Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2003)

This is one of the defining films of my generation, and of course I saw it when it came out in 1967. Seeing it again after all these years I was struck by both how funny it is and by the brittle, cynical and brilliant performance by Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson. She really is flawless in a part that might easily lend itself to overacting. Instead she is subtle, controlled, focused, and authentic in a way that is both sexy and chilling with just a hint of ironic humor. The maternal manner with which she treats virginal Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman in a breakout role) emphasizes the creepy, almost incestuous nature of their sterile affair.
Mike Nichols has directed a number of sexual/relationship comedies, including Carnal Knowledge (1971), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Nora Ephron's Heartburn (1986) and Carrie Fisher's Postcards from the Edge (1990). Nichols's films typically feature talented and charismatic actors and actresses who explore in a deceptively humorous manner the dark side of our human nature. The humor usually has an edgy quality while the taboo elements are somehow resolved into happy endings as in a musical comedy. Nichols likes to work with material from another medium and make it his own.
Typically, The Graduate is adapted from the novel by Charles Webb. Nichols also likes to feature cutting edge popular music in the score. What we hear in the background and played over the opening credits is Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence." Of course Paul Simon wrote the song "Mrs. Robinson" for this movie, but what I didn't realized until now is his "It's all happening at the zoo" was probably inspired in part by the zoo scene in this film.
Dustin Hoffman's confused and drifting Benjamin, worried about his future and suffocated by his parents' generation, knocked everybody out in those days with his dead-panned, literal delivery of one-liners, some of which were written by Buck Henry, who plays the desk clerk at the rendezvous hotel. I especially loved Ben's answer when his father, enquiring about his Quixotic plan to marry Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross), asks, "Isn't this a half-baked idea?" In dead seriousness, Benjamin says, "No, sir. It's completely baked."
Memorable is Norman Fell (whom most of us recall from TV's long-running comedy, Three's Company) in a small part as the landlord of the Berkeley rooming house. He is of course a past master at dead-panning one-liners; in fact, he is a master at mute dead-panning. One of the funniest bits in the movie is when the camera catches his face as Elaine's father comes out of Ben's room spewing obscenities and insults at Ben.
What we loved about this movie was the youthful point of view; the wonderful chase scene at the end, a Hollywood staple made fresh; the sympathetic character of Benjamin with whom we could readily identify; the cliché-ridden and shallow parents being slyly made fun of; and the sense of getting what we want out of life and doing it our own way. This is a coming-of-ager and a romance and a social satire rolled into one, and a classic Hollywood movie that no aficionado would want to miss.
But see this for Anne Bancroft, a brilliant and perhaps underrated actress in one of her most memorable roles.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)