Right this review will take us a bit back in time to the 1960s as it will cover a certain popular American film which established the career of one its foremost actors, Dustim Hoffman, which is The Graduate. So let's have a look at this old classic....
So the story begins with college graduate, Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) who's parents host a graduation party at their home. Benjamin however is anxious about his future and doesn't know what to do now that he has graduated and his parents friends and family all swamp Benjamin at the party. Benjamin overwhelmed by the attention at the party runs up the stairs to his bedroom to get away from it all, but then a woman, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft) who is the wife of his father's law partner, enters and asks Benjamin to driver her home. Benajmim drives Mrs Robinson home who asks him to come in with her, and she then takes off her clothes and tries to seduce Benjamin, who panics and runs out, just as Mrs Robinson's husband arrives home (played by Murray Hamilton). Mr Robinson suspects nothing and tells Benjamin that he should try and relax and enjoy his youth and go out with girls and play the field, after this Benjamin leaves.
Some time later Benjamin's parents have him put on one of his birthday presents, which is a scuba diving suit, which they have him demonstrate in front of their parent's friends, and Benjamin dives into the pool wearing the outfit. Later on Benjamin decides to contact Mrs Robinson and organise to meet at a hotel, which they do although Benjamin is initially very nervous about the idea of the affair, they go ahead. After a while Benjamin becomes more relaxed as he spends his days during the summer in his parents swimming pool and at night he meets up with Mrs Robinson. One night during their meetings, Benjamin tries to get a conversation going with Mrs Robinson, but he soon realises they have nothing in common, but Mrs Robinson tells him she studied art at college but was forced to give it up as she became pregnant and married into an unhappy marriage as a result with Mr Robinson. Meanwhile Benjamin's parents pressure him into going on a date with Mr and Mrs Robinson's daughter, Elaine. While Mr Robinson is all for the idea, Mrs Robinson given her affair with Benjamin, is totally opposed to it and is angered when Benjamin finally takes her out on a date, after peer pressure from his parents.
On the date however Benjamin decides to be really rude and obnoxious to Elaine to sabotage it, and Benjamin even takes her to strip club. Elaine leaves the club in tears, and he chases after her and apologises and tells her that the date was his parents idea, and he kisses her and they make up and chat about their plans for the future. Soon after Benjamim drives over to the Robinson's house to take out Elaine on another date, when Mrs Robinson get's into his car and warns him not to take her out or she will reveal her affair to her husband and Elaine. Benjamin then decides to beat her to it and races to the Robinson's home and tells Elaine the details of his affair with Mrs Robinson just as she arrives, leaving Elaine upset and heartbroken, she screams at Benjamin to leave, which he does, and Elaine then returns to college at Berkeley. Afterward Benjamin arrives at the decision that he wants to marry Elaine and tells this to has parents, even though he says that she doesn't like him. Benjamin then follows Elaine to Berkeley where he pesters her into trying to go out with him, but turns him down.
Some time later Elaine confronts Benjamin at a hostel he is staying in and demands him to tell her the truth about what happened as Mrs Robinson told Elaine that Benjamin raped her. Benjamin insists she was lying and tells Elaine that he was seduced by Mrs Robinson, which leaves Elaine screaming as she doesn't want to hear it. At this point the owner of the hostel tells Benjamin to leave due to the disturbance caused, and Elaine tells Benjamin not to leave until he has sorted out what he is going to do. Elaine then tells Benjamin that she is also seeing another college student named Carl and that she might marry him, but she is still taken by Benjamin. However before anything else can happen, Benjamin is paid a visit by Mr Robinson who has found out about the affair and he warns Benjamin that he is not to set foot near Elaine ever again or he will prosecute him. Mr Robinson also forces Elaine to drop out of school and marry Carl and as Benjamin tries to track her down he can't find her at her dorm, but he does learn where the wedding will take place, out in Santa Barbara. Benjamin then decides to drive out there to try and stop the wedding and win over Elaine if he can.....
