HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)

• Director: Hal Ashby
• Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles
• Film: 91mins | USA | Subtitles | Intermission
• Event: 18:30 – 21:00 / Doors 18:00 [18+]

Cult film night BAR TRASH continues our 13th sensational season — SCREAM FOR YOUR LIVES! — with Hal Ashby’s riotously morbid and joyously life-affirming HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971).

The story follows the unlikely romance between a gloomy, 20-year-old, hearse-driving Harold (Bud Cort), and a sunny 80-year-old eccentric Maude (Ruth Gordon) who gives Harold his first steps towards embracing existence.

When Francis Ford Coppola was late completing THE GODFATHER (1972), Paramount rushed out HAROLD AND MAUDE as a last minute replacement. The movie was both a critical and commercial failure: “has all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage” (Variety). A highly personal film developed by its screenwriter Colin Higgins as his master’s thesis at film school, HAROLD AND MAUDE didn’t stand a chance: “this little film of ours in those big cinemas up against all the top releases of the season… We were swamped. It was a major failure; total disaster” (Higgins).

HAROLD AND MAUDE eventually found popularity on America’s regional movie circuit, playing at venues like the Westgate in suburban Minneapolis “where it reportedly ran for three years and induced one young patron to see it 138 times” (Midnight Movies) before becoming an occasional feature in midnight movie lineups. With one of those reputations that has grown and grown over the 55 years since its original release, HAROLD AND MAUDE is now essential for any cult film fanatic.

Police notice: We are showing HAROLD AND MAUDE with subtitles from the best available digital source. The film features elaborately staged scenes of fake death by suicide.

/// BAR TRASH is a celebration of cult and curious cinema, hosted by queer film fanatic Token Homo and friends. Films are served with introductions, intermissions, prize giveaways, and subtitles / captions where possible. Tickets from £3.50 + fees. Adults 18+ only. Follow @tokenhomo on Instagram for updates. ///