In between songs by pop-folk singer Cat Stevens, we see Harold sabotaging his mother's plans to set him up with charming women of Harold's age. He does this by engaging in his favorite pastime, staging mock suicides. The frustrated mother then tries to get Harold to join the Army, in the footsteps of his Uncle Victor (Charles Tyner), a jingoistic one-armed veteran.
But Harold prefers to hang out with Maude, whom he first encounters at a funeral. Soon their relationship has progressed to the bedroom, then Harold announces his engagement to his mother. She is aghast, as is Harold's psychiatrist G. Wood and his priest Eric Christmas. But Maude has plans of her own, which exclude Harold and lead to the finale.
How others will see it. This low budget movie had lengthy runs at art houses and drew general (but not universal) critical acclaim. Cort and Gordon were both nominated for Golden Globe awards, but the movie was apparently too controversial for Oscar to touch.
The movie has only grown more popular with time. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1997, the same year as Rear Window. Today at imdb.com, it has nearly 35K votes, a huge number for a 1971 movie without any A-list stars. (Veteran actress and screenwriter Gordon is the biggest name, primarily from her Oscar-winning supporting role in Rosemary's Baby.)
The user ratings are very high with an mean of 8.2 out of 10. Those under 18 give it an 8.6, as do women over 45. Presumably, youngsters think Harold's fake suicides are funny, and women of all ages think Maude is a stitch.
How I felt about it. It is a good movie, but not a great one. There are many amusing moments, such as when Harold plays a prank on his warmonger uncle by having Maude pose as a Vietnam War protestor.
Still, if Maude's motive is to "L-I-V-E live!" then it doesn't make much sense for her to take pills to commit suicide. Also, she drives like a maniac, which might be funny for some within a movie but is likely to lead to a fatal accident in real life. She should be behind bars for stealing cars, and we have to wonder why everyone leaves their door unlocked with the keys in the ignition.
We also wonder how people would feel about the movie if the genders were reversed. Imagine an attractive and wealthy 20-ish woman wanting to marry an impoverished 80-year-old male auto thief. I don't think that story would go over as well, because the man would be seen as sinister.
Harold's character is interesting, though. Clearly he is rebelling against authority, in the form of his meddlesome mother and her associates (the priest, shrink, and gung-ho uncle). He commits fake suicides to show his need to escape their control. After all, he can't just leave home. He'd have to work for a living, and that would be a real drag. But Maude not only accepts him as he is, she also puts on a show for him. That's why their relationship is more credible than their characters.