Harold and Maude Page #7

Maude enters with the tea.

MAUDE:

Here we are, Harold. Oat straw

tea and ginger pie.

HAROLD:

Certainly a new experience for me.

MAUDE:

Wonderful! Try something new each

day. After all, we're given life

to find it out. It doesn't last

forever.

They sit down at the table.

HAROLD:

You look as if you could.

MAUDE:

Me. Ha! Did I tell you I'll be

eighty on Saturday?

HAROLD:

You don't look eighty.

MAUDE:

That's the influence of the right

food, the right exercise, and the right

breathing.

(she gestures)

Greet the dawn with the Breath of

Fire!

(the demonstration

leaves her a

little winded)

Of course, there's no doubt the

body is giving out. I'm well into

autumn. I'll have to be giving

it all up after Saturday. Sweeten

the tea with honey, Harold. It's

delicious.

HAROLD:

That's a nice teapot.

MAUDE:

Sterling silver. It was my dear

mother-in-law's, part of a dinner

set of fifty pieces. It's one of

the few things that survived.

(pause)

Oh, but I do rattle on so. Tell

me about yourself, Harold.

(she settles back

with her tea)

What do you do when you aren't

visiting funerals?

68EXT. DEMOLITIONS - DAY

Shots of falling buildings. The giant demolition ball

swings left and right knocking mighty holes in brick walls

and sending them crumbling to earth with deafening noise.

69EXT. DEMOLITION - ANOTHER ANGLE - DAY

Harold and Maude watch, in the background, an old building

collapse into rubble. After the noise abates Maude turns

to Harold.

MAUDE:

Yes. There is definitely a certain

attraction.

70EXT. JUNKYARD - DAY

A giant crane comes crashing into the hood of a car.

The car is picked up and dropped on a conveyor belt which

hauls it up to the crusher. Despite the terrible din

Harold and Maude watch with rapt attention.

71EXT. JUNKYARD DISTRICT - LONG SHOT - DAY

Harold and Maude are sitting on a hill picnicking. They

are looking at the junkyard operation in the distance.

They chew for a while then Maude offers Harold a raw carrot.

She chews on one herself.

MAUDE:

Well, it's all very thrilling,

of course, but I ask you, Harold...

Is it enough?

HAROLD:

What do you mean?

Maude smiles.

72EXT. A LARGE VEGETABLE FIELD - DAY

The CAMERA is at a LOW LEVEL. We see long rows of young

plants that stretch into the distance. We PAN across the

field into two giant CLOSEUPS of Harold and Maude. They

are lying on the ground looking intently at one little

plant. Maude looks over to Harold.

MAUDE:

I love to watch things grow.

73EXT. FLOWER FARM - DAY

SHOTS of flowers growing, all different varieties, in

clusters, in pots, on vines, in greenhouses, in large

fields.

Maude and Harold are walking down a row of flowers.

MAUDE:

They grow and bloom, and fade, and

die, and some change into something

else. Ah, life!

They stop by some flowers.

MAUDE:

I should like to change into a

sunflower most of all. They are

so tall and simple. And you,

Harold, what flower would you

like to be?

HAROLD:

I don't know. Just one of those.

(he gestures)

74HAROLD'S POV

We see a large field of daisies stretching to the hills.

75EXT. BY THE DAISY FIELD - DAY

Harold and Maude look out at it.

MAUDE:

(a little perturbed)

Why do you say that?

HAROLD:

(softly)

Because they are all the same.

MAUDE:

Oooh, but they are not. Look.

They bend down to see some close ones.

MAUDE:

(continuing)

See - some are smaller, some are

fatter, some grow to the left,

some to the right, some even have

some petals missing - all kinds

of observable differences, and we

haven't even touched the bio-

chemical. You see, Harold, they're

like the Japanese. At first you

think they all look alike, but

after you get to know them you see

there is not a repeat in the bunch.

Each person is different, never

existed before and never to exist

again. Just like this daisy -

(she picks it)

- an individual.

They stand up.

HAROLD:

Well, we may be individuals all

right but -

(he looks out

at the field)

- we have to grow up together.

Maude looks up. She is very struck by what Harold said.

She speaks very softly and we see she has tears in her eyes.

MAUDE:

Yes, that's very true. Still I

believe much of the world's

sorrow comes from people who know

they are this -

(she holds

the daisy)

- yet let themselves be treated -

(she looks out

at the field)

- as that.

76EXT. THE FIELD - DAY

Thousands and thousands of daisies wave gently in the

breeze.

77EXT. ROAD BY THE FLOWER FARM - DAY

A large black Continental apparently out of control

crashes through the flower farm fence, swerves onto the

road, and zigzags away at top speed before finally

straightening out.

78INT. CONTINENTAL - DAY

Harold is petrified. Maude is driving. She looks over at

him and explains.

MAUDE:

Ha! Power steering.

79EXT. ROAD IN TOWN - DAY

The Continental speeds by.

80INT. CONTINENTAL - DAY

Harold has somewhat recovered.

HAROLD:

Boy, Maude. The way you handle

cars. I'd never handle a car

like that.

MAUDE:

Oh, it's only a machine, Harold.

It's not as if it were alive,

like a horse or a camel. We may

live in a machine age, but I

simply can't treat them as equals.

(she looks over

at the radio)

Of course, the age has its

advantages.

She turns it on. Music plays softly.

MAUDE:

(continuing)

The universal language of mankind.

(she begins

humming along

with the tune)

What music do you like, Harold?

HAROLD:

Well...

Harold is suddenly thrown against the door as Maude makes

a fast U-turn.

81EXT. BEFORE THE COURTHOUSE PARK - DAY

We see the Continental turn across the street, drive up

onto the sidewalk, and stop as it bumps into a telegraph

pole.

82MED. SHOT OF THE CAR

Maude gets out, walks around the car, and opens Harold's

door. Harold, very shaken, gets out.

HAROLD:

What happened?

MAUDE:

(she points)

Look.

HAROLD:

What?

MAUDE:

Over there by the courthouse.

HAROLD:

What is it?

MAUDE:

That little tree. It's in trouble.

Come on.

Maude walks over to the courthouse. Harold, not wanting to

be left with the crashed car, quickly follows.

83EXT. BY THE COURTHOUSE - DAY

They come to a little tree growing in the garden.

MAUDE:

Look at it, Harold. It's

suffocating. It's the smog.

People can live with it, but

it gives trees asthma. They

can't breathe. See the leaves

are all brown. Harold, we've

got to do something about this

life.

HAROLD:

But what?

MAUDE:

We'll transplant it. To the

forest.

HAROLD:

But we can't just dig it up!

MAUDE:

Why not?

HAROLD:

But this is public property.

MAUDE:

Exactly.

She's ready to dig.

HAROLD:

Don't you think we should get some

tools, maybe?

Rate this script:5.0 / 2 votes