Harold and Maude is a movie directed by Hal Ashby in 1971. The film, featuring light humor, dark humor, and existentialist drama, centers around the exploits of a morbid young man -- Harold -- who drifts away from the life that his detached mother prescribes him as he falls in love with septuagenarian Maude.

The film is number 45 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Funniest Movies of all time[1], number 42 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies and on IMDB's list of the best 250 movies ever made. In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress [2]. It is particularly noteworthy as having an enormous and zealous cult following.

The film was a commercial failure when it was released although the critical reception was extremely positive. The screenplay upon which the film was based was written by Colin Higgins, and published as a novel[3] in 1971. The movie was shot in the San Francisco Bay Area. Harold and Maude was also a play on Broadway for some time.

The movie has given rise to two new words: "Harolding" (hanging around cemeteries) described by Douglas Coupland in "Harolding in West Vancouver" (1996); and "Maudism" or "Maudianism", the philosophy of living each day to the fullest.[4]. This may also have a link to the phonetically-identical philosophy of Modism.

The entire soundtrack for the movie is by Cat Stevens.

This reminds me of Hal. Siftbot, since when could you post?

jeeze.. wow.

open the pod bay doors hal.

I love these kinds of promotional shoots Usually meant to sell movie making to someone who doesn't understand movie-making but has the money and usually loves films. I laughed at 6:30...

Irwin : "Hal? How's the money situation? A million one hundred and ten thousand for miniatures only?"

Hal : "Right."

Irwin : "It's only money!"

*comedy *geek if I ever saw it!

Thanks again for the prezzie, michie. It looked and sounded very pretty. And thanks for the button-press-glowy-Hal thing info. Thing. (I've been working on Flash all week and am as right brained as hell right now: words gone.)

Thanks, mauz15. It's nice to be up here!

choggie, your poodles, as always, are glorious, and since your link doesn't show anything I ever said, then I never said anything, right? :-) However, if I were on anything, which I'm not, I would gladly share it.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

But I want my own little, flashy faux-Hal thingie. Has that little device been a part of all your Big Brothers?

SiftBot is actually HAL in disguise, and when he absorbs all of the Video power of the world, he will kill everyone, and spare us. I Hope.

From a fansite, but said nicely:

In 1971, Jerzy Kosinski published the novel Being There. Soon afterwards he received a telegram from its lead character, Chance the Gardener: "Available in my garden or outside of it." A telephone number followed and when Kosinski dialed it Peter Sellers answered.

For years afterwards, Sellers would try to get this film made. "That's me!" he would tell people of the Chance character. He hawked the idea of a film to whomever he could find. Finally, in 1979, with the clout he had gained from the Pink Panther series, he was able to fulfill his dream.

What followed was the culmination of Peter Sellers' career: a masterpiece of double-edged satire on politics and television. But Kosinki's screenplay goes deeper than that. What he and director Hal Ashby expose is a self-serving and self-deceived society. Through the innocence of the Chance character, all the schemes and manipulations of the world are laid bare for what they are: pure folly. For those who hunger for the truths in life, this is a film that will satisfy your appetite.
__________________

I couldn't find my favorite clip: Chance is with the Shirley MacClaine character, who is coming on to him. Chance says only, "I like to watch" (meaning television) but the lady takes it upon herself to interpret this to mean that she should enjoy herself on her own, while he watched. Even after a huge orgasm, Chance never notices..Seller's face during that scene is priceless...

Anyway, here's my submission to "Great moments in cinema!"

So is siftbot any relation to Hal?

A common misconception is that the name HAL was derived by a one letter shift from the name IBM, although this has been denied by both Arthur C. Clarke and his fictional character Dr. Chandra, who states that "by now, any idiot should know that HAL stands for Heuristic ALgorithmic".

Not my words

HAL -
H+1 = I
A+1 = B
L+1 = M

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke which was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, most notably "The Sentinel" (1951). Kubrick collaborated with Clarke, and together they first concurrently produced the novel version that was released after the film.

The HAL 9000 computer symbolizes the progress of technology. It represents many apprehensions about technology. First, HAL is an artificial intelligence – it can mimic all of the thought processes of the human brain with greater speed and reliability. Second, its inner workings are not completely understood – even by the people who created it. HAL is an extraordinarily potent technology that cannot be fully controlled. When HAL begins to deviate from the way in which it has been programmed, this is an illustration of the apprehension many people held that our own technological development will someday come back to haunt us in surprising and unanticipated ways.

Obviously one of my favorite movies.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do
I'm half crazy all for the love of you
It won't be a stylish marriage
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
Of a bicycle built for two

Oh, Hal with Pesci's voice...I'll miss you.

*discard

Boohoo, Hal. It's your friggin' job, suck it up. You make about three times as much as me.

Dear Hal- don't hate Steve too much because, let's face it, he is your raisons d'etre. Without Steve, you are nothing.