“The Graduate” must have
been the funniest comedy that was released in 1967 and was inspired by the free
spirit where rookie British directors have inserted in their movies. This one’s
funny, not because of the appearance jokes and punch lines and other tired
tropes, but because it has a point of view. What this means is that it is
against something. Roger Ebert was right when he said, “Comedy is naturally
subversive, no matter what Doris Day thinks.”
Most Hollywood comedies
have non-movie guesses put in them. Ebert noted, “One of the most persistent is
that movie characters have to react to funny events in the same way that stage
actors do. So we get Jerry Lewis mugging.” However, when looking at the style
of up and coming British directors, the audience is the punchline to the joke,
and the funny events do not happen in the movie – they are the movie.
Ebert said, “This theory
is based upon a belief that audiences, having seen hundreds of movies, come
into the theater with an instinctive knowledge of film shortland. So the
new-style British comedies ("The Knack," "Morgan,"
"Alfie," "Tom Jones," "A Hard Day's Night") go
against standard practice, and their use of film itself is part of the comedy.
When something funny happens, the actors don't react; the movie itself reacts
by what it shows next.”
This is precisely the
case with “The Graduate,” where Mike Nichols makes his major directorial debut.
He introduces us to
Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, a young college graduate who
returns to a viciously ridiculous upper-middle-class California suburb. He would
like the opportunity to lounge around and think about his future in the
upcoming months. You know – think?
His family and their
group of friends order him to perform in the role of Successful Young
Upward-Venturing Clean-Cut All-American College Grad. After two weeks Benjamin
has sunken into a huge hole of desperation that he models a new scuba outfit
(birthday present from proud dad, played by William Daniels) by standing on the
bottom of the family pool: Finally alone.
One of his parents’ colleagues,
played by Anne Bancroft, seduces Benjamin (he says the famous line, “Mrs.
Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”), who surrenders mostly out
of exhaustion and doubt. Then he falls in love with her daughter, played by
Katherine Ross, and soon starts an interesting chain of events that ends with
Katherine (just married to, how Ebert describes him, “a handsome blond Nordic
pipe-smoking fraternity boy,” played by Brian Avery) being kidnapped from the
church by Benjamin. He puts a cross in the church door to prevent anyone to
stop them, and they escape on a bus.
This is rebellious stuff,
but it works in “The Graduate” because it is dealt with in a straightforward
way. Ebert describes our leads, “Dustin Hoffman is so painfully awkward and
ethical that we are forced to admit we would act pretty much as he does, even
in his most extreme moments. Anne Bancroft, in a tricky role, is magnificently
sexy, shrewish, and self-possessed enough to make the seduction convincing.”
Ebert goes on to say, “Miss
Ross, a newcomer previously seen in "Games," not only creates a
character with depth and honesty, but is so attractive that now we know how
Ann-Margret would have looked if she had turned out better.”
Nichols stays on top of
his movie. He never breaks to make sure we’re understanding the story. He never
explains for the ones who don’t catch on as quick. He never apologizes. Ebert
said, “His only flaw, I believe, is the introduction of limp, wordy Simon and
Garfunkel songs and arty camera work to suggest the passage of time between
major scenes.” Overall, “The Graduate” is a success and Benjamin’s serious
honesty and embarrassment are done on point that we never know whether to laugh
or to observe ourselves internally.
Hands down, this is one
of my favorite movies. I can relate to Benjamin in a way that ever since I
graduated college, I don’t really know what I really want to do. I know that I’m
not alone and that a lot of people are in the same boat as I am, but that doesn’t
mean that I haven’t gone out and have gotten work experience. I have tried working at
several places, but anyone who sees this movie can relate and have a connection
to Benjamin in the way that they can completely understand what he’s thinking
and what he’s going through. Especially in the end, when him and his girlfriend
escape, despite their parents telling them not to do anything rebellious and break the
rules, when their smiles all of a sudden change to a worried face, they got
what they wanted, which is freedom, but they now are stuck and don’t know what
to do with it, just like Mrs. Robinson. Their rebellious nature caused them to not get anywhere in life
and are still just as lost as they were in the beginning. Despite everyone around them, especially Mrs. Robinson, pleading with them to listen and not seek this carefree nature, they didn't listen. Think about that when
you watch the film, if you haven’t. Stop reading this review, go out, and watch
this movie.
Check in next week when I
look at the next installment in “Dustin Hoffman Month.”
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