Harold and Maude is Ageless

There are certain movies that I will see on the big screen whenever they come to the Brattle Theatre as was the case with It's a Wonderful Life, Paris, Texas and, of course, The Marx Brothers.  

To that list I would add several films directed by Hal Ashby - Harold and Maude, The Last Detail and Being There. If one adds Shampoo, Bound for Glory and Coming Home, from where I sit, Ashby is the most unheralded director of the 1970's. The only Oscar nomination he received for Best Director was for Coming Home. No doubt these films are of that time and yet the characters from these films are so compelling that they have a resonance which transcends time.

In the case of Harold and Maude, which was shown this evening at The Brattle, it is a film which is ageless despite the subject matter. For those unfamiliar with the film it stars Bud Cort as Harold, a young man in his early 20's from a wealthy family who is deeply unhappy and fills his time devising elaborate ways of committing suicide and attending funerals where he meets Maude, played by Ruth Gordon, who is nearing her 80th birthday. 

The two become kindred spirits as Maude shows Harold the wonders of life. They fall in love and consummate their relationship in what is still taboo relationship. To be sure there are May-December romances but seldom is the woman a half century older than the man. At the time, the film was released Gordon was 75 while Cort was 23. 

With the wrong director and wrong cast, Harold and Maude could have been a hot, cringeworthy mess. But in Ashby's hands it is a sharp black comedy with fleeting moments of warmth between Cort and Gordon accompanied by the music of Cat Stevens at the height of his creative powers. Special mention must also be given to British actress Vivian Pickles for her straight woman act as Harold's self-absorbed mother in her only American screen appearance as well as character actor Charles Tyner who plays a one armed general. 

While Gordon continued to appear in film, TV and on stage until her death in 1985, Cort's career took a sharp left turn. Harold and Maude had been Cort's second lead after Brewster McCloud, another black comedy this one directed by Robert Altman. But after Harold and Maude, Cort's career dried up. In 1979, Cort was nearly killed in a car accident and this severely damaged his career. He has done some TV, movies and voiceover work. He appeared in an especially moving episode of the 1980's revival of The Twilight Zone. Perhaps his most notable screen appearance since Harold and Maude came in 2004 when he was cast in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou starring Bill Murray. Still, given his performance in Harold and Maude, Cort's career deserved a far better fate.

This is especially true when you consider he audience was mostly 20 & 30-somethings and they got the both the black humor and the bright spirit of Harold and Maude. I don't know how much time Bud Cort has in this world (or for that matter of any of us) but Harold will thanks to Maude always have his whole life ahead of him.