Harold and Maude

"They were meant to be. But exactly what they were meant to be is not quite clear."

1971 1h 32m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🍅

86%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.8

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 1,253🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes●62Metacritic★7.8IMDB · 85,774

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.

“They were meant to be. But exactly what they were meant to be is not quite clear.”

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Cast

Ruth Gordon
Maude
Bud Cort
Harold
Vivian Pickles
Mrs. Chasen
Cyril Cusack
Glaucus
Charles Tyner
Uncle Victor
Ellen Geer
Sunshine Doré
Eric Christmas
Priest
G. Wood
Psychiatrist

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Hal Ashby
Writers: Colin Higgins
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

55 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Hal Ashby, shot by John A. Alonzo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor William A. Sawyer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort and Vivian Pickles carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They were meant to be. But exactly what they were meant to be is not quite clear.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0067185 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Hal Ashby directs. John A. Alonzo behind the camera. William A. Sawyer cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
255 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Hal Ashby, shot by John A. Alonzo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Editor William A. Sawyer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort and Vivian Pickles carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "They were meant to be. But exactly what they were meant to be is not quite clear.".
7IMDB entry: tt0067185 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 18 themes, including "dying and death", "depression", "suicide", "life and death".

The technical file

Cinematography: John A. Alonzo
Editing: William A. Sawyer
Production design: Michael D. Haller
Makeup / hair: Bob Stein
Sound: Richard Portman
Stunt coordinator: Buddy Joe Hooker
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,200,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Harold and Maude (1971)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 62/100
IMDB rating: 7.8/10 · 85,774 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award3 wins & 3 nominations total

Also by

Hal Ashby

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-11-04
★ 7/10
So poor little rich kid "Harold" (Bud Cort) really does like a bit of attention seeking - constantly vying for the recognition of his mother by faking every more outlandish suicide attempts. Things is, she (Vivian Pickles) is pretty impervious to his antics and so he seeks something to alleviate his boredom elsewhere... He starts attending funerals. That's where he encounters the eccentric "Maude" (Ruth Gordon) who also has a penchant for the ceremonies - and for also pinching a car from the cemetery for a bit of a joyride afterwards. As his mother increases her activities in finding him a love match, "Harold" finds himself and his new friend spending more and more time together and he begins to learn that her live today policy is vibrant, exhilarating and contagious! Their bond grows ever stronger as the pair begin to rely more and more on each other, even to fall in love! There's a great dynamic between Cort and Gordon here. She brings out the best in her young acting companion with confident and engaging performances from both delivering a story that is funny, poignant and surreal - in almost equal measure. At times it's a touch on the wordy side, but Pickles is fun as the mother and the whole story is one of interesting characters and truth. It is short and sweet and right from the start we never get to hang around long before the pace picks up again. Great fun.
Filipe Manuel Neto2023-07-07
★ 7/10
Knowing how to live or knowing how to die are virtues, difficult and debatable themes that a film almost never has the courage to address. Harold is a young man, just arrived at adulthood, who has a morbid fascination with death: he drives hearses, goes to funerals for “fun”, rehearses his own suicide a thousand and one times. He will change under the influence of an elderly woman, whose desire to live every moment to the fullest leads her to very incorrect attitudes, such as “borrowing” other people's things without even bothering to ask for them. In a way, both have to learn from each other, and the film shows us this mutual learning process, and the special bond that is created between them. Black comedies are never consensual, as you know, but this one is especially touching and charged with a positive spirit. The film tackles difficult, even hard themes, with a certain spirit of informality and lightness that, however, does not reduce or diminish them: what it means to die, how to live, how to enjoy life or know how to die with dignity, how to educate and understand a child, anyway. For this reason, and due to the dark comic load, it is not an easy film and will displease certain people either because of its humor or because of the themes it addresses. The film has good production values, but still feels very cheap. The film is set in the US, but it's so inherently British that we forget about it and assume it's all set in some rural English corner. We have tasteful cinematography, low contrast and good lighting, we have good sets and costumes. I would particularly highlight the houses of Harold and Maude, because they couldn't be more different and, at the same time, more characterizing their personalities: an old-fashioned mansion turned to the past and a pleasant little house with cozy details. There's nothing very flashy, technically, and the only negative call to attention goes to the soundtrack, strident and overly flashy. I couldn't close this text without praising the impeccable work of Bud Cort, an actor I've never seen before and who doesn't seem to have made much of a career in cinema, and the inspired performance of his counterpart, Ruth Gordon, a high-level veteran who played a huge variety of roles over the next few years.