This favorite dark comedy is rarely seen on the web, but it has just arrived on Pluto TV

The 1970s were a peak decade for innovation and creativity in filmmaking. Directors such as Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, and Francis Ford Coppola have been cited as some of the most important auteurs of the time, but Hal Ashby is one director whose name seems to be mentioned less and less over the years. Looking back, he’s someone whose work was a big part of the Hollywood Renaissance.

Ashby died in 1988, but he directed some of the best black comedies and satires of the era, including Shampoo and Being There. He was also at the helm of one of the most controversial romances of the decade: Harold and Maud.

The film is now available for free on Streaming services Like Pluto TV and Kanopy this month, it makes for great, funky Valentine’s Day viewing. If you’ve never seen it (or if it moved you at a younger age and you’re hoping to rewatch), now’s a good time to watch the film — which often disappears from streaming services almost as soon as it arrives. The main actor in the film, Bud Cort, He died He turns 77 this week, adding yet another reason to watch.

Harold and Maude stars Kurt and Academy Award winner Ruth Gordon as a young man and the older woman he falls in love with. Harold, 20, is wealthy and still lives at home. Maude is 79 years old and lives in a modest camper van. Harold is obsessed with death, and often makes elaborate suicide attempts: hanging, self-immolation, you name it. While these attempts seem realistic, his mother’s unaffected reactions to them are the definition of deadpan comedy.

But even acknowledging the film’s inherent dark humor, it’s hard to imagine that a film like this could be made by a major studio these days. Critics didn’t really like the film in 1971 either – “scary and disgusting” is how New York Times Description of the two main shows – but over the years, it has developed a large fan base thanks to long-running syndications in second-run theatres.

Harold meets Maud at the funeral of someone neither of them actually knows. They soon become inseparable. While Harold’s outlook on life and death is all bleak, Maud’s fascination with death actually provides her with a reason to live. (Harold notices a number tattooed on her forearm that subtly indicates her survival from a concentration camp.) Despite some ideas or performances that may be considered off-putting by many, Harold and Maude is a celebration of life, an existential drama that balances heavy and light, and a film that embodies the era in which it was made. That Cat Stevens soundtrack!

While the central relationship itself is unconventional, the film is less about the search for true romantic love and more like a reminder of how to live life on one’s own terms. As Maud told Harold: “Everyone has the right to make fun of themselves. You can’t let the world judge you too much.”

Harold and Maude is now available on Pluto and Kanopy TV.