Harold and Maude (1971) First Time Watching Reaction & Review
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- Опубліковано 31 лип 2024
- First time reaction and brief review of the movie "Harold and Maude". Future Reaction Polls + Early Access + Exclusive Content. Available on Patreon: / alexachipman
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:22 Reaction
17:16 Review
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I think the message is "love when you can, live when you can." Maude, if you caught that split-second shot of the numbers tatood on her arm, was obviously in a German concentration camp. She understood more about death and suffering than Harold would ever know. She knew she was a loving, but dead end relationship, and wanted to end it on a high note, choosing her own death. Harold comes to realize that love is an ongoing thing, and has to do with giving. He understands she wants him to be happy.
It's really a beautiful film. And I don't think Harold is "depressed", he's just over how insincere everyone is but Maude. He does not want to fit into the niche they wish to make him conform to.
Very well said, Lisa !
I saw this in the theater as a child of 8 and even back then I understood the tattoo.
Of course back then I'd stay at the theater all day and watch a movie multiple times on a big screen, but yeah, it's an important shot.
It gives her character a context that not only makes her feel real, but makes her chaotic lust for life feel sensible.
Maude is one of those characters for me that exemplifies the human spirit, and the will towards finding the beauty in life.
“Harold’s father had a similar sense of the absurd.” Hilarious.
The wreck of the Jaguar Hearse is Harold's rejection of death and embrace of life.
The marching band in the funeral scene was my high school marching band.
1:00 *"They have matching outfits"*
Harold is making fun of his therapist
As someone who does have depression and trauma and whatnot... I do really love this movie. For my sensibility it feels much more honest than something that takes these issues in a more sacarine or sentimental or "serious" way. The only filmmaker who approaches dark subject matter like this, in a serious way, that actually resonates very deeply with me, is David Lynch. Although he's gotten accused throughout his career of wallowing in sadistic misery, though many of his fans find it healing. For me "Twin Peaks" in particular is so. Maybe a commonanlity between them is recognizing that tragedy, sadness, humor, beauty, etc. often occur simultaneously. I think maybe why Maude connects so well with Harold is she understands and accepts his macabre sense of humor, even while recognizing that overindulgence isn't healthy for him. Whereas everyone else acts like everything he thinks and feels is just totally wrong and he needs to become a completely different person. Maude just wants Harold to be a more fully rounded and realized Harold than he is when they meet.
Because this isn't a "Hollywood" movie.
This is an honest, beautiful depiction of life. And I absolutely LOVE it. But you gotta have a soul in order to appreciate this movie. 😅
And hey, if you ever need someone to talk to, you can write me an email. I've been through depression myself. I'm having some hard times right now, but I'm working my way up.
I just really don't wanna say "I know how you feel", because I just CAN'T. 😅 But I would love to hear how you feel and give you some feedback.
I went into this film knowing that it was supposed to be a comedy, but the opening scene - of Harold pretending to kill himseld - completely put me off. But I stayed with it, & by them time we got to the bit with him visiting his shrink, & being dressed exactly like the shrink (to say, 'I'm normal. I wear normal people's clothes) I came around to appreciating the film. And, when we got to the soldier with the empty sleeve rigged to salute, I was all in. And, I found myself really enjoying the absurdity of the film. And I think that, in the end, it is uplifting.
I didn’t get any comedy out of it, but I did find it to be a deeply moving film.
Great review at the end, I'm in agreement, in both the things I like and don't like about the movie. Hal Ashby did direct a movie later in the decade I'd be fascinated to see your reaction for: "Being There", with Peter Sellers. I'm sure that's been suggested to you somewhere along the way (if, in fact, you haven't already seen it). I totally agree with you: love the clothing and fashions in this movie, I love the look of it, the cinematography. And Ruth Gordon is always great, she was a real character in life. Go look up any interview with her! She had been in movies since 1915! She had been a playwright and a screenwriter for years. Did you ever see "Rosemary's Baby"? That made her a star, late in life. Always great to see you, Alexa!!!!!
The military cemetary IS Golden Gate National Cemetary. The other cemetaries are in Colma. The house where Harold and his mom live is in Hillsboro. Where Harold bought his hearse was in San Carlos. The scenes with Harold's uncle were at the Precidio. The Maude protest scene was at the Sutro baths. The scenes where they rode some rides is Santa Cruz. The bearded man playing with the trains is Hal Ashby. The secene were they took the tree from was Redwood City. I know im missing some others. Believe it or not, when Harold "drove" the Jaguar hearse off the cliff...that was the actual car, not a prop.
