WeylandYutani

If this one already has a thread of its own feel free to link it and I'll follow.

Just felt like starting a discussion on this much heralded movie. Just saw it for the very first time a few nights ago and its stuck with me. Usually I have no problem viewing movies or reading books in the context of their time and understanding their place in history and why they had had an impact. This came out at a time when the very social fabric of America was changing. It's comedic, loose take on the idea of marriage was a direct statement and opposition to an entire generation's view of marriage. I get all that. I understand why aspects of it may have been deemed groundbreaking for its time. Dustin Hoffman's Ben Braddock instantly reminded me of countless directionless movie characters that populate film these days. To use one example, Ben Stiller in Greenberg which I happened to watch right afterwards by coincidence.

I'm curious what the general consensus here is on this movie. I understand its place in cinema history. I already knew of its ambiguous ending which has been parodied and talked about endlessly over the years. Still, I found some of the human behaviour in this film very.... odd, to say the least.

RichC2

Ebert commented on it similarly, in 1967 he heaped praise upon it and gave it a 4 star rating, in 1997 he questioned that rating, gave the movie a 3 star rating and finished off with the statement:

Is ``The Graduate'' a bad movie? Not at all. It is a good topical movie whose time has passed, leaving it stranded in an earlier age. I give it three stars out of delight for the material it contains; to watch it today is like opening a time capsule. To know that the movie once spoke strongly to a generation is to understand how deep the generation gap ran during that extraordinary time in the late 1960s. There were true rebels in movies of the period (see ``Easy Rider''), but Benjamin Braddock was not one of them. I wonder how long it took him to get into plastics.

GoldenJCJ

The final shot is the only thing I do like about the movie. Their "Now that the excitement is over, what now?" look they both give on the bus is one of the great final shots in film history.

bunkaroo

Saw this a few years back for the first time and was not really impressed. I'm sure it had a lot of impact back then but I don't think it aged well.

Conversely, I saw another Hoffman film from that timeframe (Midnight Cowboy) for the first time a few years ago and definitely felt it had a timeless quality to it.

Ash Ketchum

Interesting, I saw MIDNIGHT COWBOY when it came out and then again a few years later, at which point I thought it was seriously dated. THE GRADUATE I didn't see till about 1971 or so and by then it seemed dated also. I think it was the bold subject matter that drew in the kids in '67 and then their parents went back, wondering what the big deal was. So it became a bigger hit than expected. And you have to admit Dustin Hoffman is very good in it and went against the grain of what a typical leading man of the era was supposed to look and sound like. Plus there was the hit Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack. It was all part of the zeitgeist.

EASY RIDER's another one that dated badly within a couple of years.

PopcornTreeCt

Probably one of my favorite movies of all-time. I watch it at least few times a year. Absolutely love it.

Jaymole

One of my favorites as well.

Also, along with Taxi Driver, it was helpful in giving me a new idea on where to take a woman on a first date.

Solid Snake

...A porn theater?

Jaymole

Yes, or in The Graduate's case, a strip club.

Meglos

You're a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction—a walking contradiction.

FRwL

The latter 60s is the weirdest period for contemporary set movies. Camerawork had reached an advancement where you could have lots of close ups but people were not quite sporting sideburns and ballhugging bellbottoms but still conservative looks so you have something that looks sort of like a modern like movie, that photo even looks like he just walked way from a job interview with Peter Venkman. Also something like Bullitt with people in tight cut hair but so many close ups like in the hospital seeing all of the operating tools. Anyone know what LBJ said about this movie? I know he called Ben a fool but what else.

FRwL

That line is really pretentious.

Supermallet

I never understood Easy Rider's popularity. Guess you had to be there.

FRwL

It's something marginally interesting, if looked at as a Cormanesque b-movie it is good. If looked as an important piece of cinema in the US no no way. I guess because it's included in a TCM montage it MUST be important.

WeylandYutani

Are you drunk?

arminius

I think he had autistic dyslexia.

FRwL

No you criminal organization.

Jules Winfield

Not a big The Graduate fan. I respect it more than I like it.

Jaymole

I think one of the reasons why I love it so much is that I can see myself doing what Benjamin does in the movie....chasing after a girl and not giving up till you get her back no matter what it takes. I guess it's the romantic in me....or the obsessive

Buttmunker

It's easy to understand Easy Rider's popularity - Jack Nicholson. Without him there, that movie was just watching two guys (or more) riding motorcycles. Nicholson gave that movie its edge (and it's only Oscar-nomination for acting).

Buttmunker

I watched "The Graduate" many times over the years - didn't care for it in my 20s. Didn't like it in my 30s. But WOW!! I finally got it in my 40s!! It took me over 20 years to like this movie, but not only do I like it, and understand where it is coming from, but I love it as well!!

Let's speak frankly: it's brilliant. Especially the daydream Benjamin has where he's boffing Mrs. Robinson at his parent's pool-house. Those scenes are ahead of its time, the way the camera worked that! I was truly impressed (finally). I think you have to be quite the adult to enjoy a movie like this!

Ash Ketchum

It came out when I was in high school and everyone wanted to debate its meaning. When I saw it at a college screening a couple of years later, everyone laughed at it.

THE WILD ANGELS (1966), on the other hand, was great back then, great ten years later, and great even now.

Meglos