The Graduate: A Tale Almost as Tragic as Shakespeare

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 2006)

The Graduate was a defining motion picture at the time it was released in 1967. The film was based off of the novel by Charles Webb. It made quite an impression on the generation at the time.
As Keith Lofthouse says, "this was the film that became a symbol for youthful rebellion, which not only exposed the generation gap, but widened it." A lot of people can relate to it in their own way. To me, it's a story about a young-adult learning the intimidating reality of life, love, and society.
The Graduate is about a young man, Benjamin Braddock, who has just graduated from college. He comes home feeling stressed out about not knowing what he wants to do with his future. To top it off, everyone (his parents' and their annoying wealthy friends) keep asking him what his plans are. Lost and overwhelmed, he suddenly finds temporary solace when seduced by the wife of his father's business partner, Mrs. Robinson: a married, lonely, alcoholic woman, who seems to share only two similarities with her husband: a daughter, and a love of bourbon. Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson start off their affair by sneaking off to a hotel--- a ritual for them that will continue for the next few months. But the situation soon gets stickier than expected, when Benjamin finds himself forced by his parents to take out Mrs. Robinson's beautiful and witty daughter, Elaine. Mrs. Robinson makes Benjamin swear to her that he will never EVER take Elaine out---but under the continued pressure of his parents', Benjamin caves, and agrees to take Elaine out. After conjuring up the perfect date-from-hell to scare Elaine off, Benjamin's plan backfires, and instead of her breaking out the pepper-spray, she breaks down crying--- and if there's anything worse than pepper-spray, it's a woman crying. Being the real softy he is at heart, Benjamin ends up trying to stop her crying by kissing her, and then falls madly, head-over-heels, in-love with her---and here is where the real trouble begins!
Dustin Hoffman delivers a spectacular performance as the nervous and confused Benjamin Braddock. He never failed to break character, and his continued sweating, jittering, and whimpering was converted into absolute hilarity. He also had a certain chemistry with Anne Bancroft that made their scenes together an absolute riot. Anne Bancroft was perfect for the role of the seducer who manipulates her way into Ben's life. Frankly, I could never see Doris Day playing that character, so let us 'thank God' she turned the role down. It's quite amazing that there was only a six-year age gap between Bancroft and Hoffman. It's really hard to tell because Bancroft appears significantly more mature than Hoffman in the film. Her mannerisms were perfect and those famous lines--- "Do you want me to seduce you? Is that it? "---was spoken so smoothly, so coolly...as if she was a snake slithering her way up Benjamin's pant leg! Katherine Ross (Elaine) is incredibly beautiful, but she wasn't considered the best actress by many critics and members of the crew. She had problems onset like not being able to cry on cue, so they had to blur the film in some scenes (Nesbit). "She's a good screamer though," said Nesbit. The entire three were nominated for an academy award that year--- along with Mike Nichols,who won for best director.
For photography, there was use of clever techniques with angles and lighting. Some say that these techniques were used without much purpose, but when you see it on screen you don't recognize any inconsistency; you only notice how incredibly beautiful it is. Cameras frequently zoom in on faces to show emotion, and follow Benjamin Braddock wherever he goes. At the beginning of the film, we follow Benjamin on an escalator at the airport. The camera continues to stay on him for almost two minutes, and then switches its focus over to a suitcase on a luggage carousel. Normally, watching something as mundane as this would be boring, but it ends up being captivating and bringing about the mood of the film.
The music for the film was almost entirely created from the artists Simon & Garfunkel who had been a huge hit at the time. The songs had already been released on album, but the movie increased the popularity of the songs. David Grusin, who composed the jazzy score for the film, created special compositions that included several variations of the Simon and Garfunkel songs.
Many critics, such as Nesbit, argue that 'The Graduate' is not only an out-dated film, but also a film that lacks reality. Nebit complains, "How many can believe, that it's reasonable for a young man to pursue the daughter of a married woman-- who he's just had an affair with--and believe that the daughter would forgive him instantly without further communication?! And all of this after a single night's date!--- with Dustin Hoffman, no less!" Even though I probably wouldn't do the same thing that Elaine does, I can still find the story reasonable. After all, normal people do things that don't make sense all the time. Is Nesbit now going to start to question the reasonableness of a classic like William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet because they got married after one date? The main purpose of this film was to break the rules of normality in society, although it embraces some of the same old themes of classic Shakespeare. It would be wrong to call 'The Graduate' a "Romantic film", because it ends as much a tragedy as 'Romeo and Juliet,'though in a less obvious way--watch the last scene of this film closely and you will realize this.
**fun fact: The run to the church scene was a takeoff on the 1924 silent film "Girl Shy" starring Harold Lloyd, and Lloyd actually attended the filming of the scene to assist Mike Nichols.