Editing Harold and Maude (section)

===Retrospective appraisal===
The reputation of the film has since increased greatly. On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Hal Ashby's comedy is too dark and twisted for some, and occasionally oversteps its bounds, but there's no denying the film's warm humor and big heart."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harold_and_maude |title=Harold and Maude |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=June 4, 2024}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[Writers Guild of America]] ranked the screenplay number 86 on its list of the "101 Greatest Screenplays" ever written.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1807 |title=101 Greatest Screenplays |publisher=[[Writers Guild of America West]] |access-date=February 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820064446/http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=1807 |archive-date=August 20, 2013}}</ref>

In ''[[Sight & Sound]]''{{'s}} [[The Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2012|2012 "Greatest Films of All Time" poll]], [[Niki Caro]], [[Wanuri Kahiu]], and [[Cyrus Frisch]] voted for ''Harold and Maude''. Frisch commented: "An encouragement to think beyond the obvious!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people//sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/920|title=Cyrus Frisch|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818094846/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/920|archive-date=August 18, 2016}}</ref>

In 2017, ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' critic Mark Caro wrote a belated appreciation, "I'm sorry, ''Harold and Maude'', for denying you for so long. You're my favorite movie once again."<ref>{{cite news |last=Caro |first=Mark |title=A Movie Date With My Younger Self |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/movies/a-movie-date-with-my-younger-self.html |date=March 24, 2017 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>