OMG Movie Club

Can you even imagine the pitch? It's a story about a 19 yr old who is obsessed with who falls in love with a 79 yr woman? It's comedy with fake suicides. It's a political statement. It's a love story. It's Harold and Maude.

Harold and Maude is the cult classic film directed by Hal Ashby in 1971. Filled with slapstick, dark humour, and existentialist drama it revolves around Harold (played by Bud Cort), who's obsessed with death, and begins pulls away from the life that his detached mother prescribes for him, as he finds septuagenarian Maude (played by Ruth Gordon).

One of Ashby's themes was to contrast the doomed outlook of alienated youth of the Vietnam era with the hard-won optimism of the Greatest Generation. Nihilism vs Purpose. What makes Harold & Maude classic, is that the same can be said about today, the theme is relevant today as it was then.

Ashby also made strong statements about the war in Vietnam throughout the film.
From the poignant conversation between Harold and Maude about the daisies, and the daisy turns into a military cemetery, to Uncle Victor and his discussion with Harold about going into the military. He also speaks loudly about the horrors of war in one of the most subtle ways in film. Just the glimpse of Maude's tattoo or her wrist is all that is needed. He did not need to exploit it to make his point. If H&M were made today, sadly there would be some huge dramatic scene about Harold seeing it with a emotional tour de force of Maude, that would be not for the movie, but more for the Academy.
Harold & Maude was one of the first indie films. To quote the AV Club. "The film is the birth of modern indie quirk, full of elements and attitudes that have now become cliché: Heroes who are more whimsical conceits than real-life, flesh-and-blood creations; an offbeat and slightly twee pop soundtrack (here by Cat Stevens); authority figures painted as stiff, clueless, and completely devoid of humanity; and some vague leftist political references thrown in for good measure." And you can see its influences on some of the indie directors today, such as Wes Anderson.
There is something dark and funny, when Harold tells Maude why he fakes his death, watching the police come and tell Harold's mother that he was dead. Watching from where he had been hiding after setting a fire at school, Harold watched as his mother fell over in grief. It's him telling Maude, “I decided then I enjoyed being dead.” that you can't help but grin about.

But at the heart it is an unconventional love story, finding the reason for why you are here, and living everyday fully. But now its your turn. What is it about Harold & Maude? What was funny? What's your favorite suicide attempt of Harols? Anything strike you and make you want rewind and watch again?

Innocence (Not) Lost on Anyone

Getting to know more about Austin you find out not only is he a devoted cinephile but a fan of several directors. One of them is Hal Ashby, is best remember by many for his movie, the cult classic, Harold and Maude. Ashby went on to do other remarkable movies during his short career with a later start as a director at age 40, after many successful years as exceptional film editor. He not only did Harold and Maude, but directed, The Landlord, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound For Glory, Coming Home, and Being There. He had a streak of films in the 1970's that rivaled his contemporaries, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman.

Ashby's films showed a remarkable visual sense of black humor and irony, a consistency of theme and characterization, and an innovative use of music and editing. There is so much to focus on Ashby with topics on his editing and ironic use of music for future discussions. But there is one theme of many that surfaces in Ashby's films, and probably is the predominate one, the one that I think speaks to Austin.

Ashby's quintessential protagonist is an innocent man-child, who is influenced by free-spirited individuals to overcome the tyranny of a domineering parent figure and break away to gain from life's experience. It is evident in The Landlord, Harold and Maude, and Being There. In his film, Shampoo, we see a twist to the innocent in Warren Beatty's character George Roundy and in Coming Home, Ashby's critical best film, we see the innocence of a wife who has no idea of what is happening in Vietnam. But it is through meeting people and that all his characters find a way to new experience, a new life. When Austin got a role like John, you can see how Austin immediately gravitate to toward the role and went to one of his favorite directors for inspiration.

That break away to gain life experiences is not just on screen either it seems to touch different parts of Austin's life as well. Who's to say, maybe his somewhat love for the 70's came some what out of watching Ashby. Think he appreciates how Ashby created scenes with music as much with acting, often working in poetic irony to each other.

But the one thing that still predominates is Ashby's films are a call for joy and a cry for the triumph of life's experience over innocence. If that isn't the Austin we've seen what is? And that's not to say his journey is over by a long shot.