| The Graduate | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mike Nichols |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | The Graduate byCharles Webb |
| Produced by | Lawrence Turman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Robert Surtees |
| Edited by | Sam O'Steen |
| Music by |
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| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Lawrence Turman Productions |
| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 106 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office |
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The Graduate is a 1967 Americanindependent[5]romanticcomedy-drama film directed byMike Nichols[6] and written byBuck Henry andCalder Willingham,[7] based on the1963 novella byCharles Webb. It starsDustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate who is seduced by an older married woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), but falls for her daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross). The soundtrack was recorded bySimon & Garfunkel, and featured the hit single "Mrs. Robinson".
The Graduate was released December 21, 1967. It grossed $104.9 million in the United States and Canada, making it thehighest-grossing film of 1967 in North America. Adjusted for inflation (as of 2021), its gross is $857 million, making it the22nd-highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada.[8] It received seven nominations at the40th Academy Awards, and won forBest Director.[9]
In 1996,The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S.National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[10][11] The following year, theAmerican Film Institute ranked it the7th-greatest American film and the17th-greatest in 2007. It is widely regarded as one of thegreatest and most influential films ever made.
After earning hisbachelor's degree, Benjamin Braddock returns to his parents' home inPasadena, California. During his graduation party, Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's law partner, asks him to drive her home. Once there, she tries to seduce him. He resists her advances, but later invites Mrs. Robinson to the Taft Hotel, where he registers under the surname Gladstone. Benjamin spends the summer idly floating in his parents' swimming pool and meeting Mrs. Robinson at the hotel. During one of their trysts, Mrs. Robinson reveals that she and her husband married after she accidentally became pregnant with their daughter, Elaine. When Benjamin jokingly suggests that he date Elaine, Mrs. Robinson angrily forbids it.
Benjamin's parents and Mr. Robinson pester Benjamin to ask Elaine out. He reluctantly takes her out, but attempts to sabotage the date by ignoring her, driving recklessly and taking her to astrip club. She flees in tears, but Benjamin chases after her, apologizes and kisses her. They eat at adrive-in restaurant, where they bond over their shared uncertainty about their plans. After they visit the Taft Hotel for a late-night drink and the staff greet Benjamin as Mr. Gladstone, Elaine deduces that Benjamin is having an affair. Benjamin admits to having an affair with a married woman whom he does not name. He tells Elaine the affair is over and asks to see her again.
To prevent Benjamin from dating Elaine, Mrs. Robinson threatens to tell her about their affair. To thwart this, Benjamin tells Elaine that the married woman is her mother. Elaine throws Benjamin out of the house and returns to school atBerkeley. Benjamin follows her there, hoping to regain her affections. Elaine initially rejects him and briefly dates a medical student, Carl. When she learns her mother lied about Benjamin raping her, she reconciles with him. Benjamin pushes for marriage, but Elaine is uncertain despite her feelings for him. Mr. Robinson arrives at Berkeley and angrily confronts Benjamin. He informs him that he and Mrs. Robinson are getting divorced and threatens to have him jailed if he keeps seeing Elaine. Mr. Robinson forces Elaine to leave college to marry Carl.
Benjamin drives to Pasadena and enters the Robinson home searching for Elaine. He finds Mrs. Robinson, who tells him that he cannot prevent Elaine's marriage to Carl. Benjamin flees the house and drives back to Berkeley. There he discovers the wedding is inSanta Barbara that day. He speeds over 300 miles to Santa Barbara, but his car runs out of gas a short distance from the church.
Benjamin runs to the church, arriving just as the ceremony is ending. His desperate appearance in the glass church gallery stirs Elaine into defying her mother and fleeing the sanctuary. Benjamin fights off Mr. Robinson and repels the wedding guests by swinging a large cross, which he uses to bar the church doors, trapping everyone inside. Benjamin and Elaine escape aboard a bus and sit among the startled passengers, with Elaine still in her wedding gown. As the bus drives on, their ecstatic smiles slowly change into ambivalent expressions.
