Hal Ashby

If you've ever had an interest in cult classics for the film world, you've probably heard of Harold and Maude. This quirky romance/dark comedy between a teenage boy and an elderly woman came out in 1972 and helped set the standard for what we know now today as a cult film. It was made with a small budget and relatively unknown cast. Today, you might see it as just another indie film with a quirky story and odd characters, like Napoleon Dynamite, Bottle Rocket, After Hours, Sideways, etc. Back in its day, however, it was a rarity. The only movies released with small budgets were "B" movies with bad acting and stupid plots. Harold and Maude helped set the stage for a new kind of film, the indie, quirky, art-house feature.

The man behind Harold and Maude is director Hal Ashby. Ashby followed that great film up with a decade of hits, both artistically and commercially. Even though he never wrote screenplays and didn't have the control over projects like many of the more intense directors do these days, he managed to carve out a unique style that suited him and his era, and influenced countless modern filmmakers.

Ashby is undoubtedly one of the best directors to come to fruition during the 1970's, a very important time for film. Like many others, he took advantage of the new rules for censorship and the changing climate in Hollywood. Unfortunately, few people outside the film world recognize him alongside the other directors who became famous during this period. Ashby was not one of the "film brats" or foreign exports to famously appear in Hollywood in this time. They received publicity; he did not. Still, he's had a major impact.

The main reason why people forget about Ashby is that he came into his groove during the same time that more famous young directors also were getting noticed. The 70's are now known for the meteoric rise of Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, and George Lucas, amongst others. Unlike these "film brats," who had graduated from the first college film programs available, Ashby had to work his way up the system. He was born in a small town in Utah into a very strict Mormon family, and ran away to Hollywood at a young age. He worked a bunch of different jobs at studios, starting off as a lowly assistant, then slowly working his way up the career ladder, until he got the opportunity to edit films. He excelled as an editor, and began to edit major films for Universal. He worked on classics like The Thomas Crown Affair and even won an Oscar for his editing with In the Heat of the Night in 1967.

After proving his worth as an editor, Ashby finally got the chance to direct films. His first was The Landlord, a drama that utilized the new small budget formula some companies were looking for. Ashby then got the chance to direct Harold and Maude, which was a student thesis script from Colin Higgins at UCLA. Even though it was ignored at first, getting success in later years (again, it was one of the first cult classics), Hollywood artists recognized his talent and began hiring him for bigger projects. He worked with a young Randy Quaid and Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail, an excellent wartime satire. He worked with Warren Beatty and legendary screenwriter Robert Towne on Shampoo, which featured the debut of Carrie Fisher. He worked with Jane Fonda and Jon Voigt on Coming Home, one of the first films openly dealing with/questioning Vietnam. He got a best director nomination for this, and the film was up for best picture. He also got the same nominations for Bound For Glory, a great biopic about folk singer Woddy Guthrie.

Towards the end of the decade, Ashby had quickly become one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood, despite all the other famous names working. Having seen his films nominated for best picture in 1976 and 1978, and he for best director, he was approached for numerous projects. He decided to go with Peter Sellers, who had long been struggling to adapt a satirical novel called Being There by Jerzy Kozinski. Sellers and Ashby took the project and ran with it, creating a very sharp and humorous look at American society, especially concerning the media, politics, and the power of appearances. It was a last hurrah for both men. Sellers died shortly after, and Ashby's career trailed off after that (he also suffered a heart attack during a Rolling Stones concert a few years later).

Part of his allure is that he was perfect for the seventies and the attitudes of the counterculture, anti-establishment movement, but that also got him in trouble once the decade was over. He was, quite noticeably, on drugs.... LOTS of drugs. He also had no audience left, and he hated the new style of films that came out in the 80's. He never made a true success after Being There, with several failures in the early 80's. He died in 1988 after a heart attack, not that old, and clearly worn down by creative heartbreak plus years of drug abuse.

As I said, Ashby was the perfect director for the 1970's. He was very much in favor of the new
wave and the loose rules associated with the era. His films have funny and realistic visions of sex not seen in earlier days. Warren Beatty basically plays an even hornier version of himself in Shampoo, doing Goldie Hawn and Julie Christie in back-to-back scenes. He loved characters who rebelled against the mainstream. Harold and Maude used this rebellious nature. So did The Last Detail, which is very critical of military rules. He was Jane Fonda's choice to helm Coming Home at a time when directly critical Vietnam movies were just starting to come out (it was released the same year as The Deer Hunter, and these two opened the gates for criticism). Bound for Glory didn't hide Woody Guthrie's communist views but embraced them, and showed how he formed these views, after working in poor farms during the depression. Being There wrapped all of his ideas into one big joke about America, through the journey of Sellers as a total idiot who might be the next president.

Along with his favorite themes, Ashby had a sharp visual style. His experience as an editor gave him the idea to use quick cuts to get more information in a small time. He helped move films into faster editing (today, films have something like five times as many cuts as they did in the old days). He also knew how to get comic reactions out of motifs and framing. Musically, he was always a fan of the folk and classic rock of his day and his films have great soundtracks. Bound for Glory obviously has all the Guthrie hits, the others utilize 70's rock, and Harold and Maude has a wonderfully strange soundtrack composed entirely by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.

Who are the modern filmmakers Ashby influenced? The two most commonly mentioned are Wes Anderson and Alexander Payne. They have different styles, but you can see their respect for Ashby in every film. Ashby's satirical views have contributed to Payne's snarky films. His visual style and love of wonderfully strange people have no doubt helped Anderson. One critic even called Rushmore "an update of Harold and Maude, but with the addition of Bill Murray, which equals fantastic." Anderson even cast the original Harold, Bud Cort, in The Life Aquatic, even though he hasn't been a popular actor for a long time. He was paying respects to Ashby. I think you can also say that a lot of new indie filmmakers who have a very Wes Anderson style, are by purpose or connection, all disciples of the Ashby style: Zach Braff, Burr Steers, Jared Hess, and more.

Ashby may have burned out after the 70's, but he might be one of the greatest of that time. He was a man of his time, and a man who influenced more people than he probably imagined. On this site, you'll find a lot of modern filmmakers with great styles. Almost all of them owe some creative debt to Hal Ashby and his funkadelic films.

by Justin Leo

Hal Ashby on:
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