Title: The Graduate (1967)
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross
Review:
The Graduate is one of those classics that every film buff
should see at some point in their lives. It’s a classic film with a fantastic
script that manages to capture an era while addressing social issues at the
same time. It is also, simply put, one of Dustin Hoffman’s best performances
ever. What The Graduate achieves so well is that it captures the aura and general
malaise of the 60’s; a time brimming with revolution and social unease. This
film was made during the days of Nixon and Vietnam, a time when most Americans
weren’t happy with the way the country was being run. Staying true to the idea
that “art imitates life” the general discomfort felt in the nation during those
days was subtly caught in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate. The fantastic thing about
The Graduate is that at first you can’t really tell what’s wrong with its main
character, Ben Braddock, but you know something’s definitely bugging him. Little
by little and in very subtle ways we discover that it’s modern society that’s got
him on the edge, this world is too crazy and Ben can’t seem to take it.
In The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman plays Ben Haddock, a young
man who’s just returned from college. His parents throw him a welcome home
party populated by family, friends and neighbors, all of them curious to know
what Ben is going to do with his life now that college is over with. Problem is
that Ben himself doesn’t even know what he’s going to be doing now, he feels
uneasy, not ready to take any significant steps in life just yet. For now Ben
seems contempt with just chilling by the pool and getting a sun tan, in a way,
blocking out the rest of the world. But life has other plans for Ben. He ends
up meeting Mrs. Robinson, a foxy lady who’s about to shake things up for Ben,
the naïve young man. The character of Ben is one of the best things about the film;
Dustin Hoffman perfectly embodies the insecure 20 something with everything to
learn about life, a young man afraid to face the harsh realities of the world. I
loved those scenes that mark the sharp contrast between Mrs. Robinson, an adult
who is extremely sure of herself and knows her way around life and Ben, a young
dude who doesn’t even know how to ask a waiter for a drink. The awkwardness
between the two make for some truly great scenes.
What I loved the most about The Graduate is how it satirizes
and comments the typical American family of the 60’s. Ben lives in a family
that expects him to be a productive member of society, problem is, Ben doesn’t
seem to like society very much. But his parents expect him to follow the
program, go to college, get the job, fall in love, get married have kids and
settle in your perfect suburban home with your pool and your perfect neighbors.
Ben doesn’t care for any of these things at this point in his life, many things
are wrong in the world for him, so everything else stops making sense to him.
All this pressure “to do something with your life” is getting to him,
especially when he sees the world around him falling apart. Coming back from
college feels like he just came back from war, he simply can’t settle back into
“normal” life. When we first meet Ben, he’s out of it; he can’t focus on being
polite or having a light conversation. He has too much on his mind. It is
hinted that his virginity also makes him uneasy, so he has a lot of that pent
up sexual anxiety in him; fortunately, this is a problem that Mrs. Robinson is
willing to help him with.
Aside from Ben’s sexual exploits, the main focus of the film
is society and how Ben wants to turn his back on it. For example, the whole
idea of marriage isn’t taken too seriously in the film; in fact, Ben is willing
to get married to the object of his affections from one day to the next; at one
point he nonchalantly asks her to marry him. “Are we getting married tomorrow?
The day after tomorrow?” It is clearly shown that Ben doesn’t care about the institution
of marriage; he just knows he loves Elaine and wants to be with her. Marriage
is portrayed as something that we do out of tradition, or simply because it’s
what you’re supposed to do, but not something that you really want to do. The
whole ending of the film with Ben trying to stop Elaine’s marriage to some
douche bag is a big “screw you!” to the institution of marriage. Elaine was
just going through the motions; she was getting married to this doctor because
it seemed like the safe thing to do, not because she loved the guy. She loved
Ben, not the guy she was marrying. The final moments of the film are a
revolutionary outcry to the status quo of things. Elaine and Ben seem to be
saying “screw this world, we’re doing things our way!” So expect a film that
displays young people trying to go against the grain, trying to change things. If
you ask me, this is a natural reaction to the way the world was at the time.
