'Harold and Maude' at 50: An Oral History of How a 'Harrowing' Flop Became a Beloved Cult Classic
It was the original cult film. A movie you had to show your girlfriend or boyfriend so they understood you. And it was the comedy Variety called “as much fun as a burning orphanage.”
Making “Harold and Maude” wasn’t easy, and releasing it to the general public was even harder. But 50 years on, the touching, droll and subversive story of a troubled teenager, played by Bud Cort, who falls in love with a nearly 80-year old free spirit, played by Ruth Gordon, still feels fresh and funny.
The idea for the film was hatched by Colin Higgins, a UCLA film student who lucked into a job cleaning the pool of a producer and ended up selling his script to Paramount. Director Hal Ashby fought the establishment at every turn, nearly getting the production shut down. Released with almost no marketing on the same date “The Godfather” was supposed to premiere, “Harold and Maude” flopped spectacularly in its initial release. Yet over time, it slowly caught on as a repertory theater staple, becoming a ‘70s touchstone and finally recouping its budget several years later.
“It really kind of became, I hesitate to say, the first cult film. There had been midnight movies before it, like ‘El Topo,’ as well as stoner movies that played midnight shows, but ‘Harold and Maude’ became this thing where just audiences saw it over and over and over again,” says “Ed Wood” screenwriter Larry Karaszewski, who provides a commentary track along with super-fan Cameron Crowe for Paramount Home Video’s new 50th anniversary Blu-Ray release.
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/harold-and-maude-oral-history-flop-cult-classic-1235130303/
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