Blu-ray, DVD Release: Harold and Maude

By
Laurence
– January 17, 2012Find Others: Blu-ray, DVD, Movie, New Release, NewsGet More: , , , ,

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: June 12, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion

Harold and Maude movie scene

Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon are Harold and Maude.

With 1971’s idiosyncratic offbeat comedy-romance fable Harold and Maude, countercultural director Hal Ashby (Being There) fashioned a film that would become the cult classic of its era.

Working from a script by Colin Higgins (9 to 5), the movie tells the story of the emotional and romantic bond between a death-obsessed young man (Bud Cort The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) from a wealthy family and a devil-may-care, bohemian octogenarian (Ruth Gordon, Rosemary’s Baby).

Harold and Maude breaks through a lot of barriers with it unique voice, which is equal parts gallows humor and romantic innocence. Most effectively, it dissolves the barriers that separate people by class, gender and age. Along the way, it features a handful of amazing performances and a solid soundtrack by Cat Stevens.

The Criterion Blu-ray and DVD editions feature the movie with a new high-definition digital restoration. The Blu-ray has uncompressed monaural soundtrack and both have an optional remastered stereo soundtrack.

Both the DVD and Blu-ray also contain the following special features:

  • audio commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson and producer Charles B. MulvehillNick Dawson
  • illustrated audio excerpts of seminars by Ashby and writer-producer Colin Higgins
  • new interview with songwriter Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)
  • booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Wood; a 1971 New York Times profile of star Ruth Gordon; and excerpted transcripts of two interviews, one from 1997 with star Bud Cort and director of photography John Alonzo and one from 2001 with executive producer Mildred Lewis
Buy or Rent Harold and Maude
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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.