Useless Movie Trivia For
Harold and Maude

Memorable Quotes

Maude: Harold, *everyone* has the right to make an ass out of themselves. You just can't let the world judge you too much.

Maude: You know, at one time, I used to break into pet shops to liberate the canaries. But I decided that was an idea way before its time. Zoos are full, prisons are overflowing... oh my, how the world still *dearly* loves a *cage.*

Priest: I would be remiss in my duty, if I did not tell you, that the idea of... intercourse - your firm, young... body... comingling with... withered flesh... sagging breasts... flabby b-b-buttocks... makes me want... to vomit.

Trivia

When considering the role of Harold, Bud Cort asked the opinion of director Robert Altman, his mentor. Robert Altman cautioned that rising star Bud Cort might find himself forever typecast.

Henry Dieckoff, who appeared as Mrs. Chasen's butler, was the actual butler of Rose Court Mansion in Hillsborough, California, south of San Francisco, which served as the setting for the Chasen mansion.

In all shots of Ruth Gordon (Maude) driving the hearse it is being towed because she never learned how to drive a car.

Maude's picture frames are empty. In Colin Higgins's book, Harold asks why she removed the photographs (the scene was not used in the movie). Maude tells him they mocked her by their images remaining sharp even as her memories were fading, implying that she is suffering from Alzheimer's or a similar form of dementia.

While watching a sunset with Harold, Maude sees a flock of seagulls and refers to Dreyfus. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), a Jewish officer in the French army, was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894, and sentenced to life in solitary confinement on Devil's Island (a penal colony off the coast of French Guiana). He was pardoned five years later, and ultimately exonerated when the evidence against him was proved false.

The hearse Harold originally drives is a 1959 Cadillac Superior 3-way model that is one of the most sought after hearses among collectors today but at the time was considered nothing more than an undesirable used car which was purchased for a few hundred dollars. The Jaguar hearse was really destroyed at the end and no replica exists because they only constructed one version for filming.

When Maude and Harold steal the police officer's motorcycle, Bud Cort accidentally hit himself in the head with the shovel, but just kept going for the sake of the shot.

Harold and Maude (1971) played for a total of 1,957 showings from mid-1972 until June 1974 at the Westgate Theater in Edina, Minnesota. Ruth Gordon appeared for the first anniversary celebration and both Gordon and Cort showed up for the second anniversary.

The scenes in which Harold turns to look at the camera after successfully scaring off his first date, and when he does "the finger" behind his mother's back after she sees the Jaguar turned into a Hearse, were not in the script, rather, they were improvised by Bud Cort.

Ranked #9 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Romantic Comedy".

In the scenes between Harold and the psychiatrist, both wear matching clothes, down to the ties and handkerchiefs.

Goofs

Box Office Info USA

Budget: $1,200,000

Filming Locations

Berkeley, California, USA
Brisbane, California, USA (fast driving)
Burlingame, California, USA (hospital)
Cabot, California, USA
Colma, California, USA (cemeteries)
Daly City, California, USA
Dumbarton Bridge, San Francisco Bay, California, USA (motorcycle scene)
Emeryville, California, USA (salt flats with sculptures)
Half Moon Bay, California, USA
Hillsborough, California, USA (Chasen Family mansion)
Menlo Park, California, USA (Tarzan yell)
Oakland, California, USA
Oyster Point, California, USA (Maude's railcar)
Pacifica, California, USA
Palo Alto, California, USA(church funeral scene)
Redwood City, California, USA (Tree rescue scene)
San Bruno, California, USA (National Cemetery scenes)
San Carlos, California, USA (Wrecking Yard Scene)
San Francisco, California, USA (Veterans petitioning)
Santa Cruz, California, USA (amusement park)
Sutro Baths, San Francisco, California, USA (Maude's protest scene)