Dominant Film That Still Delivers Over 30 Years Later

Rating: Null/10 (10 October 2000)

"The Graduate" is one of those trail-blazing films of the late-1960s that continues to get better with age. Dustin Hoffman (Oscar-nominated) stars as the title character, a young man who does not know what he really wants in life. His parents' next-door neighbor (Anne Bancroft, in an Oscar-nominated role) seduces Hoffman and she eventually convinces him to have an affair with her. Hoffman becomes basically a "play-thing" in a loveless relationship and he realizes that what he thought he wanted was not what he really wanted after all. He becomes fixated on Bancroft's daughter instead (Katharine Ross, in her Oscar-nominated part). Bancroft does anything and everything to ruin Hoffman's chances with Ross after he dismisses her. Hoffman becomes so obsessed that he breaks up Ross's wedding to another man. In the end they flee together on a local bus, but at the end the question is: Now what? "The Graduate" is biting satire at its finest. It is a black-comedy, but its focus goes much further than that. Mike Nichols examines sexual relationships and relationships in general. He creates an atmosphere that is so realistic that the audience feels the pain of each of the characters. Dustin Hoffman proved to be a high-class actor here and Anne Bancroft solidified her career even further. This film was the first that really examined sex on the silver-screen and this fact as much as anything makes "The Graduate" one of the more important movies in the history of the cinema. A great achievement. 5 stars out of 5.