Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude is a 1971 American romantic black comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama. The plot follows the exploits of Harold Chasen (Bud Cort), a young man who is intrigued with death, and who rejects the life his detached mother (Vivian Pickles) prescribes for him. Harold develops a friendship, and eventual romantic relationship, with 79-year-old Maude (Ruth Gordon) who teaches Harold about the importance of living life to its fullest.

The screenplay by Colin Higgins began as his master's thesis for film school. Filming took place in and around San Francisco and San Mateo, California, with locations including both Holy Cross Cemetery and Golden Gate National Cemetery, the ruins of the Sutro Baths, Mori Point, and Rosecourt Mansion in Hillsborough, California.

Critically and commercially unsuccessful when first released, the film eventually developed a cult following, and first made a profit in 1983. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1997, and was ranked number 45 on the American Film Institute list of 100 funniest films of all time in 2000. The Criterion Collection released a special-edition Blu-ray and DVD in 2012.

Harold Chasen is a young man obsessed with death. He stages elaborate fake suicides, attends funerals (usually for people that he does not know), and drives a hearse, all to the chagrin of his self-obsessed, wealthy socialite mother. His mother sends Harold to a psychoanalyst, sets him up with blind dates, and buys him a luxury car, all schemes he subverts in his own way.

Harold meets 79-year-old Maude one day while at a random stranger's funeral Mass, and discovers that they share a hobby. Harold is entranced by Maude's quirky outlook on life, which is bright and delightfully carefree in contrast to his morbid demeanor. Maude lives in a decommissioned railroad car and thinks nothing of breaking the law; she is quite skilled at stealing cars and will swiftly uproot an ailing tree in a city sidewalk to replant it in the forest. She and Harold form a bond and Maude shows Harold the pleasures of art and music (including how to play the banjo), and teaches him how to make "the most of his time on earth."

Meanwhile, Harold's mother is determined, against Harold's wishes, to find him a wife. One by one, Harold frightens and horrifies each of his appointed computer dates, by appearing to commit gruesome acts, including self-immolation, self-mutilation, and seppuku. His mother attempts to enlist him in the military by sending Harold to his uncle, who lost an arm serving under General MacArthur in World War II, but Harold deters the recruitment by staging a scene where Maude poses as a pacifist protester and Harold seemingly murders her out of militarist fanaticism.

As Harold and Maude grow closer, their friendship blossoms into a romance. Holding her hand, Harold discovers a number tattooed on her forearm, indicating Maude survived the Nazi death camps. Harold announces that he will marry Maude, resulting in disgusted outbursts from his family, analyst, and priest. Unbeknownst to Harold, Maude has been planning to end her own life on her 80th birthday. (Although she had actually mentioned her plan twice, early on.) Maude's birthday arrives, and Harold throws a surprise party for her. As the pair dance, Maude tells Harold that she "couldn't imagine a lovelier farewell." When Maude reveals that she has taken an overdose of sleeping pills and will be dead by midnight, Harold rushes Maude to the hospital. However, she succumbs to the pill overdose. Devastated after learning of Maude's death, Harold speeds down a country road and sends his car off a seaside cliff, appearing to have died by suicide. Following the crash, Harold is revealed to be standing calmly atop the cliff, holding his banjo. After gazing down at the wreckage, he plucks the banjo strings and dances away to "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out".

Director Hal Ashby appears in an uncredited cameo, seen at a penny arcade watching a model train at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.