Fun to hear your reaction -- but it is important to point out the shot where you see the tattooed numbers on her arm which showed that she survived the holocaust as a survivor of WWII at one of the death camps. That explains so much. Now that I'm approaching Maude's age, I can identify so much her constantly throwing caution to the wind -- and knowing to enjoy and embrace life to the fullest. "Harold and Maude" is an extraordinary film, (complex, enigmatic), sometimes funny, sometimes outrageous, and at the penultimate point in the film, absolutely heartbreaking...but it lives in the viewers' minds for a long, long time!
The Mom played Isadora Duncan on TV earlier, so maybe they'd seen her in a Grecian robe... I think the film is serious about all the things it's funny about. The jokes all hide serious intentions, and I don't think it's making light of suicide, but of course it's just my opinion.
The first time I saw this movie, I went with a friend to a movie theater. It seemed like everyone in the audience had already seen it because all I could hear during the first scene was laughter - and to me I couldn't understand why everyone was laughing at such a dramatic scene. I grew to love the film over the years because it reminded me of the friend who took me to see this unique film.
The 70s were such a GLORIOUS decade for movies. Some of my all time favorite movies were from that decade.
This was filmed in the Presidio in San Francisco.
I actually use to live in the Presidio.
It's an odd little film, and nobody really knows what to make of it at first. But I have a fondness for Hal Ashby's stories of outsiders trying to find their way in the world, and I think it's about as Ashby as anything he made.
One of my 5 favorite films. Been obsessed with it since the first time I saw it.
You’re my favourite reactor!! ❤ keep up the great content!! Thank you for reviewing the third season of Derry girls!!
I love how open Harold is to becoming himself. Walking away with the banjo loosely reminds me of the hermit or the fool tarot card
When I was a teenager my girlfriend and I became obsessed with this movie. We even introduced her younger sister to it and it changed all of our lives. It kind of seems silly to me now...but I know it changed me.
omg - One of my favorite movies (child of the 70s) - I watched this film when I was about 12 and I know I loved it, like I obsessed over it. But I also know that I probably didn't really understand it. I think I need to rewatch this gem.
I am curious as to why you love it so much? :)
@@alexachipman Truth be told, I need to rewatch it to tell you. It's been a fond sense memory of mine since childhood. I know I loved it back then, but it's been 40 years since I was 12 (!) and so, truthfully, I can't remember the reason why anymore apart from its humor and it being quirky and the fact that I loved Maude's actress. So, I haven't watched your reaction video yet because I need to rewatch this movie myself properly - if I can find it anywhere. I live in Denmark and it's sometimes very hard to find old movies online over here.
I love all the little things you notice, like Harold's makeup or some of the insites on ballet in The Hudsucker Proxy.
Also the Jag-Hearse is the coolest damn car in any movie ever. Although the Beetle Truck in 'Bad Taste' is close.
I don't love this film, but I don't hate it either. To me it just exists though I will say two things I like about it.
1. The Soundtrack.
2. I can realte to Harold in the sense of I am more comfortable talking with and being around older people than those of my age group.
I had two elderly neighbors who I would go over to visit all the time.
My friend Ann who I first met at my first job we have become lifelong friends she is in her 70's and we go out to lunch once in a while and just talk.
I had made a couple of friends when I was a juniorvolunteen at a nursing home one was 100 years old named Grace Matthews and the other was named Helene Sleeter who told me she used to be a teacher and she was 101.
Though I am most close to my Grandma on my Mom's side who is 92 right now and I go over often to her house and show her and my Uncle who takes care of her movies. I help her in and out of the car every Saturday for Church.
So true, all my current non-longdistance friends are over 50. I just don’t connect with people my age, we have almost nothing in common.
Watched this with my mom when I was pretty young, I think maybe 13,14. Mom was really into the movie and a big time Kat Steven's fan. A while back I recalled the movie as a fever dream almost and could not remeber the name but thru the power of Google was able to find it again.
There was a novelization published the same year as the release of the film. While you might not be interested in it (some differences though) you would probably enjoy the soundtrack album. It's been released 3 times on vinyl and had it's first CD release last year. Cat Stevens wrote two original songs for the film, plus recorded alternate versions (some are instrumentals) of several of his songs. 5 songs, while on the album, are not in the film. The CD album has even more material, including the classical music cues, which aren't on the vinyl versions. Originally Elton John has been hired to write the music, but he recommended they hire Cat Stevens instead. By-the-way, I love your reacting style.
I will keep an eye out for it, thank you!
Everybody misses the concentration camp markings on her.
