122. The Harold & Maude Phenomenon at The Westgate Theater w/ Author John Gaspard

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On this episode of Writing Remix, Dan talks to John Gaspard, the author of Held Over: Harold and Maude at the Westgate Theater. During a time when large movie theaters are trying to figure out how to bring in the crowds and rival streaming services, John and Dan discuss how the movie Harold and Maude played for two years at The Westgate. John unpacks why audiences were so obsessed with the film, how the studios had no clue how to advertise Harold and Maude, the fading communal experience of watching a movie in a theater, the role that small neighborhood movie theaters played in small towns, and what it was like to live in a time pre-VHS.

This episode provides a bit of hope during a time when hope seems to be fading. It gives us something to remember and be nostalgic for, that place where people went to experience a wide array of emotions together as collective event of shared humanity. As John says in this episode, Harold and Maude was a feel-good movie during a time, in the 70s, when there weren’t a lot of feel-good films to go see. In a similar way, we’ve been overwhelmed with movies and media that exploit people, celebrate violence, and flood our senses with tragedy. This episode attempts to shed light on a singular moment when a small quirky film provided people with a little joy.

Approximate Rundown

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:34 John Gaspard Background

01:10 Why Write the Book

02:45 How the Cult Hit Happened

06:28 Neighborhood Theaters Era

07:37 Communal Movie Magic

11:46 Westgate Secret Sauce

12:57 Critics and Word of Mouth

15:26 Designing the Photo Book

17:22 Westgate History and Decline

20:05 What We Lost with Multiplexes

23:20 Dark Comedy and Risky Films

26:56 Streaming Choice Overload

28:25 Bad Movies Together

29:11 Jelly Study Decision Fatigue

31:26 When Movies Disappeared

32:11 VHS Changed Everything

33:58 Monster Kid TV Rituals

36:20 Working the Westgate

38:21 Harold and Maude Film School

42:15 Neighborhood Theater Comeback

45:20 What the Book Captures

48:37 Libraries and Coffee Table Book

51:01 Final Plugs and Farewell

John Gaspard is an author, filmmaker, and podcaster. His latest book, Held Over: Harold and Maude at The Westgate Theater, documents how Minneapolis’ Westgate Theater extended the run of a box-office flop until it became a cult favorite, drawing celebrity visits, superfans, and neighborhood protests.

He writes two mystery series: the ten-book Eli Marks Mystery Series, featuring a magician-turned-detective, and the three-book Como Lake Players Mystery Series, set in a community theater where backstage tensions turn deadly.

On Behind the Page: The Eli Marks Podcast, he hosts interviews with entertainers, magicians and others, along with readings from The Eli Marks mystery series of novels.

John also wrote episodes for the international western-comedy television series Lucky Luke, starring Terence Hill, who’s as quick to pick up a check in real life as his character is at drawing a six-gun on screen.

Gaspard is also the author of Fast, Cheap, and Under Control and Fast, Cheap, and Written That Way, best-selling nonfiction guides to low-budget filmmaking. He has directed and produced six feature films. Ironically, the books made more than the movies.

Next Up: The 20th Anniversary Special Edition of Fast, Cheap, and Under Control (Lessons Learned From the Greatest Low-Budget Movies of All Time) will be published in 2026.

***

Held Over: Harold and Maude at The Westgate Theater can be found here:  https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/ – /held-over-harold-and-maude-at-the-westgate-theater/

The Eli Marks Mysteries and The Como Lake Players Mysteries can be found here:  https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/eli-marks

The Filmmaking Books can be found here:  https://www.fastcheapfilm.com/

People, Texts & Podcasts Mentioned in the Episode

“I got an idea that the movie Harold and Maude played for two years here in Minneapolis, in my hometown, and I was part of that, I saw it multiple times at the same theater, and I thought no one’s ever done a book about how Harold and Maude went from crashing and burning in December of 71 to being resurrected in March of 72, and then playing over two years in [The Westgate Theater] and then kind of bopping around to other theaters for the next few years doing the same thing [in] Ann Arbor, Michigan, Boston, Paris, Toronto, all over the place.”
-John Gaspard

“For the theater owners it was definitely financial. The only reason they kept it running for over two years was that it was continuously making money and neighbors would call up and complain.”
-John Gaspard

“I came back the next afternoon to see it again because the reaction from the audience was so effusive that I felt like I’d missed about half the movie ’cause the audience was so into it.”
-John Gaspard

“I think seeing Harold and Maude again and again and again was a far better education because Hal Ashby was a brilliant director and a brilliant editor, and although he didn’t physically cut Harold and Maude, he certainly has his fingerprints all over it.”
-John Gaspard

“In fact, [Harold and Maude] is still shown every Sunday evening at a theater in Germany that has never stopped showing it, I think even during COVID they ran it […] It’s shown once a week there.”
-John Gaspard

“[Harold and Maude] is also a classic feel-good movie. The soundtrack is from Cat Stevens and […] you walk out of that movie feeling good […] In the early seventies there weren’t a lot of movies where you walked outta there feeling good. When The Godfather finally came out, you didn’t walk outta there feeling good. When Easy Rider was over, you didn’t walk out there feeling good. There was a certain darkness to a lot of movies in the early seventies and this one was a pretend darkness.”
-John Gaspard

Episode Reflection Questions:

  • Reflect on your favorite and/or most impactful movie going experience. Be detailed.

  • Write about a movie that lives in your bones, that one movie that’s become part of you. Write about when you saw it, how many times you’ve seen it, and how it changed you.

  • This one is going to take a little more time. Find a neighborhood theater or a small indie theater. Make plans to make a day or night of the experience, maybe with a group or not. Get food, maybe some drinks, and go to the movies.

    After the movie, find a place to debrief the movie. Write about this whole experience, take photos, share with Writing Remix writingremixpodcast@gmail.com or post your experience on Instagram with #NostalgicMovieNight and tag Writing Remix @WritingRemixPod

122. The Harold & Maude Phenomenon at The Westgate Theater w/ Author John Gaspard (Transcript)

122. The Harold & Maude Phenomenon w_ Author John GaspardDownload

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