HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971) C widescreen 90m dir: Hal Ashby

w/Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, Ellen Geer, Eric Christmas, G. Wood, Judy Engels, Shari Summers

A young man (Cort), whose mother (Pickles) is wealthy, stages inventive gag suicides to gain her attention. He meets a wacky, in-love-with-life 79-year-old (Gordon), a concentration camp survivor, and the two embark upon a most unconventional relationship.

From The Movie Guide: "HAROLD AND MAUDE got lost in the holiday shuffle when first released in late 1971, but there's much in this oddball film to recommend. ...

"This is a doggedly eccentric film which some will reject out of hand. Others will find it profoundly moving and life affirming. Not surprisingly it became one of the major cult films on college campuses in the 1970s. This film was originated as a 20-minute script written as a graduate thesis by UCLA student [Colin] Higgins. He later showed it to his landlady, Lewis, the wife of a film producer, and the two formed their own production company to make the film. Higgins went on to become a writer-director best known for films such as FOUL PLAY, NINE TO FIVE, and THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. He died in 1988 from AIDS complications."