The whole idea came from a news clipping about a 19-year-old man marrying an 80-year-old woman, and the writer wondered about the backstory.
Harold was the blueprint for the ULTIMATE internet troll (with a heart of gold) 😅🤭.
And that in *1971* !!!
After watching this movie a year or so ago and the partial re-watch just now, I realized Maude is the epitome of a manic pixie dream girl, she's just 60 years older than the typical MPDG
So true!
This is quite possibly my favorite film. Since I have viewed it many times, I enjoyed seeing it through you eyes.
"I should like to turn into a sunflower most of all." _ Maude. Me too.
😎👍 If it's of interest, the actor who played Harold (Bud Cort) was the early 1970s equivalent of Ralph Macchio in the early 1980s. A 22 year old man who looked like a 14 year old boy. I did a search of your channel, and I must say, you haven't been watching much of anything that I would ever recommend to someone who's struggling with depression. If I might suggest something a bit more uplifting, check out "Matinee" (1993).
Thank you, but please avoid spoilers / setting expectations with movie suggestions. This is now disqualified as a reaction movie.
@@alexachipman I deal with depression, and i think your selections are great, Alexa. That was a weird thing to say.
That is one of my all time favorite film quotes @7:25 "Poor guy (who was just painting her) he sometimes needs his memory refreshed as to the contours of the female form..." Yes, don't we all :). By the way, there's another great movie (very much an indi-film) that has a woman who loves to go to funerals: _Cold Fever_.
I absolutely love your reaction. You 100% get the movie! 👍🤝
Because I've seen people who don't.
It's really about so many themes that I can't even list them here. 😅
But what I found interesting to learn from it were a lot of things about happiness, relationship dynamics and tolerance.
Randomly, this film was recommended to me while I was in the back of a vehicle in New Hampshire on my way to do white water rafting for the first time.
'Trouble, trouble can't u see..'
Cat Stevens aka Yusuf has a very active channel on UA-cam !
Thanks for this reaction, Alexa! It meant a lot to me!
Edit: I dont give much about this man's belief but he has his heart at the right spot!
Born 69 I grew up with him, so ye, Im certainly biased!! :)
great soundtrack...do love a bit of cat stevens
I do love this film, for the performances, the style, and sense of hopefulness. I think it gives a sort of roadmap for dealing with morbid thoughts, in spite of some of the things depicted in it. I have those feelings quite often too and I think this film is mostly about living with and moving past them, even the ending isn't about sadness - rather being happy with where you're at and feeling that's enough. You hardly ever see that.
It's definitely a film that I think warrants a trigger warning though. We know how you feel about spoilers, and that's part of the point of your format, but might there be a way to flag that a film/show deals with problematic topics without giving away too many details? Maybe not, but it sort of feels cruel to not say anything.
The shock is part of the experience, and feeling things isn’t bad, if anything it is helpful for leaning things about oneself :)
@@alexachipman Totally, I just thought it was worth bringing up as an option.
Good movie 😊
This is the best movie. Dark gallows humour with an amazing Cat Stevens soundtrack. Ruth Gordon is a genius amd Bud Court would have had a great career if he hadnt been injured in a motorcycle accident,
his charm and sweetness really shines through and love his voice. best scene is when it dawns on him what maudes sculpture is... the look on his face haha
the subject matter alone was enough for this movie to be one of my favorite movies. but it was also great acting by her I thought
Unfortunately, death is a part of life and Maude (Mod) embraced all of life.
Have you ever watched a movie called crazy moon? It's similar to this movie. Kiefer Sutherland. I highly recommend it 😺.
"i'm so straight laced, i cant even go the wrong way down a parking lot" if you get up the nerve, play GTA on the channel lol
saw this movie when i was 15 16. This high school history teacher Norman (looked like a bearded Giles) Once a week he would show a 1970's film including this one. It really expanded my film knowledge. If you want to know which films i've seen in this class, reply
The military cemetery is up the street from Tanforan shopping center in San Bruno ( the mall is gonna be converted into a business park in a year RIP ). I was thinking most of the cemeteries might be in Colma, but I could be wrong. The population below ground is over a million. 😂 Above ground, only a few thousand. I live a few minutes from both places.
This movie has grown on me over the years. I like the quirkiness & humor of it. The soundtrack from Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam really ties everything together. I think trashing his hearse at the end ( RIP Jaguar. You were probably the fastest hearse around ) symbolizes him letting go of death & embracing life.
I looked up all the filming locations before recording my review, turns out I have been to all of them!
