Harold and Maude (1971)

Directed by Hal Ashby. Starring Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon, Vivian Pickles, Charles Tyner, Cyril Cusack, Ellen Geer, George Wood, Eric Christmas, Tom Skerritt, Shari Summers, Judy Engles. [PG]

Many critics and audiences didn’t know what to make of this irreverently disarming black comedy when it was first released, but in the years since, its playful absurdism and cautiously-toned love story won it a significant following, and is now considered a minor classic of its era. It’s easy to focus on the enormous age difference between the leads (sixty years, to be exact), but rarely have two fictional characters fit quite as “perfectly” as these two. 19-year-old Harold (Cort) is fascinated by death, staging elaborate suicides around his home that his narcissistic WASP of a mother (Pickles) ignores; 79-year-old Maude (Gordon) is enthralled by life, embracing a quirky and carefree existence that lets her make the most of her time on Earth; they both attend strangers’ funerals (for different reasons), meet each other, and bond quickly. The message that Maude bestows upon Harold is facile, and the interrelation of life and death is textbook stuff, but it’s a movie that excels in its askew attitudes, its rebellious behavior, its rapid shifts between human warmth and deadpan folly (to say nothing for the clever writing and cozy performances). Colin Higgins wrote the original screenplay, which was turned into a novel prior to the film’s release. Music by Cat Stevens includes a couple of original tunes (“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out,” “Don’t Be Shy”). Playing a beleaguered motorcycle cop, Skerritt went credited as M. Borman.

88/100