THE GRADUATE (1967) ****

I mentioned in the DVD discussion thread the other day how pleased I was with THE GRADUATE's 40th Anniversary DVD extras. Well, I watched the actual film last night for about the 200th time, so I thought I'd take a shot at reviewing it, which was quite a challenge, because the film is such a classic. Well, here goes nothing.

Benjamin Braddock is a recent college graduate who has no idea what he’s going to do with his life now. He falls into an affair with the wife of his father’s partner, Mrs. Robinson. Mrs. Robinson is just using Ben for sex, while he’s yearning for something more. He finds it in Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine. Ben is forced to confess the affair and lose Elaine, but he trails her back to Berkley in order to win her back.

THE GRADUATE is considered an all time classic and its value is two fold. It serves as a time capsule of a certain period in American history where the generation gap was never more prominent and youth were never more despondent and aimless. Yet at the same time it also explores universal themes of human connection and relationships. The character of Ben is one that anyone fresh from college today can empathize with. He is fearful of the future with no real clue as how to conduct himself as an adult in the ‘real world.’ As Ben says to his father while in the pool, he’s just drifting. Why is he drifting? Because it’s comfortable to do so. Personally, although I am twenty five years removed from college, I can still relate to Ben’s emotional status and confusion on what direction his life should take. The fear of trying and failing can be paralyzing, so you drift and don’t rock at the boat. This is one reason why Mrs. Robinson so easily manipulates Ben as she represents a strong outside force that tells him what to do and how to do it. Meeting Elaine snaps Ben out of his malaise, because he has found a kindred soul who he sees a part of himself in and reflects back that everything might not be perfect and set, but it’s ok. Most couples get together because of the need to connect one’s life to that of another. A shared hell is better than a hell alone. The final shot of Ben and Elaine on the bus has them going through a myriad of emotions on their faces from joy to fear to confusion to relief to a sheer dread of the unknown and a realization of what they just did. They’ve achieved their goal, but what now?

The film also stands as one that bridged the gap between the traditional Hollywood studio film and the grittier, avant-garde, controversial cinema of the seventies. Not only does the movie deal with taboo subjects, but its visual language and overall production was something raw and new. Director Mike Nichols was still wet behind the ears as a film director, but his shot choices, compositions and editing are some of the most bold and creative since Citizen Kane, which had a novice director at the helm too. Nichols rightfully won the Academy Award for best director that year, although The Graduate was shut out in the other major categories. From the iconic shot between Mrs. Robinson’s legs, to Ben’s horrendous yet funny escapade in the scuba suit, to the turning point scene of Ben trying to get Mrs. Robinson to open up to him in bed while turning the lights on and off Nichols approaches every individual scene with a keen directorial eye that pulls individual elements in to make a whole. The direction at the same time is showy, yet subtle. The viewer is very distinctly aware that they are watching a movie, yet these obvious stylistic touches perfectly fit the built world of the film.

Dustin Hoffman was an unknown that didn’t fit the mold of the standard Hollywood leading man, but that makes him perfect for Ben. Hoffman so well embodies the nebbish, awkward youth that the persona has followed him today even despite his varied and accomplished career. Ben really at his core is an unlikable character, but Hoffman manages to invest him with tangible qualities of realism that draws sympathy from the viewer. Bancroft gives a tour de force performance as Mrs. Robinson that isn’t as showy as it could have been. Every move is calculated. Every statement uttered is with surgical precision. One wonders how many times Mrs. Robinson has snared a fly like Benjamin in her web. Robinson has brief moments of vulnerability, such as when she’s standing soaking wet in her upstairs hallway when Ben confesses the affair, but we never truly get inside her. Of course, this is all by design as no one can truly know Mrs. Robinson as she does not even know herself. She disappears in the second half of the movie until she reappears as a preening villain out of some James Bond movie. She calls the cops on Ben with the relaxed matter of fact attitude as if she were ordering a pizza. She is not a woman to be spurned that is for sure. Ross often gets lost in the shuffle of the two stronger performances, but she’s a good fit for Elaine. She’s a blank, pretty slate but at the same time she exudes similar qualities to Ben in the performance of her character while also coming across as more intelligent and self assured. Even in her emotional outbursts there is a measure of restraint that one can easily imagine is the result of what must have been a very closeted upbringing considering her parents. The rest of the supporting cast is superb as everyone mines what little comedy nuggets they can from their bit parts. Murray Hamilton gives a very underrated performance as Mr. Robinson, which most clearly can be seen when he confronts Ben in his apartment. His line delivery and the way he and Hoffman play off of each other is perfect. William Daniels and Norman Fell are fantastic and it’s pretty cool to see screenwriter Buck Henry in a bit part as a hotel clerk.

Speaking of Buck Henry, there are a lot of Henry touches evident in the film with the droll wit and uncomfortable situations exploited for comedic purposes. He also has a knack for being so subtly subversive and perverse that when you catch a certain element you feel like the dirty one for reading something into it. Ben using a cross as a weapon and then barring the doors with it at the church in the end came under fire from various religious organizations at the time, but in the movie it’s such a logical thing for him to do and there is no attention called to it. While the movie eschews scenes on drugs and the Vietnam War, there is still underlining commentary on the social mores and state of affairs for youths at the time. The strongest statements are the ones that aren’t beat over your head.

40 years later and it's as fresh today as the day it was released. If you've been living in a cave and haven't yet seen it, get yor butt over to Blockbuster today.

PB