50th Anniversary: "Harold and Maude" is as necessary as ever.

by Brent Calderwood

It might be time to stop calling Harold and Maude a cult film. Yes, it’s true that when it came out fifty years ago (December 20, 1971), many critics and audiences greeted it with a mix of bewilderment, indifference, and even hostility—Variety, for example, claimed it had “all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage.” And yes, it's also true that Harold and Maude has been a staple of midnight art-house screenings almost since its release and has topped “best cult films” lists for as long as “cult film” has been a recognizable term.  

But 50 years on, Harold and Maude is so widely beloved by critics and new generations of film lovers that what was faintly hailed as an exquisite but slightly rarefied document of post-’60s counterculture is now firmly a part of our culture...

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Almost There: Diana Rigg in "The Hospital"

by Cláudio Alves

Last Night in Soho, now in theaters, marks Diana Rigg's last movie appearance. That British Giallo pastiche cum Swinging Sixties nostalgia-kick was the great actress's final project before she died last year, at 82. Rigg left behind an incredible career that spanned over six decades and several mediums. In honor of the erstwhile Bond girl, our immortal Queen of Thorns, and unforgettable Emma Peel, this week's Almost There write-up is dedicated to her.

Despite an Emmy victory and two BAFTAs for her TV work, Rigg never got an Oscar nomination. The closest she ever came was in 1971, on the occasion of her Hollywood debut in Arthur Hiller's Oscar-winning The Hospital…

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