Harold and Maude is a 1971 American romantic black comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures.

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.

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.

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.

Holding her hand, Harold discovers a number tattooed on her forearm, indicating Maude survived the Nazi death camps.

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.

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

Higgins sold the script with the understanding that he would direct the film but he was told he wasn't ready after tests he shot proved unsatisfactory to the studio heads.

[8] For Harold, in addition to Bud Cort, Ashby considered all promising unknowns, Richard Dreyfuss, Bob Balaban, and John Savage.

[26][27] According to Ashby, there were some issues securing the location because Otto Preminger had previously filmed in the Hillsborough area and had antagonized the local residents.

The novel includes an additional scene during the tree-planting expedition where Maude leads Harold in climbing to the top of a very tall pine tree to show him the view over the forest from near its summit.

The initial release underperformed at the box office, but it gradually found success in repertory theatres and recouped its costs after several years.

[29] Danny Peary, author of the Cult Movies series, referred to the film as "[o]ne of the runaway cult favorites of the seventies" and commented that it "[broke] longevity records in cities like Detroit, Montreal, and most memorably, Minneapolis, where residents actually picketed the Westgate Theater trying to get management to replace the picture after a consecutive three-year run.

"[30][31] The Criterion Collection released Harold and Maude for Region 1 on DVD and Blu-ray on June 12, 2012, including a collection of audio excerpts of Ashby from January 11, 1972, and of screenwriter Colin Higgins from January 10, 1979, a new video interview with Yusuf/Cat Stevens, a new audio commentary by Ashby biographer Nick Dawson and producer Charles B. Mulvehill, and a booklet which includes a new film essay by Matt Zoller Seitz.

[3][32][33] At the time of its release, Harold and Maude received mixed reviews, with several critics being offended by the film's dark humor.

The visual style makes everyone look fresh from the Wax Museum, and all the movie lacks is a lot of day-old gardenias and lilies and roses in the lobby, filling the place with a cloying sweet smell.

"[34] Vincent Canby of The New York Times also panned the film, stating that the actors "are so aggressive, so creepy and off-putting, that Harold and Maude are obviously made for each other, a point the movie itself refuses to recognize with a twist ending that betrays, I think, its life-affirming pretensions.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Hal Ashby's comedy is too dark and twisted for some, and occasionally oversteps its bounds, but there's no denying the film's warm humor and big heart.

[37] In Sight & Sound's 2012 "Greatest Films of All Time" poll, Niki Caro, Wanuri Kahiu, and Cyrus Frisch voted for Harold and Maude.

"[38] In 2017, Chicago Tribune critic Mark Caro wrote a belated appreciation, "I'm sorry, Harold and Maude, for denying you for so long.

At the 29th Golden Globe Awards, Cort and Gordon were nominated as Best Actor and Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, respectively.

A French adaptation by Jean-Claude Carrière opened in 1973 at the Théâtre Récamier in Paris, where Yves Saint Laurent designed costumes for Madeleine Renaud as Maude.

The original Broadway production, starring Janet Gaynor as Maude and Keith McDermott as Harold, closed after four performances in February 1980.

[62] A musical adaptation, with songs by Joseph Thalken and Tom Jones, premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, in January 2005.