjoyable.