Great Soundtrack, Fine Film, Coming of Age in 1960's Defined

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2006)

This film has one of the better sound tracks of any film in Hollywood history. Simon & Garfunkel's music sets the perfect moods throughout the picture. Mike Nichol's Direction is excellent & a lot of the photography & camera angles are excellent but Nichols never gave credit where credit is do much on this film.
A major professional film maker who consulted on this film was Harold Lloyd, the early King of Silent Romantic Comedies & it shows through out the film. A lot of the best comedic moments in the film are pure Harold Lloyd, including the sequence when Dustin Hoffman takes Katherine Ross (aka Elaine Robinson, Mrs. Robinson's Daughter) into the hotel where he has been taking (literally) her mom (Anne Bancroft) for months.
The ending, if you really want to see it done more comically is borrowed completely from Lloyds 1924 film GIRL SHY. To me, while this is a coming of age comedy, the comedy in this is slow paced & lighter than GIRL SHY & in 1967 they got away with more adult themes & scenes than Lloyd could have dared to try in 1924. The plot itself is quite adult & I am sure some of the good work in the script came from Buck Henry who helped convert the book.
A lot of the supporting players in this either went on the bigger roles or major television work later which doesn't hurt the main players. Without this film, Dustin Hoffman might have spent a lot of his career unemployed. This is a very good film in many many ways though not for the kiddies even though this material from the 1960's is tamer than films made after it.