American was extra crazy during the last half of the 60’s, young people trying
to shake things up was a gut reaction to the crazy world that surrounded them. By
the way, the whole ending for Wayne’s World 2 (1993), in which Wayne tries to
stop Cassandra from marrying Christopher Walken was completely copied, almost
shot for shot, from The Graduate! They even filmed it in the same Presbyterian
Church!
But then again, many filmmakers have been influenced by The
Graduate. Director Wes Anderson, the guy behind The Royal Tenenbaums (2001),
Moonrise Kingdom (2013) and Rushmore (1998) is very obviously an admirer of The
Graduate. For example, same as The Graduate, Rushmore focuses on the life of a
student going through an existential crisis while looking for love. The only
thing that Anderson did differently with Rushmore is that he turned things
around, instead of the mature lady trying to seduce the naïve young man; it’s
the other way around, it’s the naïve young man that wants to seduce the foxy
lady. A couple of more elements from The Graduate show up in Anderson’s
Rushmore, for example, there’s a scene in The Graduate that takes place as Ben
and his family are hanging out by the pool. In this scene Ben’s parents are
constantly asking things of him, so when Ben can’t take his parents constant
yammering, he hides underwater, trying to shut out the rest of the world. In
Rushmore there’s a scene that mirrors that one in which Bill Murray’s character
does the exact same thing, he shuts out the crazy family by hiding underwater. There’s
also the aspect of criticizing the modern American family and what is wrong
with it, an element that can clearly be felt in The Graduate and has also been
present in most of Anderson’s films. So as you can see, Wes Anderson has always
had a hard on for this film.
And yet another aspect of the film that makes it memorable
is its soundtrack which is almost entirely composed of songs by Simon and Garfunkel.
It might take a little getting used to (especially for those who didn’t grow up
listening to Simon and Garfunkel) because Simon and Garfunkel are all over this
movie, but after a while you realize that this movie and Simon and Garfunkel
are and will forever be linked together, one goes with the other. I think the
soundtrack gives the film uniqueness; the duo are an integral part of this film,
right down to having a song called “Mrs. Robinson”, just like one of the main
characters in the film. So if you ask me, The Graduate is a bonafide classic. It's class A, grade
A, filmmaking. It explores family life in a somewhat similar fashion to films
like American Beauty (1999) and the more recent Silver Linings Playbook (2012).
It holds a mirror to our collective behavior and then asks the question, why
are we the way we are?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Behind the Scenes on the making of The Graduate
10 comments:
Very informative post on a classic of cinema Francisco. I didn't know Wayne's World filmed in the same church!
Wes Anderson is a pretentious fart.
I cant believe Anne Bancroft was only 35 when this movie was made, shes playing a character who is supposed to be in her late 40`s at least.
"The Graduate" is NOT Mike Nichols best film, both "Catch 22" (1970) and "Biloxi Blues" (1988) are by far superior movies, ("Catch 22" is actually close to being a masterpiece ! ! !).
For me its odd that "Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966) got 13 Oscar nominations (and won 5 ! ! !) because i`ve always regarded it as Nichols most ludicrously over-rated movie.
Hi Maurice: yes, it's true, they filmed in the same exact church, they did a shot for shot homage, only with little jokes inserted here and there...they even used the same song! I had not seen The Graduate until my recent viewing of it, so can imagine my surprise when I finally saw the scene. I was like...wait...oh MY GOD! It was a huge surprise for me.
Jennifer: Yeah, she's playing an older lady, she looks great in the film. A foxy mature gal!
Jimmie: I've never seen any of those Mike Nichols movies, but I'm sure interested in seeing the rest of his films. Still, The Graduate is his most recognized film, I never said it was Nichols best film though, excellent yeah, classic? For sure! Looking forward to seeing the rest of his repertoir.
Jimmie: I need to see it, I wonder if it's that good? I mean 13 nominations???
Francisco, forget about "Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf", just focus wholly and completely on "Catch 22" and "Biloxi Blues" like i said.
How's about this, I'll watch them all, I am a film buff after all!
Thanks for the Award HorrO! I'll check out the link to accept! Thanks for reading!
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