You know how sometimes when you revisit something – like a book or a movie or even a place – it doesn’t quite measure up to the way you remember it?

I am happy to report that was not the case with my lablog viewing of [amazon_link id=”B001Q8MMGU” target=”_blank” ]Harold and Maude[/amazon_link]. I watched it again last night…I’m sure it’s been at least twenty or maybe thirty years since I saw it. It might even be that I only ever saw it when it first came out in 1971, then again, I remembered so much of it that I think I must have seen it again sometime between then and now.

But there was still a lot that I’d missed in that first viewing(s). I loved all the layers of life that Ruth Gordon embodied in her portrayal of Maude; the moment when Harold notices her concentration camp tattoo, her reference to Vienna, the wonderful Cat Stevens soundtrack…all of it funny and tragic, but mostly a wonderful tribute to living life as loudly as possible.

If you need to shake things up a little and want a life-affirming film, then I’d suggest you watch Harold in his various suicide attempts…there’s nothing quite like it.