The Graduate without a doubt is a modern classic in American cinema and it tells that old story of an affair between two generations, with the naive young college graude in Benjamin and the older, wiser and manipulative Mrs Robinson. And throughout the film Benjamin becomes more self assured in himself as he at first is nervous and wary of the idea of an affair and later also of the dating Elaine. Mrs Robinson on the other hand is devious and uses Benjamin to get some action outside her loveless marriage, and is also possessive and protective of her daughter, and when Benjamin takes her out on a date, it forces her hand to try and take Elaine as far away from Benjamin as she can. But despite the drama between the two characters, The Graduate is also a lot of fun as well and to an extent it is a comedy of mishaps and Benjamin's initial nervousness makes things quite amusing. This is especially in the opening scene where Benjamin is bombarded by his parents friends and also in the scene where he nervously hangs around the hotel waiting for Mrs Robinson as well as the scene where he is humiliated by his parents as he wears a scuba diving outfit as a wager made between his parents and their friends.
Performance wise is where The Graudate excels as they are top notch and Dustin Hoffman is great in his role as Benjamin Braddock, the young college graduate who is at first nervous and edgy about his future but he soon gains confidence from his affair with Mrs Robinson and ends up falling for her daughter Elaine. Hoffman was a highly unlikely choice for the role as Robert Redford was the initial choice and Warren Beatty was also considered, and Hoffman hardly befitted the role of a strapping jock graduate, more the college nerd who made good. Hoffman has plenty of highlights in the film, such as the scene where he takes Mrs Robinson home and she blatantly makes her attempts to seduce him. And in the scene Hoffman delivers the infamous dialogue "For God's sake, Mrs Robinson. Here we are. You got me into your house. You give me a drink, you put on music. Now you start opening up your personal life to me and you tell me your husband won't be home for hours. Mrs Robinson you are tyring to seduce me!". And there is the scene where they go to the hotel and they go up to the room where Mrs Robinson smokes her cigarette and Benjamin kisses her while she has taken an inhale on her cigarette and she has to wait till her finish and she puffs out! And later in the scene as Mrs Robinson get's undressed, Benjamin feels her breast, and she doesn't even appear to notice and Benjamin then shakes his head and go over bangs his head against the wall! Another good scene is where Elaine confronts Benjamin at his apartment in Berkeley and she angrily says "how could you rape my mother?!" and he says "No no no, that's not what happened. What happened was I took her home and then she poured me a drink and then took off her clothes and I mean she was really naked!" and Elaine screams "I don't wan't to hear it!". And in the scene where Benjamin and Mrs Robinson meet up and Benjamin tries to get a conversation going rather than just have sex and he finds out how Mr and Mrs Robinson concieved Elaine. And Mrs Robinson says "It was in his car" and Benjamin asks "What kind of car was it?" and Mrs Robinson says "It was a Ford, Benjamin" and he laughs and says "A Ford! Goddamn, that's great! So old Elaine Robinson got started in a Ford!". And one of the film's most memorable scenes is where Benjamin makes the long drive to Santa Barbara in an effort to stop Elaine's wedding. And along the way he stops at a petrol station where he uses the phone and he calls the operator and he pretends to be the priest who is to a wedding. And as he frantically asks the petrol station attendant where the location is he then runs off and the attendant says "Do you need any gas father?!". Another funny scene is where Benjamin takes Elaine out on their first date and he takes her to the hotel where he regularly takes Mrs Robinson and as he enters the hotel everyone seems to know him and says good evening to him. And Elaine looks on bewildered and asks does Benjamin know these people and he laughs and says "I don't know them honestly!".
Anne Bancroft is also great in her role as the seductive and manipulative Mrs Robinson, who starts an affair with Benjamin and is later extremely jealous when he goes out with her daughter Elaine. Bancroft has some great moments in the film such as the scene where Mrs Robinson and Benjamin meet at a hotel and Benjamin tries to start a conversation with her. And Benjamin chats awkwardly with Mrs Robinson she reveals that she studied art and was forced to give it up as she became pregnant and later got married. And as the line of conversation continues Mrs Robinson tells Benjamin he doesn't want Elaine to go out with him but she won't say why and he says "Well I might just have to take her out on a date and find out" and Mrs Robinson grabs him by the neck and says "Benjamin! Don't you EVER take her out!". And later when Benjamim is forced to finally take Elaine out on a date he talks quietly with Mrs Robinson when he arrives to pick Elaine up, he tells Mrs Robinson "Look I have no intention of ever taking out your precious daughter ever again, so don't get upset about it!" and she says "But I am. I am extremely upset about it, Benjamin". And then there is the scene where Mrs Robinson corners Benjamin in the bathroom, naked, and tells him "Benjamin, I would just like to tell you that I am available to you whenever you want. I find your very attractive." and the whole time Benjamin cant even look her in the eye and keeps saying "Let me out!".
The supporting cast are also excellent which includes William Daniels as Benjamin's dad who parades his son around like a star puppy dog but he soon grows tired of his loitering around during the summer. And this brings up Daniels best scene where he asks Benjamin, who drifts in their pool aimlessly during the days and he asks Benjamin "Just what are you doing, young man" and Benjamin tells him that he is just drifting because it is comfortable to do so. And Mr Braddock says "So do you want to tell me what was the point of all that hard work?" and Benjamin says "You got me!" and Mr Braddock replies "Now look, Ben! I know its good for a young man to unwind, but after a while I think that young man take stock of his life and start thinking about getting off his ass!". Murray Hamilton is also excellent in his role as Mr Robinson, who has two good scenes, the first scene where he tells Benjamin to take it easy and enjoy life as it comes to him and he says "I'm sure you must be real popular with the ladies!" and Benjamin says no quickly and Mr Robinson continues "No?! To me you look like the kinda guy that has to fight them off?!". And later in his best scene where he confronts Benjamin in Berkeley after he learns of the affair and he warns Benjamin not to go near Elaine again. And as Benjamin says to Mr Robinson that what happened between him and Mrs Robinson "meant less than nothing, we might as well have been shaking hands", Mr Robinson says "Well excuse me while I don't shake hands with you! I think you are filth! I think you are scum! You are a degenerate!".
Katherine Ross on the other hand is the weak link in the cast here although her performance is far from bad, her character is not very interesting as she is rather one dimensional in the film. Regardless of that though Ross does have her moments, such as in the scene where Elaine confronts Benjamin at his apartment and she says "How could you possibly rape my mother!" and as she continues to tell her what Mrs Robinson said and Benjamin gives his side of the story she yells "I don't want to hear about it!!". And while Benjamin tries to convince Elaine to come with him, she tells him how she is seeing another student, Carl, and she says "I have to see Carl" and he asks why and she says "Well he said he might want to marry me" and Ben angrily says "He WHAT??!". And later in the memorable scene where Ben arrives at the church too late just as Elaine is about to get married and he witnesses them kiss, he bangs the glass window and yells her name, and she looks up to Benjamin and calls out "Ben!!" as she decides to be with him and they flee the wedding together.
Moving on to the direction, Mike Nichols (who of course also did Closer, which I've already reviewed) who does a terrific job here with The Graduate as he keeps the film's tone with just right amount of drama and humour. Also worthy of mention is the photography by Robert Surtees which is very striking and he makes great use of a visual technique in two scenes, the first being during the titles where Benjamin is at the airport on a travelator and it looks like he is standing still. And later on in the scene where Benjamin's car runs out of gas he has to run to the church and during the scene the camera is static and it makes it look like he is running on the spot. And lastly I have to mention the music score by Simon and Garfunkel, which is great and features so many memorable songs, especially "Mrs Robinson" which is so well used during the scene where Benjamin drives toward Santa Barbara to stop Elaine's wedding. And also "Scarborough fair" during the scenes where Benjamin pines after Elaine and he follows her to Berkeley.
As for the film's flaws well there aren't really that many to speak about, other than perhaps that the only character that doesn't work so well is Elaine, as I previously mentioned she is a bit bland and one dimensional in the film. Also perhaps the film's ending (Yep PLOT SPOILER HERE!) in a way leaves things in a rather unsatisfactory resolution where Ben and Elaine run away together from wedding and on the bus they ponder what they have done as a rather rash decision, but it leaves it there for you to imagine what happened afterward.
But apart from that The Graduate is a great modern classic and its still as entertaining to this day as it was on its release.
And so I shall leave it there for now and be back soon with another un.
Adios!
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