Harold and Maude is a 1971 Americanromanticblackcomedy-drama film directed byHal Ashby and released byParamount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor andexistentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chasen (Bud Cort), a young man who is intrigued with death, and who rejects the life his detached mother (Vivian Pickles) prescribes for him. Harold develops a friendship, and eventual romantic relationship, with 79-year-old Maude (Ruth Gordon) who teaches Harold about the importance of living life to its fullest.

Harold and Maude
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hal Ashby
Written by	Colin Higgins
Produced by	Colin Higgins Charles B. Mulvehill
Starring	Ruth Gordon Bud Cort Vivian Pickles Cyril Cusack Charles Tyner Ellen Geer
Cinematography	John Alonzo
Edited by	William A. Sawyer Edward Warschilka
Music by	Cat Stevens
Production companies	Mildred Lewis and Colin Higgins Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	December 20, 1971 (1971-12-20) (United States)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.2 million (est.)[1]

The screenplay byColin Higgins began as his master's thesis for film school. Filming took place in and around San Francisco andSan Mateo, California, with locations including bothHoly Cross Cemetery andGolden Gate National Cemetery, the ruins of theSutro Baths,Mori Point, and Rosecourt Mansion inHillsborough, California.

Critically and commercially unsuccessful when first released, the film eventually developed acult following, and first made a profit in 1983.^[1][2] The film was selected for preservation in theNational Film Registry in 1997, and was ranked number 45 on theAmerican Film Institute list of100 funniest films of all time in 2000.The Criterion Collection released a special-edition Blu-ray and DVD in 2012.^[3]

Harold Chasen is a young manobsessed with death. He stages elaboratefake suicides, attends funerals (usually for people that he does not know), and drives ahearse, all to the chagrin of his self-obsessed, wealthy socialite mother. His mother sends Harold to apsychoanalyst, sets him up with blind dates, and buys him aluxury car, all schemes he subverts in his own way.

Harold meets 79-year-old Maude one day while at a random stranger'sfuneral Mass, and discovers that they share a hobby. Harold is entranced by Maude's quirky outlook on life, which is bright and delightfully carefree in contrast to his morbid demeanor. Maude lives in a decommissionedrailroad car and thinks nothing of breaking the law; she is quite skilled atstealing cars and will swiftly uproot an ailing tree in a city sidewalk to replant it in the forest. She and Harold form a bond and Maude shows Harold the pleasures of art and music (including how to play thebanjo), and teaches him how to make "the most of his time on earth."

Meanwhile, Harold's mother is determined, against Harold's wishes, tofind him a wife. One by one, Harold frightens and horrifies each of his appointedcomputer dates, by appearing to commit gruesome acts, includingself-immolation,self-mutilation, andseppuku. His mother attempts to enlist him in the military by sending Harold to his uncle, who lost an arm serving underGeneral MacArthur inWorld War II, but Harold deters the recruitment by staging a scene where Maude poses as apacifist protester and Harold seemingly murders her out of militaristfanaticism.

As Harold and Maude grow closer, their friendship blossoms into a romance. Holding her hand, Harold discovers a number tattooed on her forearm, indicating Maude survived theNazi death camps. Harold announces that he will marry Maude, resulting in disgusted outbursts from his family, analyst, and priest. Unbeknownst to Harold, Maude has been planning to end her own life on her 80th birthday. Maude's birthday arrives, and Harold throws a surprise party for her. As the pair dance, Maude tells Harold that she "couldn't imagine a lovelier farewell." When Maude reveals that she has taken anoverdose ofsleeping pills and will be dead by midnight, Harold rushes Maude to the hospital. However, she succumbs to the pill overdose. Devastated after learning of Maude's death, Harold speeds down a country road and sends his car off a seaside cliff, appearing to have died by suicide. Following the crash, Harold is revealed to be standing calmly atop the cliff, holding his banjo. After gazing down at the wreckage, he plucks the banjo strings and dances away to "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out".

