Woody Harrelson names cinema’s greatest love story: “One of the all-time great, genius movies”
(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Tue 27 January 2026 21:30, UK
A good love story will outlast everyone who reads it. For centuries, we’ve adored the romances between everyone from Romeo and Juliet to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, looking to these tales of all-consuming love that triumphs in spite of the odds.
With the advent of cinema, however, new love stories have been able to become part of our collective consciousness, the electrifying nature of watching a relationship unfold on a screen in front of us allowing for a new experience of consuming enduring tales of romance. The romantic genre, whether that be more dramatic or comedic, has become a stalwart feature of the cinematic landscape since the early days, because if there’s one thing that so many of us enjoy, it’s the reassurance that bold and life-affirming love is really out there.
That’s one of the things Woody Harrelson loves so much about his favourite romantic film, a controversial classic that, despite its unusual age gap, has remained one of the most powerful love stories ever told. The actor adores Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby’s dark comedy that finds love and light in the most unexpected of places.
Released in 1971, the film is a prime example of the New Hollywood era’s propensity for daring cinematic ventures, using a 60 year age gap between a young man and an elderly woman to tell a love story that transcends expectations and convention.
Starring Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon, they’re the last people you’d pair up for a romantic storyline, but under Ashby’s direction, the unlikely relationship that blossoms between them becomes deeply fulfilling and emotional to witness.
Revealing his love for the film, Harrelson said (via You Gotta See This: More Than 100 of Hollywood’s Best Reveal and Discuss Their Favorite Films), “My other favourite film is Harold and Maude. It’s one of the most beautiful love stories ever told. Just the relationship between the two tells you everything that’s wonderful about life.”
In particular, Harrelson loves the way the characters interact with each other, their conversations allowing one another to learn about life. “There’s poetry in the dialogue. I think it’s one of the all-time great, genius movies. And I love the scene where Harold and Maude are together, and the line is something like, ‘There will always be glorious ducks.’ Ruth Gordon says it. It’s just a real gem of a line,” he added.
Harold, a 20-something-year-old who is obsessed with death, and Maude, a quirky 80-year-old who dedicates herself to living her life the best she can, prove to be transformative forces in each other’s lives, although audiences were incredibly shocked when a scene reveals the pair in bed together. Reviews were mixed when the film debuted, but as the years have gone on, viewers, like Harrelson, have come to appreciate just how spectacular and life-affirming the movie is, even if it ends on such a bittersweet note.
It might not be the first romance you think of when you’re asked to name cinema’s greatest love story, but Harold and Maude is a truly special film that uses its central relationship to explore the way that another person can truly transform your life for the better if you just let them in.
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