In the yesterday’s-news-is-ancient-history milieu that is today, this is ancient history. But I wondered whether it would get a mention on this site. Bob Lefsetz wrote about it, and quite a bit of it resonated…it might do so with you too (seeing “Harold And Maude” was almost a rite of passage when I was a certain age).
Bud Cort RIP
I enjoyed that article @sniffity.
I vivid remember HAROLD AND MAUDE from the late 70s when I worked at the Screen on the Green cinema in Islington. Definitely a cut film, it seem to constantly come back again and again .
The BBC had this obituary.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj32mj3xzd1o
Edgar Wright was a fan.
In the early VHS days, I watched Harold and Maude obsessively. Absolutely loved it, but I’ve yet to stumble upon a DVD of it (although I hope this is just a side effect of not being able to use Amazon when you don’t own a mobile phone, and not that the film has been cancelled).
It came out on DVD & Blu-ray in 2013. Still in print.
Or have a look here…
https://archive.org/details/harold-maude-1971
PS Brewster McCloud, another early 70s film (directed by R Altman) can be accessed thusly…
https://archive.org/details/brewster.-mc-cloud.-1970.1080p.-blu-ray.x-264-yts.-am
I have the dvd of Harold and Maude, I managed to get a hooky copy of Brewster McCloud years ago. I’ll give Brewster another watch again too.
What would be said of the film Harold and Maude if the sexes were reversed, I wonder?
I’m not sure, but your veiled criticism has become somehow lost in translation.
It would be a less interesting and original film, because of the well-worn clichés and the different power dynamics, but I don’t think it would have changed the message of the film much. The focus isn’t really on the love and sex of it all.