@@alexachipman I deliver mail in Burlingame and Hillsborough, and have delivered to Harold's house a few times. Even delivered a package to the door once, and the whole bricked area in front of the house still looks like it did in 1971. Felt like I was in the middle of the movie.
It has to be one of the top two cult classic films of all time and it has to be second to Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
5:54 same kind of hearse as the Ectomobile!
The Ecto-one was an ambulance not a hearse although it may be the same model of Cadillac.
It was a ambulance configuration.
From Wiki - "The Ectomobile is a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel limo-style endloader combination car (ambulance conversion)."
- minor quibble.
@@roryotoole3279 My dad's childhood town was so small, they had no ambulances, and when he broke his leg, a hearse took him to the hospital. So, it's literally all the same.
Harold's Mother thinks he's merely doing performance art. She mentions his father having a similar "sense of the absurd".
Yeah and while I agree, there is a line that was in the screenplay (not the film) where Harold says something like “I’m not getting through to her like I used to” so maybe his first attempt almost gave him a similar reaction to when she really thought he died but since then she’s been just annoyed
Hal Ashby is among a group of directors of the 70s (that I won't name in case you react to their movies in the future) whose movies were surreal and genre breaking. The tone of these films was reflective of a generation coming of age that questioned conventional society and was disillusioned by the dreams and institutions of their parents. The military, organized religion and parents were all equally ineffective here. It's the protagonist that has to come to their own way of dealing with issues. The surreal nature of the film allows the exploration of controversial topics like depression and suicide and pushes the boundaries of popular cinema of the time. And that will even extend into TV programs as well. If people think TV is woke now it's obvious that they didn't grow up in the 70s!😛
Different kind of movie, but similarly philosophical: THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
His fake suicide fooled me at the end despite all his fake attempts.
I think that you would enjoy the book Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk
I think it is hard for people to can relate to Harold to find him doing suicides funny. I have a hard time with it because I can see it as a coping method for problems his mother is basically ignoring.
Definitely- I have to get up every day and argue with myself into deciding life is worth living, so not very amusing.
@@alexachipman Sorry to hear that ❤️
I still really liked the movie tho! But I saw it as less of a comedy at least with those scenes. There were other funny moments.
"That was fun! Let's play something together."
"I don't play anything."
"Nothing? Dear me, everybody should be able to make some music. That's the cosmic dance."
Fun Fact: Colin Higgins' screenplay was based on his thesis for the UCLA screenwriting MFA program.
Authentic Battle Damage Fact: When Maude (Ruth Gordon) and Harold (Bud Cort) steal the police officer's motorcycle, Bud Cort accidentally hit himself in the head with the shovel, but just kept going for the sake of the shot.
Real Men Have Beards Fact: Cat Stevens appears in a brief, uncredited role during Ruth Gordon's second appearance in the film. He is the bearded gentleman wearing a hat and a full coat at a graveside service. His profile can be seen a few times as he looks with displeasure at Ruth Gordon trying to grab Burt Cort's attention during the service. Director Hal Ashby also cameos as the bearded man seen briefly in the amusement park arcade.
Love Ruth Gordon! Pretty much anything she ever does is interesting and entertaining.
I don't think you've reacted to the movie My Bodyguard (1980). It's a great story about a kid starting his sophomore year in a new high school where runs a foul of bullies his first day.
He begins a friendship with a school outcast and devises a very interesting solution to the bully problem while also learning lessons about life and the true story of his new friend.
P.S. Ruth Gordon and Martin Mull co-star. It's currently on HBO Max.
Well since you chose to spoil the film, despite multiple warnings in the video, it might have been a reaction, but now it is disqualified.
@@alexachipman sorry if you feel that's a spoiler but that's what you know going into the film, it's the whole selling point of the movie. I myself try to tell people as little as possible about a movie so as not too spoil anything. Kind of hard to recommend a movie just on the title. Believe me there's a lot more to the movie than what I said, that's just the framework.
Hope you still give it a try think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Again so sorry if I broke the rule, didn't mean to.
It was a black comedy, which uses dark humor to make larger points.
True, but it is a bit rough on those of us who tend toward actually acting on some of the scenarios he was doing just for dramatic effect.
@@alexachipman I definitely have empathy for you, I knew a girl who I cared for very much who struggled with that very thing. That being said, the job of a movie or any kind of art is not to avoid certain subjects because it might hurt someone, but rather tell the story the best way it can. I think maybe this movie wasn't for someone going thru the things you're going thru. But it needs to exist, because it has value as a story and even a life lesson. We laugh at the things that make us uncomfortable because it confronts them head-on, and gives these terrible things in life less weight, so we can bear that they are part of life.