Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude, a dark comedy with poignant underpinnings, was a film much misunderstood in its day. Reviled for its February-December love affair (much older woman, very young man) and its nonchalant attitude toward suicide, the movie was not embraced by critics or audiences in its initial release. But, like other films from the tumultuous 1970s, it has gained a cult following that has grown over the years as the film’s real joys: its honest character depictions, its unconventional approaches to life and love, and its ebullient Cat Stevens music were discovered and appreciated. Looking at it now, it’s hard to see what’s not to like about this subtle charmer.
Harold and Maude (Blu-ray)
Directed by Hal Ashby
Studio: Criterion
Year: 1971
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 91 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: PCM 1.0, 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: A
MSRP: $ 39.95
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Review Date: May 30, 2012
The Film
4.5/5
Twenty-year old Harold (Bud Cort) is leading a doleful existence. With a wealthy but aimless life and a mother (Vivian Pickles) who won’t be interested in his problems, Harold is given to finding new ways to commit mock suicides to try to get some kind of response from his mother. His only pleasure other than his shock tactics with his mother comes from attending funerals of people whom he never knew. He begins to notice an elderly woman at a couple of services, and she finally reveals herself to be Maude (Ruth Gordon), soon to be eighty years old and a person who fully subscribes to the belief that life is for living. Under her tutelage, Harold begins to see the joys that life can bring and even though his mother sets him up on a string of computer dates, it’s Maude whom he finds fascinating and begins to fall in love with.
From a very talky and preachy script by Colin Higgins that when originally filmed ran three hours, director Hal Ashby has cut and pasted to present a beautifully laid out, quirky, and endearing coming of age comedy that keeps the good life homilies to a minimum (the best one: “aim above morality”) and the fun and games and Cat Stevens tunes to a maximum. You won’t soon forget the hilarious and wonderfully shot encounter with a motorcycle cop (Tom Skerritt) or Harold and Maude’s wacky scheme to keep Harold from being drafted. And the moments back home with Harold’s inventive suicidal encounters with his mother and his three pre-arranged computer dates are also darkly humorous. Ashby also stages some extraordinary shots: a pan and pull back from a cemetery is simply breathtaking, Harold and Maude watching a sunset is simple yet thrilling, and Harold’s eightieth birthday surprise for Maude is joyfully colorful. In fact, Harold’s growing enchantment with life is reflected in his own skin tones: white as paper in the early going when life is so bleak and by the film’s last few scenes, his skin textures are full of glowing life brought about by his new-found love. Ashby’s soft pedaled any potentially “icky” sexual encounters between the title characters for those whose senses might be offended, yet he’s remained true to the story, and the actors are both fully committed to playing their characters as written.
Virginal-faced Bud Cort and elfin rascal Ruth Gordon make a heady pair of rapscallions in the film, both perfectly cast (John Rubenstein and Dame Edith Evans were the alternate choices) and acting with the kind of wonderfully free abandon that simply makes the movie sing (and work in the final analysis). Vivian Pickles is a total hoot as the clueless mother who doesn’t really know her son at all, her series of putdowns and deadpanned reactions adding greatly to the film’s wildly successful dark comic tone. Charles Tyner as the militaristic, one-armed Uncle Victor has a magnificent moment when he pulls at a lever on his jacket which allows his empty right sleeve on his uniform coat to give a stiff-armed salute. He otherwise fits perfectly into the tongue-in-cheek satire of the piece as does G. Woods as Harold’s psychiatrist and Ellen Geer, Shari Summers, and Judy Engles as Harold’s three arranged dates.
Video Quality
4/5
The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is faithfully delivered in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. While sharpness is usually good with close-ups and most medium shots, there are certainly soft shots at long ranges and with some closer angles, too. Color is well saturated, and the warmth of the colors is quite striking inside Harold’s home. Flesh tones are usually realistically represented though there are times when skin tones seem a bit too rosy. The film has been divided into 23 chapters.
Audio Quality
4.5/5
The disc offers the original theatrical mono track in a PCM 1.0 (1.1 Mbps) encode or a reasonably effective PCM 2.0 (2.3 Mbps) stereo encode. The mono track is better for the dialogue (which occasionally is overpowered by the music and sound effects in the stereo mix), but the stereo mix certainly presents Cat Stevens’ wonderfully tuneful soundtrack songs with fantastic resonance. Overall, I preferred the mono track, but it’s a near photo finish, and it’s great that both are available. There are no age-related artifacts to be heard.
Special Features
4/5
The audio commentary is edited together from comments by two individuals: Hal Ashby’s biographer Nick Dawson and one of the film’s producers Charles Mulvehill. It’s an informative and nicely put together track with really no lulls and with both men filled with enthusiasm about the movie which they’re eager to share.
A 1972 AFI seminar speech by Hal Ashby is audio-only but is presented with illustrated behind-the-scenes stills and clips from the movie and runs 13 ¼ minutes. The speech has been edited to include comments about Harold and Maude and not much about his previous film The Landlord.
A 1979 AFI seminar speech by Colin Higgins allows the screenwriter to discuss how he got into the business and discuss his writing of the screenplay and involvement with the movie in this 13 ¼-minute excerpt. It, too, is audio-only but is illustrated by stills and movie clips.
A 2011 interview with composer Yusuf/Cat Stevens discusses how he became part of the project and runs 11 minutes in 1080p.
The enclosed 37-page booklet contains the chapter listing, cast and crew lists, critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s overview of the film and Ashby’s career, a combination interview with Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort by Leticia Kent which ran in 1971, a 1997 conversation between Bud Cort and cinematographer John Alonzo conducted by James Rogers, and the story of how producers Mildred Lewis and her husband Edward Lewis met screenwriter Colin Higgins in an interview conducted by James Rogers.
The Criterion Blu-rays include a maneuvering tool called “Timeline” which can be pulled up from the menu or by pushing the red button on the remote. It shows you your progress on the disc, the title of the chapter you’re now in, and index markers for the commentary that goes along with the film, all of which can be switched on the fly. Additionally, two other buttons on the remote can place or remove bookmarks if you decide to stop viewing before reaching the end of the film or want to mark specific places for later reference.
In Conclusion
4.5/5 (not an average)
Now acclaimed as a bittersweet story of life and love between the generations, Harold and Maude is beautifully presented in this new Criterion Blu-ray release with excellent picture (the best it’s ever looked in my experience) and sound and interesting bonus material. Highly recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