Several actors make uncredited appearances in minor roles.Elaine May plays the "Girl with Note for Benjamin."[12]Richard Dreyfuss speaks two lines, about calling "the cops", in his second film role as one of the tenants in McCleery's boarding house.Ben Murphy plays the shaving fraternity brother who comes out with a double entendre.Mike Farrell is a hotel bellhop.Kevin Tighe is one of the showering fraternity brothers.Noam Pitlik is the service station attendant.[citation needed]
Getting the film made was difficult for Nichols, who, while noted for being a successful Broadway director, was still an unknown in Hollywood. ProducerLawrence Turman, who wanted only Nichols to direct it, was continually turned down for financing. Turman also said that every studio turned down the project, saying "they read the book and hated it, and no one thought it was funny".[13] He then contacted producerJoseph E. Levine, who said he would finance the film because he had associated with Nichols on the playThe Knack,[14] and because he heard Elizabeth Taylor specifically wanted Nichols to direct her and Richard Burton inVirginia Woolf.[15]
With financing assured, Nichols suggestedBuck Henry for screenwriter, although Henry's experience had also been mostly in improvised comedy, and he had no writing background. Nichols said to Henry, "I think you could do it; I think youshould do it."[15] Nichols was paid $150,000, and was to receive one-sixth of the profits.[14]
Nichols' first choice for Mrs. Robinson was French actressJeanne Moreau.[16] The motivation for this was the cliché that in French culture, "older" women tended to "train" the younger men insexual matters. Casting for the project was challenging.[17]Doris Day turned down an offer because the nudity required by the role offended her.[18][19][20]Shelley Winters,Ingrid Bergman,Eva Marie Saint,Ava Gardner,Patricia Neal,Susan Hayward,Deborah Kerr,Rita Hayworth,Lana Turner andGeraldine Page were also considered for the role of Mrs. Robinson.[21][15]
Dustin Hoffman was cast as Liebkind in theMel Brooks filmThe Producers (1967), but before filming began Hoffman begged Brooks to let him go to audition forThe Graduate.[22] When Dustin Hoffman auditioned for the role of Benjamin, he was just short of his 30th birthday at the time of filming. He was asked to perform a love scene with Ross, having previously never done one, and believed that, as he said later, "a girl like [Ross] would never go for a guy like me in a million years". Ross agreed, believing that Hoffman "looked about 3 feet tall ... so unkempt. This is going to be a disaster." ProducerJoseph E. Levine later admitted that he at first believed Hoffman "was one of the messenger boys". Despite – or perhaps because of – Hoffman's awkwardness, Nichols chose him for the film.[23]
"As far as I'm concerned, Mike Nichols did a very courageous thing casting me in a part that I was not right for, meaning I was Jewish," said Hoffman. "In fact, many of the reviews were very negative. It was kind of veiled anti-Semitism.... I was called 'big-nosed' in the reviews; 'a nasal voice'."[24] Hoffman was paid $20,000 for his role in the film, and netted $4,000 after taxes and paying for temporary accommodations. After spending that money, Hoffman filed for New York Stateunemployment benefits, receiving $55 per week while living in a two-room apartment in theWest Village ofManhattan.[25]
Before Hoffman was cast,Robert Redford andCharles Grodin were among the top choices. Redford tested for the part of Benjamin (withCandice Bergen as Elaine), but Nichols thought Redford did not possess the underdog quality Benjamin needed.[15] Grodin turned down the part at first because of the low $500/week salary offered by producerLawrence Turman. Grodin was offered more money, but declined again because he did not believe he could prepare for a screen test for the film overnight. "If they had given me three days to prepare, I think I would have gotten the role," he said.[21]
Harrison Ford also auditioned for the role of Benjamin Braddock but was turned down.[26]
Burt Ward was informally offered Hoffman's role, but was already committed to the role of Robin in theBatman television series.[27]
Jack Nicholson,Steve McQueen,Anthony Perkins,Warren Beatty,George Peppard,George Hamilton,Keir Dullea,Brandon deWilde andMichael Parks were also considered for the role of Benjamin Braddock.[21][15][28]
Ronald Reagan was considered for the part of Benjamin's father Mr. Braddock, which eventually went to William Daniels.[29] Nichols castGene Hackman as Mr. Robinson, but he was later fired after a few days of rehearsals; he was replaced by Murray Hamilton.[30] Many years later, Hackman said that being fired from the film still hurt him.[31]
Despite playing mother and daughter,Anne Bancroft andKatharine Ross were only eight years apart in age. Bancroft and Hoffman differed less than six.
