HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)
The Movie
Film critics and box office were unkind to Harold And Maude when it was released but gradually over the years the quirky love story became a widely beloved cult classic. The fact that he is a privileged twenty-year-old and she a soon-to-be-eighty year old for whom joire de vivre is a way of life is neither here nor there. The story was written as a masters thesis by UCLA student Colin Higgins and sold to Paramount with the understanding that he would direct the movie. The studio however brought in Hal Ashby as director and Higgins was credited as co-producer. Ashby was an oscar-winning film editor but had directed only one movie before this one. He went on to carve a successful career, along the way directing 10 different actors in oscar-nominated performances. As a bonus the movie is uplifted throughout by a rousing soundtrack composed and sung by Cat Stevens.
(Here's an interview of Cat Stevens talking about how Hal Ashby persisted in persuading him to write the soundtrack music).
(Listen to Cat Stevens' catchy 'If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out' here).
The Story
Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is an introverted young man living with his overbearing socialite mother (Vivian Pickles) in a swanky mansion in Northern California. His idea of fun is to stage elaborately faked suicides to shock first his mother then a succession of potential girlfriends who she has lined up. He also enjoys attending strangers' funerals where he first notices Maude (Ruth Gordon), a septuagenarian with a carefree philosophy of life, the very antithesis of his. Their growing friendship opens his eyes to a new world; he falls for her and wants to marry but Maude, in keeping with her approach to life and to death, has a different plan...
The Locations
- Faux Suicides 10 Stacey Court, Hillsborough --- San Carlos Auto Wreckers (now Skyway Landing offices) --- 959 Sky Way Road, San Carlos
- At The Cemetery - 1 Section 'T', Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma
- Harold's Residence 815 Eucalyptus Avenue, Hillsborough --- 10 Stacey Court, Hillsborough
- They Meet St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 751 Waverley Street, Palo Alto
- At The Cemetery - 2 Section 'J', Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma
- Dates From Hell Rosecourt Mansion, 10 Stacey Court, Hillsborough
- Glaucus's Studio Stall 1, Machine and Erecting Shops, SP Rail Yard, Brisbane
- Maude's Rail Car Oyster Point Boulevard, South San Francisco, between Eccles Avenue and Gull Drive
- Inside The Rail Car Oyster Point Boulevard, South San Francisco, between Eccles Avenue and Gull Drive ( now on display at the Western Railway Museum, 5848 CA-12, Suisun City, Solano County
- Demolition Lot next to 170 Harbor Way, South San Francisco--- Sneath Lane between El Camino and Cherry Ave, San Bruno
- Sunflowers And Daisies Cozzolino Nursery Farm, 11881 San Mateo Road, Half Moon Bay --- Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno --- House Of Doors, 11880 San Mateo Road, Half Moon Bay
- Save That Tree! Guadalupe Canyon Parkway, Visitacion Valley --- Courthouse, Redwood City
- Hapless Cop - 1 Dumbarton Bridge, Highway 84, Fremont
- Hapless Cop - 2 Marshlands Road, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Fremont
- Uncle Victor Sutro Heights Park, Land's End, San Francisco
- "What Have You Done?!" Sutro Baths, Lands End
- Tarzan Yell Sand Hill Road near Interstate 280, Woodside
- Glorious Birds Mudflats Sculpture Garden, Emeryville
- Amusement Park Santa Cruz Boardwalk
- Shocking News Peninsula Hospital, Burlingame ... Sneath Lane view of Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno
- Bereft Sharp Park Road overpass at Highway 1, Pacifica --- Pescadero Creek Road, between Pescadero and the Pacific Coast --- Pescadero Creek Road between Alpine Road and Loma Mar --- Sneath Lane at Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno --- Pescadero Creek Road at Highway 1, Pescadero --- Mori Point Road at Highway 1, Pacifica
- Dead Hearse Lishumsha Trail, Mori Point, Pacifica --- Mori Point, Pacifica