Talk:Harold and Maude

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Contents 1 Sexual Relationship 2 NPOV dispute. 3 The two Cat Stevens songs 4 other hints for Maude's background 5 Image confusion 6 Daisy/Cemetery Scene Summary

[edit] Sexual Relationship

The article doesn't mention their cross-generational sexual relationship which it probably ought to. This is surely another theme and was a source of controversy even years after the film was released.

Also, the Theme paragraphs need to be rewritten with correct grammar. 202.82.171.186 07:31, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV dispute.

If you are going to dispute NPOV, it would help to see an actual complaint.

The disputant seems (but I would love to hear from the horse's mouth) to be distressed by the characterization of the film as "strange". I can see the point, though there are certainly some films (say, Eraserhead) where nobody would dispute the adjective. Is just calling a film strange necessarily biased? ACW 18:52, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The two Cat Stevens songs

It would be nice to name the two Cat Stevens songs that only appeared in the film, and were not released until many years later. I remember being frustrated by these songs, since I was a big Cat Stevens fan and wanted to be able to listen to them at home.

OK, so my unreliable memory says the songs were Don't Be Afraid [see below] and If You Want To Sing Out. Can somebody confirm this (and while you're at it, you might as well put the names in the article)? Or correct me? Thanks. ACW 18:56, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

An anonymous editor changed my recollection from Don't Be Afraid to Don't Be Shy. I changed it back. My memory is imperfect, of course, and Don't Be Shy may be the correct title. But it's bad manners to edit somebody else's comments on a talk page; it makes it look as though I said something that I didn't say. For the record, I still believe the song was Don't Be Afraid. I'd be glad if the editor who changed my guess would come back and discuss the matter, rather than editing my memories :) ACW 18:56, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] other hints for Maude's background

Sitting at the pond, one can clearly see the 6-digit number on her right arm. Alos, she mentioned that as a girl she have seen "the princes". This quite clearly indicates that she was jewish woman from Vienna surviving the concentration camps.

The additional songs (most of the movie's soundtrack is on "Catch Bull...") have appeared on CD

Correction to this comment: "The additional songs (most of the movie's soundtrack is on "Catch Bull...") have appeared on CD"

This is incorrect...most of the songs are from two much earlier albums, "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea for the Tillerman". "Catch Bull at Four" had been neither released nor recorded at the time this film was released.

SPOILER WARNING: Do not read this if you haven't seen the film and don't wish one of the best (both funniest and most political) portions to be disclosed! The cross-generational sexual relationship is indeed mentioned in the synopsis, though a big deal is not made out of it, doubtless as Maud and Harold would have wished. However, the anti-war episode is omitted entirely from the synopsis, in which Harold meets his uncle or some relative on his mother's side, who, despite being a decorated amputee is entirely too gung-ho (pro war). One of the most memorable episodes of the film is that in which Harold and Maud plot to prove Harold's unsuitability for the military (in front of the retired General) by having Harold appear to push Maud off a pier to drown in her very bizarre and antique women's suffragette outfit, complete with protest sign. This may be viewed as the (mock) homicidal antithesis to the (mock) suicidal aspect of Harold's personality, and was distinctly a minor theme to the movie---the horrors of war and the results are the very opposite of Maud's philosophy voiced in the garden "some people are like this (she gestures to a side of a garden in which no plants are in bloom) when they could choose to be like this (she gestures to the opposite side of the path, where the plants are all in bloom).

[edit] Image confusion

I notice someone keeps putting the theatrical release poster onto the article, in place of the actual video cover. In my opinion, in an article about the film, the video is a far better image than a theatrical release. Does anyone have an opinion otherwise? --Elonka 06:46, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

• This is your personal opinion. Guidelines state that a theatrical release poster should be used in favor of a video cover. The VHS cover would only be acceptable if a poster could not be provided - for instance, if the film was released direct to video. But this is not the case here. (Ibaranoff24 (talk) 11:49, 15 January 2008 (UTC))
  • Could you please provide a link to these guidelines? --Elonka 17:03, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
    • Here ya go: WP: Films Guidelines. -- Grandpafootsoldier (talk) 01:37, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Daisy/Cemetery Scene Summary

I was just wondering what exactly the point is behind it and if it's really necessary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.201.29.226 (talk) 04:31, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

I agree, it doesn't seem to belong here. I reckon it should be removed. Pearce.duncan (talk) 11:26, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Agreed. Should we have a detailed description of all scenes? No. That scene is memorable, but so are many others. Deleting. --Bridgecross (talk) 19:10, 13 May 2008 (UTC)