• Ruth Gordon as Dame Marjorie "Maude" Chardin, a 79-year-old free spirit. Maude believes in living each day to the fullest, and "trying something new every day". Her view of life is so joyful that, true to the film's motif, it crosses a blurred, shifting line into a carefree attitude toward death as well. Little is known of her past, though it is revealed that in her youth, she was a radicalsuffragette who fought off police constables with her umbrella, was once married, lived in pre-war Vienna, and has aNazi concentration camp tattoo on her arm.
• Bud Cort as Harold Parker Chasen, a young man who is obsessed with death. He drives a hearse, attends funerals of strangers and stages elaborate fake suicides. Through meeting and falling in love with Maude, he discovers joy in living for the first time.
• Vivian Pickles as Mrs. Chasen, Harold's opulently wealthy mother, is controlling, snooty and seemingly incapable of affection. Hoping to force him into respectability, Mrs. Chasen replaces Harold's beloved hearse with aJaguar (which he then converts to a miniature hearse), and sets up several blind dates (more accurately, "bride interviews") for her son.
• Cyril Cusack as Glaucus, the sculptor who makes an ice statue of Maude and lends them his tools to transport a tree
• Charles Tyner as General Victor Ball, Harold's uncle who lost an arm in the war and now pulls a hidden cord to make his wire prosthetic "salute". At Mrs. Chasen's request, he attempts to prepare Harold to join the armed forces. The effort is thwarted by a planned stunt in which Harold appears to "kill" Maude.
• Ellen Geer as Sunshine Doré, Harold's third blind date who performs an impromptu rendition ofJuliet's death scene after his mock suicide
• Eric Christmas as the priest
• G. Wood as Harold's psychiatrist
• Judy Engles as Candy Gulf, Harold's first blind date, alarmed when he apparently sets himself on fire
• Shari Summers as Edith Phern, Harold's second blind date, astonished when he apparently cuts off his own hand
• Tom Skerritt (credited as "M. Borman") as the motorcycle officer who twice stops Maude and Harold, ultimately losing his ride to the pair.^[4]

DirectorHal Ashby appears in an uncredited cameo, seen at apenny arcade watching a model train at theSanta Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

UCLA film school student Colin Higgins wroteHarold and Maude as his master's thesis. While working as producer Edward Lewis's pool boy, Higgins showed the script to Lewis's wife, Mildred. Mildred was so impressed that she got Edward to give it toStanley Jaffe at Paramount. Higgins sold the script with the understanding that he would direct the film, but he was told he was not ready after tests he shot proved unsatisfactory to the studio heads. Ashby said that he would only commit to directing the film after getting Higgins' blessing, and took Higgins on as a co-producer so he could watch and learn from him on the set.^[5] Higgins says he originally thought of the story as a play. It then became a 20-minute thesis while at film school. The film script was turned into a novel and then a play, which ran for several years in Paris.^[6]

Ashby felt that the actress portraying Maude should ideally be European and his list of possible actresses includedPeggy Ashcroft,Edith Evans,Gladys Cooper, andCelia Johnson, as well asLotte Lenya,Luise Rainer,Pola Negri,Minta Durfee, andAgatha Christie.^[7] Ruth Gordon indicated that in addition, she heard thatEdwige Feuillère,Elisabeth Bergner,Mildred Natwick,Mildred Dunnock, andDorothy Stickney had been considered.^[8]

For Harold, in addition to Bud Cort, Ashby considered all promising unknowns,Richard Dreyfuss,Bob Balaban, andJohn Savage. Also on his list wereJohn Rubinstein, for whom Higgins had written the part, and then-up-and-coming British singerElton John, whom Ashby had seen live and hoped would also do the music.^[9] Anne Brebner, the casting director, was almost cast as Harold's mother, when Vivian Pickles was briefly unable to do the role.^[10]

Principal photography began in late December 1970 and concluded in mid-March 1971.^[11] Filming took place in and around San Francisco andSan Mateo, California,^[12] including locations such asHoly Cross Cemetery inColma (Harold catches his first glimpse of Maude at a funeral),^[13]St. Thomas Aquinas Church inPalo Alto (the church funeral where Harold first meets Maude),^[14]Oyster Point Boulevard inSouth San Francisco (Maude's railroad car),^[15] an abandoned warehouse at theSouthern Pacific Railroad Bayshore Yard inBrisbane (Glaucus' studio),^[16]Half Moon Bay,^[13]Golden Gate National Cemetery inSan Bruno,^[17]Redwood City (Maude rescues a street tree to be transplanted to the forest),^[18] theDumbarton Bridge (a motorcycle officer pulls over Harold and Maude on their way to replant the tree),^[19]Sutro Heights Park (Harold rides in a limousine and walks with Uncle Victor) and the ruins of theSutro Baths (Maude poses as a protester and later falls through a hole to her apparent death) in San Francisco,^[20] theEmeryville mudflats (Harold discovers Maude's concentration camp tattoo),^[21]Oakland,^[22] theSanta Cruz Beach Boardwalk (amusement park),^[23]Peninsula Hospital inBurlingame (Maude is hospitalized),^[24] andMori Point inPacifica (Harold drives his car off a cliff).^[25] For the Chasen mansion, scenes were shot at Rosecourt Mansion inHillsborough, California.^[26][27] According to Ashby, there were some issues securing the location becauseOtto Preminger had previously filmed in the Hillsborough area and had antagonized the local residents.^[28]

