Definitely one of the best movies made

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 1998)

At the risk of continuing the 'whether this is a great movie' debate, few movies have captured the essence of a time period as well as The Graduate. I feel that anyone who thinks that it is stupid, overrated or the characters are clueless is totally taking the wrong tack.
The film is brilliantly made and directed and it has a wonderful soundtrack. These two things alone make it deserve its spot in the top movies of all time. While the characters are not 'realistic' particularly for today's values, they are representatives of something (as has been eloquently put in other comments). Thus their actions per se are not terribly important; it is the reasons behind them that are.
It is a film of dreams, and about rejecting the staus quo, not a realistic character based story. Its message is one of doing what you feel is right in the circumstances. It seems to me to epitomise all the new ideas of the sixties that have been washed away in cynicism and rationalism since. It is a monument to youth, and to the youth of the sixties in particular.