I didn't have problems with Nolte's character, so much as his playing of it. I think if he'd given a better performance, his speech wouldn't have seemed to come out of nowhere so much.

I completely agree. I mean, it wouldn't have been impossible to tie all those elements together at all, but he didn't, so it just ended up being really confusing.

But everything else was great.

Can I get thoughts on Harold and Maude? I saw it last night and am not sure what to think. I liked the acting and the quirkiness of the story, but there were two plausibility points that were just so sloppy they took me out of the movie. (I didn't believe Ruth Gordon was a Holocaust survivor, and I didn't believe the relationship as shown in the movie happened in a week or so.)

I hate it when my logic-brain takes me out of a film.

Why don't you believe she was a Holocaust survivor?

I adore Harold & Maude. It's one of my favourite movies. As for the timeframe, it seemed reasonable for a movie, and for a kid like he was. But I never paid attention to the numbers.

Why don't you believe she was a Holocaust survivor?

Because if she was born in 1890, and left Austria in 1945 (or thereabouts), she would have a thick accent.

I can imagine a scenario where she wouldn't have one, of course, but it would have been easier to either cast an actress with the right accent or just scrap that element of the screenplay.

I wasn't counting days on the time frame based on onscreen events, but it felt to me like months were passing, based on how Harold was changing and the other stuff happening in his life.

I do't know-- I just adored Harold and Maude. I believed at least the emotional reality of the story, if not the "real" reality. Also, it was a play, too, and I adore that as well.

Because if she was born in 1890, and left Austria in 1945 (or thereabouts), she would have a thick accent.

Well, not necessarily. Some people can lose their accents quickly. Other people never lose their accents. I think it depends on how much you want to lose it, how much of a mimic you are.

t /Picking up accents wherever I go.

All the ~ma in the world to Requeen, Gandalf.

I do have to tell you, LJ, that my best friend has always told me I see the potential in things rather than the reality... so if the moviemakers were trying, I was probably OK, evewn if they didn't succeed.

I love the movie. I haven't watched it in years (husband has a mild dislike based totally on people telling him he looked like Harold when he was younger, and which he really needs to get over FOR MY SAKE), but used to watch it on an almost-daily basis.

Oh, on a similar nit-picky note, in In Good Company, I was thrown off when his divorce went through immediately like that -- in New York, I'm pretty sure you have to be legally separated for a year first.