Outstanding. Best Comedy of the 1960's.

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2006)

Up until I finally saw Mike Nichol's classic "The Graduate," I always thought nothing would top Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove or..." for funniest comedy of the 60's. I have been proved wrong. "The Graduate" takes you back to a time when you believed what was on the surface was the truth and what was beneath it wasn't mentioned.
Opening the film is Benjamin Braddock on a flight to his parents in preparation for a graduation party. Here, Ben is displayed by his parents as who they think he is, not who he really is: a honor student and brilliant scholar. Below the surface, we see Ben as a shy, timid, non-initiating young man who's confused about life and what he will do with his. The along comes Mrs. Robinson.
Mrs. Robinson is unfooled by the surface presentation of Ben Braddock and see's the real Ben, the Ben his parents don't know exists. After she asks him to drive her home because her husband has the car and "won't be home for hours," so she invites him in to watch over the house. What seems to be an innocent drink results in Mrs. Robinson pouring out her troubles and the "mistaken" look of seduction of Ben by her. She then invites Ben up to her daughter's room to view her portrait. Then Mrs. Robinson begins to undress and propositions him; he refuses.
A few weeks later, Ben is sitting alone at a hotel bar drinking his troubles away when he calls up Mrs. Robinson and takes her up on her offer. They get a room, undress (a hilarious scene), and officially begin their affair. After many weeks of this, along comes Elaine Robinson.
Elaine was away at school over the period of Ben and her mother's affair. When Ben's father and Mrs. Robinson's husband set up a date for them, to Mrs. Robinson's disgust (secret to them, known by Ben), he takes her to a burlesque show (a hilarious scene). This obviously doesn't go over well with Elaine, so Ben confesses he was on this date against his will. Things become more relaxed and Ben begins to fall in love with her.
When Mrs. Robinson finds out, she says she'll tell Elaine about their affair, but Ben, thinking it would be better for him, tells her first and breaks her heart and any chance of being with her, and not her mother.
For the rest of the film, Ben is chasing down Elaine, trying to explain his actions. When she finally accepts his explanations, she agrees to marry him even though she is engaged to the "Makeout King" whom of which Ben is unaware of. In the climactic end scene, after being banned from seeing Elaine by the Robinsons, Ben comes in, disrupts the wedding (which had just finished), fights with Mr. Robinson and a couple of the guests and finally wins Elaine's heart. Here, they run off together and head the for the nearest bus where one assumes their romance takes off again.