Since I'm always trying to check out cultural touchstones from the past I may have missed, we put Harold And Maude on our Netflix queue. Well, after watching it for the first time, then reading all the glowing reviews on the IMDB, I am baffled that so many people think it's the greatest movie ever. What are all you people smoking?
The concept is cute, and the story is a nice reversal of the usual older-man-younger-woman cliche, but the execution? Not one character in this exercise in self-serious silliness resembles an actual human being, Harold's flighty straw-mother being the worst example. The script is riddled with loose ends where some action would lead to big trouble in the real world, and then we cut to the next scene like nothing happened. (Call me humorless, but while stealing a cop's motorcycle for a joyride might be a fun adolescent fantasy, the movie treats it as just another quirky day for lovable old Maude and we never hear about it again, which is asking a lot from the viewer in terms of suspension of disbelief.)
Ruth Gordon did a good job of making her character believable as someone a moody young man could fall for, despite what she was given to work with. Bud Cort came off more like a baby-faced Norman Bates than the poor, misunderstood, sensitive little rich boy he was supposed to be. Everybody else was a cardboard character set up for us to sneer at. The ending was a forced ironic cop-out. By the time it was all over, I was starting to really detest Cat Stevens. So that's the movie my high school friends were all talking about? Whatever, maaan.
13 comments:
Bud Cort came off more like a baby-faced Norman Bates than the poor, misunderstood, sensitive little rich boy he was supposed to be.
I have never seen this movie and never will: too many people have said I reminded them of Bud Cort.
You can live a long, full, happy life without ever having seen this movie. Trust me.
It's one of the greatest American films ever made, you are just wrong.
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, Ian. It's a good IDEA for a movie, but I felt cheated when I finally saw it.
The only flaw is the dreadful Cat Stevens sondtrack
Here's a twisted mind exercise: what if Harold & Maude had a Leonard Cohen score, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller had a Cat Stevens score? How would that affect how we think of these movies?
The reason why Leonard Cohen yet his songs be used in " McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is because he really liked the obscure Robert Altman film "Brewster McCloud" and he hadn't seen M*A*S*H which is what they thought he would have seen with it being a big hit and all.
I actually stole a VHS copy of "Brewster McCloud" from my university library, I haven't watched it but it's taped off TV but you can't get it on dvd currently.
oh ya and Bud Cort stars in "Brewster McCloud".
Davis and her son are watching H&M in the other room right now, and I had to admit I started laughing at the first mention of Nathan Hale.
Shame about Brewster McCloud. I tried putting it in the Netflix queue, but no go. Our legendary deceased directors deserve better.
Didn't know that nugget about L. Cohen. Have you seen the Isle Of Wight movie yet? It's amazing how he chills out the belligerent hippie mob.
That's on the wishlist.
There is some footage of Leonard Cohen somewhere at some concert in the early 70s where he walks off because he feels he is performing so bad and wants to refund all their money and promoters are pleading with him to go on stage.
You never heard me say anything good about this movie, or about the cellphone pitchman Cat Stevens. I hated this movie the day I saw it, and didn't find Ruth Gordon charming either. But the worst thing was the guy with the prosthetic arms saluting the flag. How trite.
Nick Pierotti
eurydice@cruzio.com
No indeed, Nick. You were the one who hated it more than anyone, that much I fully remember. And sure enough, you were right.
When it came to movies, I always did tend to trust the judgement of the kid who turned me on to Bedazzled, O Lucky Man, If, Elmer Gantry, The Big Sleep, etc. etc. etc. Which is why I didn't see it until now.
Goddamn, the decades roll by. What's going on in your life? I hope you're well.
And just for clarification's sake, I did write "talking about", not necessarily "praising".
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