It’s a genuine classic now, but once upon a time, way back in 1967, “The Graduate” was a revolutionary piece of cinema. It was a major studio release that pitted the generations against each other and, for maybe the first time in Hollywood history, sided firmly with the kids.
The fact that the main “kid” was played by a 30-year-old Dustin Hoffman or that those idealized kids grew up to be the dreaded baby boomers hardly matters. What matters is that, more than 50 years later, “The Graduate” is well worth watching.
Part of that is thanks to the cast. Hoffman is brilliant, of course, delivering an iconic performance as Benjamin Braddock that established him as not only a talented actor, but as a lifelong movie star. But even better is Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson, the bitter, broken older woman who notoriously “tries to seduce” him. Bancroft manages to be funny, sexy, threatening and pitiable in an ever-shifting performance. And they’re surrounded by talented character actors who make the dark satire of sunny California feel like a real place: Katherine Ross, William Danels, Buck Henry, Murray Hamilton, Norman Fell and, in a tiny part, a young Richard Dreyfus.
But “The Graduate” is also worth watching because it was visually revolutionary, too. Director Mike Nichols (with the help of cinematographer Robert Surtees and editor Sam O’Steen) put you inside Benjamin’s confused head, with quick cuts and sun-bleached images perfectly conveying how it feels to be young, in lust and with no idea what to do next. Sure, some of those visual effects (along with the wall-to-wall Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack) are more than a little dated, but they’re also a perfect picture of the future of movies, circa 1967.
Even if all those kids grew up to be Mr. and Mrs. Robinsons of their own.
