What a great movie. I can't believe that I never saw it before now. Thank you, Shawn, for forcing it on me. I'm sorry, Jennifer, that I didn't take your word for it earlier.
This film, which came out in the dog days of 1971, the year of such pessimistic films as "The French Connection" and "A Clockwork Orange," is probably one of the most life-affirming films I have ever seen. It's about living for the enjoyment of living. It uses the oddly touching love story between teenage depressive Harold and 79 year old hyperactive Maude to paint a tangible picture of how great life can be, even when it's not going very well. The screenplay is perfect; there are a number of quotable lines in a tapestry of simply great screenwriting. The leads, Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon, are so well-suited to their roles that it seems like the movie was written for them.
The film has perhaps one of the most wonderfully shocking opening scenes in history. I don't want to give it away, but I guarantee that, if you're alive, you will laugh. Harold spends his time going to funerals, staging elaborate fake suicides to torture his mother (Vivian Pickles), and basically being odd and depressed. His mother has seen it all, though, and is no longer shocked by his antics. She thinks he's too depressed, though, and sends him to stereotyped but funny professionals, such as a priest and a psychiatrist, to "help him." She also tries to set him up with uptight, upper-class girls his own age, who he frightens off with his mock suicides. She has his hearse demolished and buys him a Jaguar; he turns it into the best-looking hearse I have ever seen. This continues until he meets Maude.
Maude, played by Ruth Gordon (fresh off her Oscar-winning turn in "Rosemary's Baby"), is as full of life as Harold is empty. She is a bundle of energy, and I really couldn't do her justice by trying to sum her character up here. She lives life on her own terms, having learned through some real hardship how valuable it is. She quickly shows Harold how to have fun, even if that fun is hanging out at funerals. She has a wild art collection, models in the nude, experiments in aromatherapy, and likes Cat Stevens. In 1971, this means that she's perfect. Harold thinks so, and falls in love with her.
The film was a dud on first release. I suppose nobody knew how to market it. Therefore, it did not get its deserved recognition, such as an Oscar nomination for the screenplay (The Hospital won in 1971), some recognition for Cat Stevens' soundtrack, or perhaps another nomination for Gordon. I think one of the problems is that it is a very upbeat film, despite its odd concept, and in 1971, people just weren't feeling upbeat. The top films, for critics at least, reflected this. "The French Connection," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Last Picture Show," and "The Hospital" are all bitter, angry movies: angry about Vietnam, about Nixon's corruption, angry that the promises of the civil rights movement were turning violent and sour. It took a while, but this film gradually built up a cult following.
I am told that director Hal Ashby is an unrecognized genius, and a look at his short resume upholds this idea. He won an Oscar as editor of In the Heat of the Night, then went on to direct this film, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Coming Home, Bound for Glory, and Being There, among others. He died of cancer at the age of 52, and who knows how great he might have become.
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(9/10)
