The Graduate (film)
"The Graduate" is a 1967 comedy/drama film directed by Mike Nichols that became an iconic piece of American cinema, noted for its immediate impact and lasting influence on filmmaking. Starring Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, the story follows a recent college graduate who becomes embroiled in an affair with Mrs. Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft, the wife of his father's business partner. The film explores themes of generational conflict and societal expectations, often interpreted as a critique of conformity, although Nichols himself argued that it satirizes all its characters rather than promoting rebellion.
The film is distinguished by its innovative narrative techniques, including the use of overlapping sound, which has since become a common device in cinema. It features a memorable soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel, contributing to its anti-establishment vibe. "The Graduate" received critical acclaim, earning seven Academy Award nominations and winning for Best Director. It is recognized by the Library of Congress and has appeared on various AFI lists, solidifying its status as a cultural touchstone. The film's exploration of youthful disillusionment and romance resonates with audiences, making it a subject of ongoing discussion and analysis.
The Graduate (film)
- Release Date: 1967
- Director(s): Mike Nichols
- Writer(s): Buck Henry; Calder Willingham
- Principal Actors and Roles: Anne Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson); Dustin Hoffman (Ben Braddock); Katharine Ross (Elaine Robinson); Brian Avery (Carl Smith); Walter Brooke (Mr. McGuire); William Daniels (Mr. Braddock); Murray Hamilton (Mr. Robinson)
- Book / Story Film Based On: The Graduate by Charles Webb
Few movies have had either the immediate impact or long-lasting effect of The Graduate. The 1967 comedy/drama was an instant box office success exceeded only by Gone with the Wind and The Sound of Music. Just as important, The Graduate struck such a chord with audiences that it is reasonable to say there are pre- and post-Graduate themes in films.
However, its director, Mike Nichols,felt that the movie had been misinterpreted by the young audiences that lionized its main character, Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman. Whereas the cult of The Graduate revolved around Benjamin’s rebellion against convention and the conformity of his parents’ generation, Nichols insisted that the message of the film was almost exactly the opposite. Rather than presenting countercultural heroes in the young characters, Nichols said, the movie ruthlessly satirizes every character.
However, audiences saw a young man involved in a generational conflict, and the movie became an iconic "youth movement" film. Its soundtrack featured hit songs from the popular duo Simon & Garfunkel that enhanced the anti-status quo mythos that surrounded the movie.
And stylistically the movie was a departure from previous filmmaking. The narrative techniques were as new as the perceived rebelliousness of the themes. The Graduate was followed by a blossoming of American movies, and it played a role in liberating the directors who followed. For example, it used the concept of overlapping sound, in which the sound—for example, the music—of the upcoming scene is heard before the current scene on screen has ended. Revolutionary at the time, this technique is almost universally used now.
Whether or not The Graduate deserves credit for it, nothing was the same in Hollywood following its release. It happened to arrive while the entire society was in a period of upheaval, and it remains a cultural icon and a source of lively debate nearly forty years after it hit theater screens.
Plot
Benjamin Braddock has graduated from college. He has returned to his parents’ home in Pasadena, California for a graduation party at which he is desperately uncomfortable. He receives numerous questions about his plans and unsolicited advice about his future. Under duress he leaves the party with Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father’s business partner, because she wants to go home.
Once at the Robinson’s house, Mrs. Robinson tries to seduce the young man. Benjamin leaves in confusion, but a few days later he engages in a clumsy assignation with her. Thus begins an affair.
Benjamin spends the summer "drifting" in the family swimming pool during the days and meeting Mrs. Robinson in a hotel at night. During their trysts Benjamin learns that Mrs. Robinson is unhappily married, tied to her husband only because she unintentionally became pregnant with her daughter Elaine.
Ironically, both Benjamin’s parents and Mr. Robinson encourage the young man to date his lover’s daughter. Finally forced to take Elaine out, Benjamin is despicably insulting, even taking her to a strip club.
