HAROLD AND MAUDE Screens Midnights This Weekend at The Tivoli

“Who sends dead flowers to a funeral? It’s absurd!”

HAROLD AND MAUDE screens midnights this weekend (September 11th and 12th) at The Tivoli Theater as part of their Reel Late at The Tivoli midnight series.

The Tivoli is going old-school this weekend with its Reel Late at The Tivoli midnight series. It’s HAROLD AND MAUDE, which I saw at the Tiv back in the late ‘70s, one of the very first films I ever saw there. HAROLD AND MAUDE was a midnight perennial in my youth, but seems to have fallen off the cult movie radar (KING OF HEARTS, which I saw double-billed with HAROLD AND MAUDE in my youth, has suffered a similar fate).

HAROLD AND MAUDE is a funny and quirky May-December romance from 1971 between  20-something morbid rich kid Harold with a holocaust-survivor Maude who is approaching her 80th. Both are enthusiastic funeral-crashers Harold is a pasty boy obsessed with death; frequently playing suicide pranks at home so much so that his mother (Vivian Pickles) doesn’t take it seriously at all. This happens in the opening scene which sets the black comedy tone of the film directed by Hal Ashby and featuring a famous song score by Cat Stevens.

Maude is a loud, aggressive, live-for-the-moment type. Her interests (besides crashing funerals) include stealing cars and she’s never afraid to speak her mind. She makes Harold’s life exciting and he soon finds himself falling in love with her. Needless to say, his mom doesn’t approve of the relationship. Harold is played by the odd-looking but talented Bud Cort and Maude by Ruth Gordon whose every line in the film is memorable and amusing. There are some funny moments in the film involving Maude and the police and although the movie is silly and far-fetched at times, it does encourage you to live life to the fullest. It’s a funny script and well-acted and although not a success upon its first release, it has found a deserved cult following through the years. Good for the Tivoli for bring back HAROLD AND MAUDE. I’ll be there Friday night with some custom HAROLD AND MAUDE trivia with prizes.

A facebook invite for this event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1638236853115597/

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the Reel Late at the Tivoli Line-up for the next few weeks:

Sept 18-19                                        FLASH GORDON

Sept 25-26                                       PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

Oct 2-3                                              LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Oct 9-10                                            WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

Oct 16-17                                         MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL

Oct 23-24 and Oct 31-Nov 1    ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW with live shadow cast with the Samurai Electricians.