The quality of thecinematography was influenced by Nichols, who choseOscar winnerRobert Surtees to do the photography. Surtees, who had photographed major films since the 1920s, includingBen-Hur, said later, "It took everything I had learned over 30 years to be able to do the job. I knew that Mike Nichols was a young director who went in for a lot of camera. We did more things in this picture than I ever did in one film."[15]
Many of the exterior university campus shots of Berkeley were actually filmed on the brick campus ofUSC inLos Angeles.[32]
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The church used for the wedding scene is actually the United Methodist Church inLa Verne. In anaudio commentary released with the 40th anniversaryDVD, Hoffman revealed he was uneasy about the scene in which he pounds on the church window, as the minister of thechurch had been watching the filming disapprovingly.[33][34] The wedding scene was highly influenced by the ending of the 1924 comedy filmGirl Shy starringHarold Lloyd, who also served as an advisor for the scene inThe Graduate.[35][36]
The film boosted the profile offolk-rock duoSimon & Garfunkel. Originally, Nichols and O'Steen used their existing songs like "The Sound of Silence" merely as a pacing device for the editing, until Nichols decided that substituting original music would not be effective, and decided to include them on the soundtrack, an unusual move at that time.[37]
According to aVariety article byPeter Bart in the May 15, 2005, issue,Lawrence Turman, his producer, then made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the movie. By the time they had nearly finished editing the film, Simon had written only one new song. Nichols begged him for more, but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he did not have the time. He did play a few notes of a new song he had been working on: "It's not for the movie... It's a song about times past — aboutMrs. Roosevelt andJoe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now aboutMrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."[38]
The Graduate had a dual world premiere in New York City December 20, 1967, at theCoronet Theatre, and at the Lincoln Art Theatre on 57th Street.[3] Its general release began on December 21, 1967.[3]
The Graduate was released onDVD byMGM Home Entertainment in 1999 and 2007. ABlu-ray release was first issued by20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in 2009 and later byStudioCanal in 2010.[39] A4K digital restoration of the film was released byThe Criterion Collection in 2016.[40] It will be released onUltra HD Blu-ray by StudioCanal in September 2025.[41]
The Graduate was met with generally positive reviews from critics upon its release. A.D. Murphy ofVariety andRoger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times praised the film, with Murphy describing it as a "delightful satirical comedy drama",[42] and Ebert claiming it was the "funniest American comedy of the year".[43]
Life criticRichard Schickel felt the film "starts out to satirize the alienated spirit of modern youth, does so with uncommon brilliance for its first half, but ends up selling out to the very spirit its creators intended to make fun of... It's a shame – they were halfway to something wonderful when they skidded on a patch of greasy kid stuff."[44]
Pauline Kael wondered, "How could you convince them [younger viewers] that a movie that sells innocence is a very commercial piece of work when they're so clearly in the market to buy innocence?"[45] Kael goes on to say that the fundamental problem with the film is in its attempt to "only succeed".[46] Kael posited that the success of the film was "sociological", that it was based on youth being emotionally manipulatable.[46]
Critics continue to praise the film, if not always with the same ardor. For the film's thirtieth anniversary reissue, Ebert retracted some of his previous praise for it, noting that he felt its time had passed, and that he now had more sympathy for Mrs. Robinson than for Benjamin (whom he considered "an insufferable creep") viewing one's sympathy for Mrs. Robinson and disdainful attitude toward Ben as a function of aging and wisdom.[47]
He andGene Siskel gave the film a positive review on the television programSiskel & Ebert.[48] The film's rating in theAmerican Film Institute list of the greatest American films fell from seventh in 1997 to 17th in the 2007 update. Lang Thompson argued that "it really hasn't dated much".[49]
Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 86% based on 87 reviews, with an average rating of 8.90/10. The site's consensus reads: "The music, the performances, the precision in capturing the post-college malaise –The Graduate's coming-of-age story is indeed one for the ages".[50] On the similar website,Metacritic, the film holds a score of 83 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[51]
Numerous films, TV shows, music videos, and commercials have quotedThe Graduate. The climactic sequence in which Benjamin crashes the wedding and leaves with Elaine is frequently parodied. TV show episodes that quote the scene include theFamily Guy episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein",[52]The Simpsons episode "Lady Bouvier's Lover",[53] theArcher episode "Skin Game",[54] theNew Girl episode "Elaine's Big Day",[55] andThe Office episode "Two Weeks".[56]
The scene was elaborately parodied in the movieWayne's World 2,[57] and was referenced in the music video for "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" byThe Human League[58] and "If You Go" byJon Secada,[59] as well as the song "Crashed the Wedding" byBusted.[60] The scene was also referenced in the 1998 finale of thePapa and Nicole advertising campaign in theUnited Kingdom for the MK1Renault Clio, featuringReeves and Mortimer and tying in with the release of the MK2 Renault Clio.[61] The 1999 filmThe Other Sister contained a reference.[62]
The leg-framing scene where Mrs. Robinson seduces Benjamin has been parodied in theRoseanne episode "David and Goliath", which includes a fantasy scene in which Jackie assumes the Bancroft role and attempts to seduce David.[63] This scene is also parodied inThe Simpsons episode, "Lisa's Substitute", when Mrs. Krabappel tries to seduce Mr. Bergstrom, who was voiced by Dustin Hoffman.[64]
The car Benjamin drives in the movie is anAlfa Romeo Spider. Based on its iconic role, Alfa Romeo sold a version of the Spider in the United States from 1985 to 1990 under the name "Spider Graduate".[65]
In the 1992 filmThe Player,Robert Altman's satire ofHollywood, Buck Henry pitches a sequel toThe Graduate to producer Griffin Mill (played byTim Robbins) during the film's opening sequence. A parody of Hollywoodhigh concept films, Henry describes the plot as Ben and Elaine living in a haunted house in Northern California, with an invalid Mrs. Robinson living in the attic.[66]
George Michael's 1992 song, "Too Funky," features a clip of the Anne Bancroft lines, "I am not trying to seduce you... Would you like me to seduce you? Is that what you're trying to tell me?", as an intro of the song, and is repeated during the final crescendo.[67]
In conjunction with the film's 25th anniversary home video release, alternative rock bandThe Lemonheads recorded apunk-style cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson".[68] The music video includes scenes from the film. This cover was then used inMartin Scorsese's 2013 filmThe Wolf of Wall Street.[69]
The filmKingpin parodied the leg-framed shot, showingWoody Harrelson framed by his landlady's leg,[70] and features an excerpt of "The Sound of Silence" after Harrelson's character has sex with the landlady to make up for back rent.
