Harold and Maude

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

A young man with a death wish and a 79-year-old high on life find love in Hal Ashby's cult black comedy. Deadpan rich boy Harold (Bud Cort) keeps staging elaborate suicide tableaux to get the attention of his mother (Vivian Pickles), but she keeps planning his brilliant future for him instead. Obsessed with the trappings of death, Harold freaks out his blind dates, modifies his new sports car to look like a mini-hearse, and attends funerals, where he meets the spirited Maude (Ruth Gordon). An eccentric to the core, Maude lives exactly as she pleases, with avid collecting and nude modeling among her many pursuits. To the disgust of Harold's relatives and the befuddlement of Harold's shrink, Harold falls in love with her. As lilting Cat Stevens tunes play on the soundtrack, Maude teaches Harold a valuable lesson about making the most of his time on earth. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: PCM Mono
• Features:
  • Widescreen version enhanced for 16 x 9
  • Dolby Digital: English 5.1 Surround; English mono; French mono
  • English subtitles
  • Interactive menus
  • Scene selection
  • Two theatrical trailers

AWARDS

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1971 (Bud Cort)
•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com - 1971 (Ruth Gordon)

• Library of Congress

•     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1997

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Ruth Gordon - Maude
       Bud Cort - Harold Chasen
       Vivian Pickles - Mrs. Chasen
       Cyril Cusack - Sculptor
       Charles Tyner - Uncle Victor
       Ellen Geer - Sunshine
       Bill Lucking - Motorcycle Policeman

• Director:

  Hal Ashby

• Producer:

  Colin Higgins, Mildred Lewis, Charles B. Mulvehill

• Screenwriter:

  Colin Higgins

• Cinematographer:

  John A. Alonzo

• Composer (Music Score):

  Cat Stevens

• Editor:

  Edward Warschilka, William A. Sawyer

• Production Designer:

  Michael Haller

• Set Designer:

  James Cane

• Costume Designer:

  William Theiss

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  William Randall, Richard Portman

• Makeup:

  Bob Stein

• Special Effects:

  A.D. Flowers

• First Assistant Director:

  Michael Dmytryk

• Casting:

  Lynn Stalmaster

REVIEW:

• In his second feature as a director after his Oscar-winning success as an editor, Hal Ashby complements Colin Higgins' script (adapted by Higgins from his own student short) with an affectionately non-judgmental view of quirky behavior and a distaste for institutions of authority. In their deft hands, Harold Chasen may be weird -- but his mother and army general uncle are plain nuts. Paramount appeared nonplussed as to how to market the film, and it opened to scathing reviews and died a rapid first-run death, as few viewers seemed to care for the idea of a youth lusting after a grandmother. But, caught up in a generational revolt of their own, college audiences responded passionately to the message of doing your own thing regardless of what church, state, and Mom say. Harold and Maude became the cult hit of the 1970s, reportedly playing in one Minneapolis theater for three straight years, with fans who claimed to have seen it 100 or more times. With Harold's humorously creative suicides and a screen romance that defines "unique," Harold and Maude was not only a cult sensation but also the kind of innovative, idiosyncratic early-'70s filmmaking briefly made possible in the wake of out-there hits like Easy Rider (1969) and MASH (1970). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi