Movie review: ‘The Graduate’

I’ve just finished re-watching “The Graduate” and while this is a movie review, it’s more of a review in longing for days-gone-by in Hollywood. Last night saw the latest crop of Oscar winners with the presentation of the 90th annual Academy Awards (the original posting of this review was in 2018) and it just highlights the lack of depth in American cinema as a whole. You can find great films today, but generally Hollywood lacks creativity – say “reboot” or superheroes movies – and mostly it lacks quality. What I appreciated most about “The Graduate” is its extreme quality from acting to writing to costuming and to cinematography. Most appreciated, however, is how intelligent it is. Such accolades can be said for very few films being released today – they’re either f-bomb fests that delight critics because the violence and vulgarity is done by Martin Scorsese and not John Carpenter or they’re a CGI slam-to-the-senses where’s there’s little else in the way of character development or even the hint of an intelligent plot. Not so with “The Graduate” and its peers from that era.

‘The Graduate’
(1967; 106 minutes; rated PG; directed by Mike Nichols and starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katherine Ross)

GRADUATE TO A REAL FILM LIKE ‘THE GRADUATE’

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional commentary, trivia and the updating of links on March 3, 2024.)

I come not to completely criticize the Hollywood of today, but I do come to pine for the days when more than a handful of films in a year could be described with all these attributes: intelligent, deep, moving and having great acting and be at the vanguard of a social upheaval in our society.

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The best film from 1967 in my book, with a nod to all the other great Oscar contenders (and the undeserving winner) that year, is completely and out-front-by-a-mile … “The Graduate.” Yes, the other Oscar nominees are great and span both the best of veteran Hollywood (Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”) to the new wave of violent drama (Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in “Bonnie and Clyde”), but none hold a candle to “The Graduate.”

“The Graduate” has it all: A young(ish) star with Dustin Hoffman as “Benjamin ‘Ben’ Braddock;” an established star in Anne Bancroft as the iconic “Mrs. Robinson,” who was the cougar’s cougar before that phrase came to mean more than a big cat; a story that tapped the pulse of the counterculture of the time; a director in Mike Nichols who knows how to take time and tell a story and not force the pace from one scene to the next; and let’s not forget to mention the classic tunes of Simon & Garfunkle on the soundtrack (Dave Grusin filled in the music you don’t remember).

However, a casual look at films from that era reveals that for the most part have quality throughout the quantity that today’s so-called “motion pictures” can only dream about (if a movie could dream). Face it, for the past decade or so, the majority of film production companies just want to slap a “Star Wars” title on a flick or plow the “superhero” field in hopes that takes off to the financial stratosphere. Assuring a quality motion picture is left to very few consistent big-money earners who make very few films.

Further, many productions today are so clueless and lack talent that all they do is “reboot” films or TV shows that were profitable back in the day. God, I hate the term “reboot” for films. At least something happens when you do that with a computer, but doing it for the big screen you get execrable steaming piles called “CHIPS” (click here to read my review) or “Rollerball” (click here for my look at the remake). At best, you milquetoast efforts that are somewhat watchable such as “Baywatch” (click here to read my review) or “Going in Style” (click here to read my review). One that is a bit better than the usual swing-and-a-miss “reboot” effort is “The Dukes of Hazzard” (click here to read my review), if you call transitioning an iconic TV show into a movie as a “reboot.”

Of course, not all films released in 1967 have the quality of “The Graduate” and its Oscar win for Nichols and six other nominations including best picture, best actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best writing and best cinematography. Besides the bigger crimes after “The Graduate” not winning best picture was that it didn’t win any acting awards and that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle didn’t even get nominated for the music that is now considered legendary. All of these are nearly capital offenses given the quality of the film.

So, in case you don’t remember because you saw it decades ago, let me refresh you on “The Graduate.” You have: Boy graduates college; boy comes home confused; boy starts and then has ongoing affair with parents’ best friend’s wife as he wastes away his days and nights; boy falls in love with her daughter; boy … well, boy-oh-boy you need to watch it yourself if you don’t know the rest already.

Of course, the context of the emotional and social upheaval in our country at the time (the Vietnam war, etc.) is necessary to understand the full impact of “The Graduate,” but that only makes it so much better. “The Graduate” stands the test of time very well.

Oh, here’s a quick note about age of the actors in the film: Hoffman and Bancroft were five years and 11 months apart in age (they were 30 and 36 when the film was released) and she was just eight years older than Katherine Ross, who plays her college-age daughter. The actor playing Hoffman’s father was only 10 years older than him. Now, onto a look at the two main players (sorry Katherine, but they define the film) …

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  You know that future two-time Oscar winner and five-time nominee Hoffman plays the title character and you know that he wasn’t the only actor to audition for the role, but it’s impossible to imagine anyone better, as hindsight always proves the best sight. Hoffman got his first Oscar nomination for this one and in only his second film (he was also in “The Tiger Makes Out” earlier in 1967) after several TV credits. He is pitch-perfect as the conflicted graduate who is seeking to “find himself” and gets caught up in tawdry drama along the way. Hoffman’s credits are too numerous to mention (even just listing his wins and nominations) so I’ll just tell you to watch “Wag the Dog” (click here to read my review) and try to forget that Tom Cruise actually did a better job than him in “Rain Man,” but that Hollywood gave him the Oscar over a not-even-nominated Cruise.

