Harold and Maude is a 1971 American dark comedy film directed by Hal Ashby and released by Paramount Pictures. It incorporates elements of dark humor and existentialist drama, with a plot that revolves around the exploits of a young man named Harold intrigued with death. Harold drifts away from the life that his detached mother prescribes for him, and develops a relationship with a 79-year-old woman named Maude . The film was based on a screenplay written by Colin Higgins and published as a novel in 1971. The movie was shot in the San Francisco Bay Area. Harold and Maude was also a play on... Broadway that closed after four performances. A French adaptation for television, translated and written by Jean-Claude Carrière, appeared in 1978. It was adapted for the stage and performed in Québec, starring Roy Dupuis. The film is ranked number 45 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Funniest Movies of all Time, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1997 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
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| Release date: | 1971 |
| Directed by: | Hal Ashby |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 91 Minutes |
| Producer: | Colin Higgins, Charles Mulvehill |
| Editor: | William Sawyer, Edward Warschilka |
| Music by: | Yusuf Islam |
| Cinematography: | John A. Alonzo |
| Screenplay by: | Colin Higgins |
| Estimated budget: | $1,200,000 |
| Genre: | Comedy |