A novelization by Higgins was released alongside the film; they differ in several respects, including the film's omission of certain scenes and characters. Other different details include the novel's version of Maude having white hair (unlike Gordon in the film) and introducing herself as "the Countess Mathilde Chardin", a different name and title than used in the film. In the novel, Maude's home is characterized as a "cottage" (unlike the retired railroad car Maude inhabits in the film), and she and Harold briefly interact with Maude's neighbor, Madame Arouet, who is not present in the film. The novel includes an additional scene during the tree-planting expedition where Maude leads Harold in climbing to the top of a very tall pine tree to show him the view over the forest from near its summit.

Harold and Maude was released with a vague, text-only poster and very little marketing. The initial releaseunderperformed at the box office, but it gradually found success inrepertory theatres and recouped its costs after several years.^[29]Danny Peary, author of theCult Movies series, referred to the film as "[o]ne of the runawaycult favorites of the seventies" and commented that it "[broke] longevity records in cities like Detroit, Montreal, and most memorably, Minneapolis, where residents actually picketed the Westgate Theater trying to get management to replace the picture after a consecutive three-year run."^[30][31]

The Criterion Collection releasedHarold and Maude for Region 1 onDVD andBlu-ray on June 12, 2012, including a collection of audio excerpts of Ashby from January 11, 1972, and of screenwriter Colin Higgins from January 10, 1979, a new video interview withYusuf/Cat Stevens, a new audio commentary by Ashby biographer Nick Dawson and producer Charles B. Mulvehill, and a booklet which includes a new film essay byMatt Zoller Seitz. Exclusive to the Blu-ray edition are a new digital restoration of the film with anuncompressedmonaural soundtrack and an optional remastered uncompressed stereo soundtrack. Other exclusives are aNew York Times profile of Gordon from 1971, an interview from 1997 with Cort and cinematographer John Alonzo, and an interview from 2001 with executive producer Mildred Lewis.^[3][32][33]

At the time of its release,Harold and Maude received mixed reviews, with several critics being offended by the film'sdark humor.Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half out of four stars. He wrote, "And so what we get, finally, is a movie of attitudes. Harold is death, Maude life, and they manage to make the two seem so similar that life's hardly worth the extra bother. The visual style makes everyone look fresh from the Wax Museum, and all the movie lacks is a lot of day-old gardenias and lilies and roses in the lobby, filling the place with a cloying sweet smell. Nothing more to report today. Harold doesn't even make pallbearer."^[34]

Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times also panned the film, stating that the actors "are so aggressive, so creepy and off-putting, that Harold and Maude are obviously made for each other, a point the movie itself refuses to recognize with a twist ending that betrays, I think, its life-affirming pretensions."^[35]

The reputation of the film has since increased greatly. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Hal Ashby's comedy is too dark and twisted for some, and occasionally oversteps its bounds, but there's no denying the film's warm humor and big heart."^[36]

In 2013, theWriters Guild of America ranked the screenplay number 86 on its list of the "101 Greatest Screenplays" ever written.^[37]

InSight & Sound's2012 "Greatest Films of All Time" poll,Niki Caro,Wanuri Kahiu, andCyrus Frisch voted forHarold and Maude. Frisch commented: "An encouragement to think beyond the obvious!"^[38]

In 2017,Chicago Tribune critic Mark Caro wrote a belated appreciation, "I'm sorry,Harold and Maude, for denying you for so long. You're my favorite movie once again."^[39]

