The Graduate 1967

     This film is based on a 1963 novella by Charles Webb.  It was written shortly after Webb graduated from Williams College.  Ben Braddock has recently graduated from college and his parents expect great things from him.  No pressure!!  He has a homecoming party and Mrs. Robinson has Ben drive her home.  She is the wife of his father’s business partner and they begin an affair.  It eventually ends but then Ben finds himself falling for her daughter Elaine.  Doesn’t Ben think there will be complications with Elaine and Mrs. Robinson?

     There is so much to be said about this film that it could fill a novel!!  This is a pivotal film and it became an instant classic.  It’s not really generational to be young and have anxiety about the future!!  There may be even more pressure now because the future is a skilled trade or college.  If a young person has any aptitude for tech, that’s where the money and jobs are now.  Selecting Americans between the ages of 25 to 34, 37% have at least a bachelor’s degree.  Those 55 and older, just under 30% have a four-year degree.  4* (I really liked this movie)

106 min, Comedy directed by Mike Nichols with Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Buck Henry, Brian Avery, Walter Brooke, Norman Fell, Alice Ghostley, Marion Lorne, Eddra Gale, Elaine May, Robert P. Lieb.

Note Imdb 8 out of 10, Roger Ebert 4*, The Guardian 5* Peter Bradshaw, Rotten Tomatoes 89% critic 90% audience, Metacritic 77 out of 100 with 10 critics 7.3 out of 10 with 163 reviews,

Special Note:  Filmed in Beverly Hills, Calabasas, La Verne, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay, Berkeley, West Hollywood.  Hoffman came for a casting interview at the office of Producer Joseph E. Levine.  Levine mistook him for a window cleaner so he cleaned a window?  Mrs. Robinson is supposed to be much older than Benjamin but Hoffman and Bancroft were just under six years apart in age.  He looked naturally boyish and she was made up to look older.  Brancroft was only eight years older than Elaine and William Daniels were only ten years older than his son Hoffman.  Hoffman felt wrong for the role and he was worried that his screen test was not going well.  He left thinking he didn’t get the role but his awkwardness was what Director Mike Nichols wanted to Benjamin Braddock.