and I remember raving about it to everyone I knew. I said to one and all, you got to see this movie, it is like nothing you ever saw before. Now, all these years later, I see it again on my flat screen. How did I like it this time? Not so much!
shareI'm curious: what made you change your mind? Or rather what do you not like about it now?
shareWhy no response to the poster who asked you why you changed your mind? I'm curious, too.
shareI'm not the original poster, but I had the same let down years later. I think it is a combination of things. The most obvious is my youth the first time I saw it. Since then I have seen hundreds of movies some of them better than this one. Another thread comments on Wes Anderson films being similar in their off beat subject matter and many of them are better to me then this film. Also a persons taste changes after all we are human and constantly evolving.
shareI too saw it when it first came out. Being a teenager then I thought it was wonderful and represented freedom. Now I find it totally inane and actually rather reprehensible, like "freedom is stealing a car and driving off with it."The difference is growing out of adolescence, dealing with the real world and wanting to behave responsibly. It's a typical product of its time.
shareWell Fugazzi I guess when me and you reach Maude's age we will revert back to our youth and find this movie wonderful again. The second childhood.
shareThe whole movie can be summed up in with the lyrics to "If you want to be free be free" by Cat Stevens.
With a movie of course characters go to extremes, stealing cars and trees, disobeying Police.. but it still gives life lessons you can either take or ignore about exactly how free you are. Some folks feel conformity is better.
Most can't live with out conformity, that's fine, but I don't care if they don't join my picnic.
And conformity can mean a lot of things, some as simple as thinking age has anything to do with what you can or can't do.
Yes there are rules, I only hope you question them before you follow them.
That is what the message of the movie is.
Ephemeron.
Cat Stevens really didn't want to be free. He converted to Islam which is one of the most restrictive, dogmatic religions in the world. Concerning conformity, age has a lot to do with what you can or can't do. If not from responsibilities and commitments, to simply physical limitations that occur with ageing.
shareI can relate to this! Harold and Maude is one of my favorite movies of all time. It was seminal and influenced me throughout my life, but when I finally decided my son was old enough to appreciate it and watched it with him as a parent, instead of as a teen, I had a whole other take on it. I still love the movie and still admire Maude in many ways, but I couldn't help asking myself, "What was I thinking?". lol. Yes - a big NO to stealing a truck and a cop's motorcycle - I say that now!
shareI am very jealous. Seeing this in a theater back then. So jealous.
I think a lot of it has to do with the times. Back then people appreciated everything more because everything was more rare. The only place you could see a movie was at a movie theater so it became a big deal to see a movie. You couldn't watch an endless stream of movies at home on your computer that were overloaded with cgi effects sex and violence to try to shock the audience. As a society we have become spoiled and bored as a result. If we saw a movie like transformers or avengers back then we would be amazed and think it was the greatest thing ever but today we are unimpressed with movies like that and instead criticize them and complain about how they should have been better. Its just a product of the times.
Your right.. now going to a movie theater is just kind of an excuse to get out of the house to do something, less of an exciting event.. I remember when I saw Star Wars with my family when I was 10 years old.. THAT was an event I always remembered.. now, it would not be like that.. it would just be an evening out, not really "important"...
shareYou've either lost your soul are you have dementia.
shareMaybe it's better to see this movie at the theaters. It might be so much better on the big screen.
shareI just saw this movie and I'm not sure if screen size would make any difference since it is a comedy, dark comedy to be exact.
I thought it was quite good but the ending was a little flat. But I would highly recommend it to people that like dark comedy. It's definitely not for the faint of heart though. Some of the scenes in this movie might be considered quite disturbing to some viewers.
And if you like this, I would also recommend the following movies -
Pumpkin (2002)
American Beauty
Fargo
Romy And Michelle's High School Reunion
Not exactly a list of dark comedies but you might find them comparable.
Just ran into a list of 50 best rom-coms and they mentioned H&M. I saw it in the late 70s and was very impressed at the time. Even if I find a re-viewing wanting, I don't think it will ever erase how charming the original effect was.
"At the center of any good romantic comedy is an unlikely couple that makes sense as you peel back the layers. And perhaps no couple in movie history seemed as unlikely on the surface as the titular pairing of Harold and Maude. The 1971 film follows the exploits of Harold Chasen—a morbid 19-year-old prone to faking his own death and subverting his mother’s wishes—who falls for Maude Chardin, a sunny 79-year-old concentration camp survivor who loves a good joyride. Along the way, Harold also learns to love life thanks to her. Viewed today, you can see its status as the foundation for movies like Rushmore and Licorice Pizza. But 50 years ago, audiences and critics weren’t quite ready for such a quirky story: Harold and Maude bombed at the box office, and the reviews looked worse than the receipts. (Variety wrote at the time that the movie had the “fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage.”) As time wore on, however, the film reached cult status, recouping its budget years later and retrospectively earning its deserved praise (particularly for Colin Higgins’s screenplay). It may have seemed unlikely at first, but eventually, it all made sense."
This film was released way before my time, I had no idea the critics panned it. But how wrong they were.
However, I must admit, the line "fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage" is quite funny. lol...
But yeah, H&M is a good film despite its dreary tone.
I live a few blocks from the Church in that movie, and about a mile from the Baylands and the Dumbarton bridge. I saw that movie when it was released to the Midnight Movies crowd and never did understand what people saw in that movie. I thought it was a complete waste of time - except that the Cat Steven's songs in the sound track were excellent, but then late old Cat decided to go nuts and thinking because of his fame he would be a good marketing image for Islam? Go figure.
Can you remember what you liked about it? I remember people being so amused by the Military guy with the mechanical saluting arm which I just thought was pandering to the anti-war crowd.