At the29th Golden Globe Awards, Cort and Gordon were nominated asBest Actor andBest Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, respectively.^[40]

The film was selected for preservation in theNational Film Registry in 1997, along with others deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by theLibrary of Congress.^[41][42]

In September 2008,Empire rankedHarold and Maude number 65 on their list of the "500 Greatest Movies of All Time".^[43]Entertainment Weekly ranked the film number four on their 2003 list of "The Top 50 Cult Films".^[44]

Harold and Maude has repeatedly been ranked among the various lists compiled by theAmerican Film Institute (AFI). In 2000. the film ranked number 45 onAFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs, a list of the top 100 comedies.^[45] Two years later,Harold and Maude ranked number 69 onAFI's 100 Years...100 Passions, honoring the greatest love stories of the past century.^[46] In 2006, the film ranked number 89 onAFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers, recognizing the most inspiring films.^[47] In June 2008, AFI revealed its10 Top 10, the 10 best films in 10 "classic" American film genres, placingHarold and Maude at number nine in the romantic comedy genre.^[48][49]

The music inHarold and Maude was composed and performed byCat Stevens.^[50] He had been suggested byElton John to do the music after John had dropped out of the project.^[51] Stevens composed two original songs for the film, "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" and performed instrumental and alternative versions of the previously released songs "On the Road to Find Out", "I Wish, I Wish", "Miles from Nowhere", "Tea for the Tillerman", "I Think I See the Light", "Where Do the Children Play?" and "Trouble" (all from his albumsMona Bone Jakon andTea for the Tillerman). "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" remained unreleased on any album until the 1984 compilationFootsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2.

Additional music in the film is sourced from well known compositions. "Greensleeves" is played on the harp during dinner. The opening bars ofTchaikovsky'sPiano Concerto No. 1 are heard during the scene of Harold floating face-down in the swimming pool. The Sunnyvale HS Marching Band plays "The Klaxon" byHenry Fillmore outside the church following a funeral.^[52] A calliope version of the waltz "Over the Waves" byJuventino Rosas is played at the amusement park. Harold and Maude waltz together in her home to "The Blue Danube" byJohann Strauss II.

The soundtrack album charted at number 173 on the USBillboard 200 in July 2021.^[53]

The first soundtrack was released in Japan in 1972 on vinyl and cassette (A&M Records GP-216). It omitted the two original songs and all instrumental and alternative versions of songs and was generally composed of re-released material that was in the film, along with five songs that were not in the film.^[54]

Track listing

• Side one
  1. "Morning Has Broken" (not in the film)
  2. "Wild World" (not in the film)
  3. "I Think I See the Light"
  4. "I Wish, I Wish"
  5. "Trouble"
  6. "Father and Son" (not in the film)
• Side two
  1. "Miles from Nowhere"
  2. "Lilywhite" (not in the film)
  3. "Where Do the Children Play?"
  4. "On the Road to Find Out"
  5. "Lady D'Arbanville" (not in the film)
  6. "Tea for the Tillerman"

The second soundtrack was released on December 28, 2007, byVinyl Films Records as a vinyl-only limited-edition release of 2,500 copies. It contained a 30-page oral history of the making of the film, comprising the most extensive series of interviews yet conducted onHarold and Maude.^[50]

Track listing

• Side one
  1. "Don't Be Shy"
  2. "On the Road to Find Out"
  3. "I Wish, I Wish"
  4. "Miles from Nowhere"
  5. "Tea for the Tillerman"
  6. "I Think I See the Light"
• Side two
  1. "Where Do the Children Play?"
  2. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out"
  3. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" (banjo version) – previously unreleased
  4. "Trouble"
  5. "Don't Be Shy" (alternate version) – previously unreleased
  6. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" (instrumental version) – previously unreleased
• Bonus 7″ single
  1. "Don't Be Shy" (demo version) – previously unreleased
  2. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" (alternative version) – previously unreleased

ARecord Store Day limited edition, available in yellow or orange vinyl, was released July 2021. It contained all the main songs from the 2007 album, but omitted the bonus material.