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  Already an Oscar winner and nominee when she did “The Graduate,” Bancroft, like Hoffman, proved to be the perfect casting choice. Her studied indifference about cheating on her husband, much less all the personal stuff she tosses out at Hoffman when he takes her home at the beginning of the film, is as good as acting gets. Although her character proves to be cold and calculating, it does evolve and Bancroft knocks a grand slam, game-winning homer with this one. She won for “The Miracle Worker” in 1962 and was nominated for “The Graduate” as well as “The Pumpkin Eater,” “Agnes of God” and “The Turning Point.” Bancroft died at 73 in 2005 of cancer and had been married to legendary filmmaker and entertainer Mel Brooks for nearly 41 years at the time of her death.

Third in the line of importance of the film is Katherine Ross as “Elaine Robinson.” She was nominated for an Oscar for “The Graduate” and her work is great, but I’m not going to spend any time on her character or effort. Again, sorry, Katherine. The rest of the cast is solid, but they play such second fiddle to “Benjamin” and “Mrs. Robinson” that I’m not going to call them out individually.

However, one that I’ll make an exception for is the little-remembered but highly talented Buck Henry. He is the stoic manager at the hotel where Hoffman and Bancroft bed down (he plays the straight man and then Hoffman’s such a regular that he’s called by his assumed name when he brings Ross there).

Henry’s also the co-author of “The Graduate’s” screenplay and earned a nomination for it. Not only is his delivery here as droll as needed, you get the sense that he knows exactly what Hoffman’s up to but just doesn’t care. Henry shared an Oscar nomination with Warren Beatty for directing “Heaven Can Wait” and he’s also known for writing the sceenplay for “Catch-22” and was a writer for TV’s “Get Smart” – plus, he hosted “Saturday Night Live” an amazing 10 times. In front of the camera, he had appearances on other TV shows and films such as “Grumpy Old Men.” Henry died at 89 of a heart attack in 2020.

By the way, take a close note and you’ll only young people in the film are called by their first names, right “Mrs. Robinson?”

There you have it. One of American’s all time iconic and classic films. Make sure to check out the cast and film notes and you must visit IMDb.com’s extensive page of trivia about the film.

Moviegoers knew what the best film of the year was in 1967 as “The Graduate” was No. 1 at the box office with $104.6 million in ticket sales, according to Wiki. With a budget of $3 million, “The Graduate” was No. 1 with investors, too. The No. 2 film was Disney’s “The Jungle Book” with $73.7 million” and other great films on my must-watch list were “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Dirty Dozen” and Paul Newman’s iconic prison flick “Cool Hand Luke.”

The only other film from 1967 that I’ve reviewed is the Frank Sinatra private-eye flick “Tony Rome” (click here to read my review). It’s good and has nice 1960s eye-candy, too, but comes up far, far short of “The Graduate” despite Sinatra’s star power in the day.

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

• Bancroft’s birth name was Anna Maria Louise Italiano; Ross’ middle name is Juliet; and Henry’s birth name was Buck Henry Zuckerman.
• Sally Field read for the part played by Ross.
• On the men’s side, Burt Ward was set to play “Benjamin,” but he was obligated to being the sidekick “Robin” on TV’s “Batman” and the studio wouldn’t release him to do “The Graduate.” Thank goodness! Nothing against Mr. Ward, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Hoffman for this dramatic work.
• Also on the men’s side, Robert Redford read for the role and insisted he could play “Benjamin.” Nichols pointed out that Redford could never project a man who couldn’t be successful with women. I doubt you’d find anyone who wouldn’t concur (unless they’ve never seen Redford in a film).
• Legendary film critic Roger Ebert would joke about it later, but he called the Simon & Garfunkle songs on the soundtrack “unmemorable.” Pretty much every one of them became an instant classic.
• Directly from IMDb.com: “The red, Italian sports car which Benjamin drives throughout the movie is a 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider 1600 also known as the Duetto.”

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  “The Graduate” was reportedly the first film in which a director was paid a flat salary and did not earn “points” (payments based on a given percentage of earnings or profits). Nichols was reportedly paid $1 million of the film’s $3 million budget. Since it made $104 million, the investors made a good deal, because even with 5 “points,” Nichols would have brought in $5 million (if you could have believed Hollywood accounting numbers – and most intelligent or worldy-wise people never have or ever should).

• Look close in the boarding house scene and you’ll find Richard Dreyfuss in his second film after “Valley of the Dolls” from the same year. He is uncredited in both films and the two are his first in film after credits for 11 episodes of a variety of TV shows.
• In addition to Dreyfuss, you’ll find a neat group of “uncredited” actors including Mike (TV’s “M*A*S*H”) Farrell as a bellhop; two-time Oscar nominee-to-be Elaine May as a “girl with note for Benjamin;” and the voice of Bob Eubanks hosting an episode of TV’s “The Newlywed Game.”
• Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Sources vary on precisely what the truth is about the possibility of Doris Day playing Mrs. Robinson. One rumor says the property was acquired with her in mind as Mrs. Robinson, and producer Lawrence Turman sent the novel to her manager/husband, Martin Melcher, wanting to know their opinion of Day in the role, but Melcher was so disgusted by the thought that he refused to even mention it to her. Doris Day wrote in her 1975 memoir, which is probably more accurate, that she was actually offered the role, but ‘I could not see myself rolling around in the sheets with a young man half my age whom I’d seduced’.”
• There are so many neat trivia facts about the film that you must read IMDb.com’s trivia page. Click this link to go there …

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