Hoffman recreated the church wedding scene for a 2004Audi commercial, in which he stops his daughter (played byLake Bell) from getting married, and tells her "you're just like your mother" as they drive off, implying he is portraying an older Benjamin who has a daughter with Elaine.[71]
The plot of the 2005romantic comedy filmRumor Has It, directed byRob Reiner and starringJennifer Aniston,Kevin Costner,Shirley MacLaine andMark Ruffalo, revolves around a story in which a woman learns that her mother and grandmother may be the inspiration forThe Graduate, and the1963 novel of the same name it was based on.[72]
(500) Days of Summer features a scene in which the protagonist, Tom, watchesThe Graduate with his then girlfriend Summer. He is said to misinterpret the ending, a fact that serves to characterize his naivety concerning relationships.[73]
In 1996,The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S.National Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and placed #22 on thelist of highest-grossing films in the United States and Canada, adjusted for inflation.[8][11]
In 2006,Writers Guild of America ranked its screenplay 13th in WGA’s list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.[85] The film is listed in1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.[86]
The film appears on the followingAmerican Film Institute lists:
Terry Johnson's adaptation of the original novel and the film ran on both London'sWest End andBroadway, and has toured the United States. There is a Brazilian version adapted byMiguel Falabella. Several actresses have starred as Mrs. Robinson, includingKathleen Turner,Lorraine Bracco,Jerry Hall,Amanda Donohoe,Morgan Fairchild,Anne Archer,Vera Fischer,Patricia Richardson andLinda Gray.
The stage production adds several scenes not in the novel nor the film, as well as using material from both film and novel.[93]
The soundtrack uses songs bySimon & Garfunkel also not used in the film, such as "Bridge Over Troubled Water", as well as music from other popular musicians from the era, such asThe Byrds andThe Beach Boys.[94] The West End production opened at theGielgud Theatre on April 5, 2000, after previews from March 24, with Kathleen Turner starring as Mrs. Robinson.[95][96] Jerry Hall replaced Turner from July 31, 2000, followed byAmanda Donohoe from February 2001, Anne Archer from June 2001, and Linda Gray from October 2001.[97][98] The production closed in January 2002. The 2003 U.K. touring production starredGlynis Barber as Mrs. Robinson.[99]
The Broadway production opened at thePlymouth Theatre April 4, 2002, and closed March 2, 2003, after 380 performances. Directed by Terry Johnson, the play featured the cast ofJason Biggs as Benjamin Braddock,Alicia Silverstone as Elaine Robinson, andKathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson. The play received no award nominations.[100] Linda Gray briefly filled in for Turner in September 2002. Lorraine Bracco replaced Turner from November 19, 2002.[101]
Charles Webb wrote asequel to his original novel, titledHome School, but initially refused to publish it in its entirety because of a contract he signed in the 1960s. When he sold thefilm rights toThe Graduate, he surrendered the rights to any sequels. If he were to publishHome School, the French media company that owns the rights toThe Graduate,Canal+, would be able to adapt it for the screen without his permission.[102] Extracts ofHome School were printed inThe Times on May 2, 2006.[103] Webb told the newspaper there was a possibility he would find a publisher for the full text, provided he could retrieve the film rights using French copyright law.[104] On May 30, 2006,The Times reported Webb had signed a publishing deal forHome School withRandom House, which he hoped would enable him to instruct French lawyers to attempt to retrieve his rights. The novel was published in Britain in 2007.[105]
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