• Side one
  1. "Don't Be Shy"
  2. "On the Road to Find Out"
  3. "I Wish, I Wish"
  4. "Miles from Nowhere"
• Side two
  1. "Tea for the Tillerman'
  2. "I Think I See the Light"
  3. "Where Do the Children Play?"
  4. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out"
  5. "Trouble"

The full soundtrack album received its first regular wide commercial release on February 11, 2022, to commemorate the film's 50th anniversary. The entire album was remastered atAbbey Road Studios. The disc includes previously unheard audio masters discovered in theIsland/A&M Records archive for the two original songs Stevens wrote for the film, "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out". While there was an LP, this was also the album's first-ever release on CD.^[55] The digital release contains eight additional tracks.^[56]

• Side one
  1. "Don't Be Shy"
  2. Dialogue 1 (I Go to Funerals)
  3. "On the Road to Find Out"
  4. "I Wish, I Wish"
  5. Tchaikovsky's Concerto No.1 in B
  6. Dialogue 2 (How Many Suicides)
  7. Marching Band / Dialogue 3 (Harold Meets Maude)
  8. "Miles from Nowhere"
  9. "Tea for the Tillerman"
• Side two
  1. "I Think I See the Light"
  2. Dialogue 4 (Sunflower)
  3. "Where Do the Children Play?"
  4. "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" (Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort vocal)
  5. Strauss' Blue Danube
  6. Dialogue 5 (Somersaults)
  7. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out"
  8. Dialogue 6 (Harold Loves Maude)
  9. "Trouble"
  10. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out (ending)
• Additional tracks included in digital release:
  1. "Don't Be Shy (Demo)"
  2. "I Wish, I Wish (Studio Demo)"
  3. "Miles from Nowhere (Demo Version)"
  4. "I Think I See the Light (Studio Demo)"
  5. "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" (Demo)
  6. "Trouble (Studio Demo)"
  7. "You Can Do (Whatever)!"
  8. "Don't Be Shy (No Piano / Alternate Take)"

Colin Higgins adapted the story into a stage play. A French adaptation byJean-Claude Carrière opened in 1973 at theThéâtre Récamier in Paris, whereYves Saint Laurent designed costumes forMadeleine Renaud as Maude.^[57] Renaud would reprise the role inHarold et Maude [fr] for multiple productions.

The originalBroadway production, starringJanet Gaynor as Maude andKeith McDermott as Harold, closed after four performances in February 1980.^[58]

The Yugoslav premiere ofHarold i Mod was staged at theBelgrade Drama Theatre (BDP) on March 23, 1980, directed byPaolo Magelli, withTatjana Lukjanova (Maude),Milan Erak (Harold), andŽiža Stojanović (Mrs. Chasen).Slobodan Beštić later assumed the role of Harold. The play remained in the BDP repertoire until Lukjanova's death in 2003.^[59]

In Brazil, the first run of the play premiered in 2007, directed byJoão Falcão [pt] and starringArlindo Lopes [pt] as Harold andGloria Menezes as Maude.^[60]Nivea Maria later assumed the role of Maude.

A French adaptation for television, translated and written byJean-Claude Carrière, aired in 1978. It was also adapted for the stage by the Compagnie Viola Léger inMoncton,New Brunswick,^[61] starringRoy Dupuis.^[62]

A musical adaptation, with songs byJoseph Thalken andTom Jones, premiered at thePaper Mill Playhouse inMillburn, NJ, in January 2005. The production starredEstelle Parsons as Maude andEric Millegan as Harold.^[63][64]

Higgins expressed interest in 1978 regarding both a sequel and prequel toHarold and Maude:^[65] Cort would return forHarold's Story, living life after Maude. Higgins also imagined the prequelGrover and Maude, where Maude learns how tosteal cars from Grover Muldoon—the character portrayed byRichard Pryor in Higgins' 1976 filmSilver Streak—with Gordon and Pryor reprising their respective roles.

• List of American films of 1971
• List of cult films

• Harold and Maude atIMDb  
• Harold and Maude atRotten Tomatoes 
• Harold and Maude at theAFI Catalog of Feature Films 
• ​Harold and Maude​ at theInternet Broadway Database
• Harold and Maude at theTCM Movie Database 
• Harold and Maude filming locations at Giggster
• Harold and Maude filming locations at Reel SF
• "A Boy of Twenty and a Woman of Eighty" – an essay by Leticia Kent atThe Criterion Collection
• Eagan, Daniel (2010)."Harold and Maude".America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry.A & C Black. pp. 677–679.ISBN 978-0826-42977-3.