Inspired in part by guilt, Benjamin tries to learn more about Elaine. He falls in love with her. He decides he has to tell her everything about his affair with her mother. Elaine flees to Berkeley where she refuses to speak with Benjamin. When he finally reaches her, Elaine accuses him of raping her mother while she was drunk, which was the story she heard from her mother. However, over several days Benjamin is able to regain Elaine’s trust.
Benjamin is then confronted by Elaine’s father, who knows about the affair. He threatens to somehow have Benjamin jailed if he will not leave Elaine alone. Mr. Robinson forces Elaine to quit college in order to marry Carl, a classmate to whom she is engaged.
In Berkeley some time later Benjamin learns that Carl and Elaine are getting married in Santa Barbara. He rushes down the coast to prevent the marriage. His car runs out of gas just blocks from the church, and he sprints the remaining distance. He arrives just as the wedding is concluding, and he pounds on a glass partition while repeatedly screaming "Elaine!" After a few beats, Elaine calls out his name and runs toward him. Her mother tries to stop her, saying "It’s too late." Elaine’s reply is, "Not for me!"
In one of the movie’s best-known scenes Benjamin fends off wedding guests by using a cross as a weapon, then blocks the door with the cross as he and Elaine flee. In the final scene, they board a bus and sit in the back seat. As the bus rolls along, the young pair’s elation shifts into trepidation. They drive away into an uncertain future.
Significance
The Graduate enjoyed critical praise and tremendous box-office returns when it first came out. Adjusted for inflation, the movie is claimed to be the twenty-first highest grossing film of all time in the United States and Canada.
The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1996, and it appears on several of the American Film Institute’s "100 Years . . ." lists. In 1998 it was listed at seventh on the AFI’s "100 Years . . . 100 Movies" compilation (dropped to seventeenth when the list was revised in 2007). It is ninth on the AFI’s "100 Years . . . 100 Laughs," fifty-second on the "100 Passions" list, and sixth on the "100 Songs" list for "Mrs. Robinson."
The Graduate received seven Academy Award nominations: best picture, best actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, and best director. It won only the latter. At the Golden Globes Nichols again won as best director, and the movie was named best picture. Bancroft was named best actress, and Hoffman and Ross won in "new star" categories for male and female performers.
Their roles in The Graduate had a lasting impact on all three of the movie’s main stars. It greatly accelerated the careers of Hoffman and Ross. And for better or worse, Mrs. Robinson is the role with which the highly seasoned, Oscar- and Tony-winning stage and screen star Bancroft was most identified for the rest of her career.
Awards and nominations
Won
- Academy Award (1967) Best Director: Mike Nichols
- Golden Globe (1968) Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)
- Golden Globe (1968) Best Director: Mike Nichols
- Golden Globe (1968) Best Motion Picture Actress (Musical or Comedy): Anne Bancroft
- Golden Globe (1968) Most Promising Newcomer (Female): Katharine Ross
Nominated
- Academy Award (1967) Best Picture
- Academy Award (1967) Best Actor: Dustin Hoffman
- Academy Award (1967) Best Actress: Anne Bancroft
- Academy Award (1967) Best Supporting Actress: Katharine Ross
- Academy Award (1967) Best Screenplay (Adapted): Buck Henry, Calder Willingham
- Academy Award (1967) Best Cinematography: Robert Surtees
- Golden Globe (1968) Best Motion Picture Actor (Musical or Comedy): Dustin Hoffman
- Golden Globe (1968) Best Screenplay
Bibliography
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Harris, Mark. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. New York: Penguin, 2008. Electronic.
Lenburg, Jeff. Dustin Hoffman: Hollywood’s Antihero. London: St. Martin’s, 1983. Print.
Loss, Archie. Pop Dreams: Music, Movies, and the Media in the American 1960s. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1998. Print.
Sarris, Andrew. The American cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968. Boston: DaCapo, 1996. Print.
Stevens, Kyle. Mike Nichols: Sex, Language, and the Reinvention of Psychological Realism. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2015. Print.
Whitehead, J. W. Appraising The Graduate and Its Impact in Hollywood. Jefferson: McFarland, 2010. Print.
Whitehead, J. W. Mike Nichols and the Cinema of Transformation. Jefferson: McFarland, 2014. Print.