The Graduate

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Karen Lurie

For some the 1967 film The Graduate was a sex farce, for others, a generation gap comedy, and for still others, a ballad of alienation and rebellion. In the film, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), a recent graduate of an Eastern college, comes back to his parent's California home with no ambition, no plans, and no self-esteem. He wanders through a maze of suburban clichés and expectations looking for something to care about, feeling like a pawn in society's chess game. Along comes Ben's father's partner's wife, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), offering something to wake him out of his stupor--herself. Content for a while, Ben soon finds his tryst depressing; he is, after all, still aimless. His parents, trying to focus him on something, have picked the perfect girl for him, Elaine Robinson (Katherine Ross), Mrs. Robinson's daughter. Mrs. Robinson forbids the date, and Ben tries to prove Mrs. Robinson right by humiliating Elaine at a strip club, but they end up connecting, and Ben finally feels something. Mrs. Robinson tries to end the relationship by telling her daughter about the affair, but Ben has decided that only Elaine can save him. He pursues her to Berkeley, learns she's about to be married, and barges in on the wedding. Elaine leaves the altar and runs off with Ben; they hop on a passing bus and ride off together.

Happy ending? Those who wanted this to be a romantic comedy thought so. But these virtual strangers barely look at each other on the bus, the triumphant smiles fade from their faces, and they don't utter a word as the haunting beginning of the song "Sounds of Silence" rises on the soundtrack: "Hello darkness, my old friend. ..." This late 1960s movie took a different look at the generation gap than, say, Easy Rider. There were no hippies or protests in this film, no talk of the Vietnam War, and no rock music; easy-listening bards Simon and Garfunkel provided the soundtrack. All of that might have kept the film from being dated, but the film still managed to tell a tale of distinctly generational woe.

The Graduate, which was directed by Mike Nichols, is filled with delightful moments: the fleeing lovers use a giant cross to lock their families in the church; an alienated Ben is decked out in scuba gear like an astronaut landing on the Planet of the Parents; a corporate wonk at his parents' party tells Ben that he should think about one word, "plastics"; a classic shot views Ben as a small, frightened man seen under the arch of Mrs. Robinson's bent leg; Ben calls his now-regular lover by the appellation "Mrs."; and perpetual landlord Norman Fell asks Ben if he's "one of those outside agitators." He's not; in fact, Ben may not even be a rebel. He seems to enjoy the products of the corporate culture he despises, like his graduation present, a new Alfa Romeo, and his parent's swimming pool. The real rebel against the status quo, at least at first, is Mrs. Robinson. Aside from depictions of prostitutes, when had a woman with such sexual authority, confidence, and cool intelligence ever been portrayed on screen? But Mrs. Robinson is transformed into a demon. She forbids Ben to see Elaine, not because she wants him to herself, but because the guy she commits adultery with is no longer good enough to date her daughter.

As an odd representative of purity, Elaine falls into a marriage with someone she's "sort of" engaged to, mostly because it's what her parents want. Doesn't she represent what Ben hates? Not to Ben. She's safe, clean, and forgiving, nothing like her mother, and in the same boat as he is. Young Ben, hating everything his parents stand for but never articulating why, gets to screw them in the person of his father's partner's wife. But ultimately, he ends up with the girl his parents picked for him, and he's still aimless. The film seems to deliberately sow confusion. When he gets off the bus, will Ben look into a future in plastics? Will the lovers live without their parents' financial help? Will they even stay together? These unanswered questions are part of the meaning of the film.

Though Hoffman had been in a few movies, Ben is the role that brought him (and director Nichols, who won an Oscar) fame. Hoffman was 30 when he played the 20-year-old Ben, and Bancroft was only 36. Robert Redford turned down the role of Ben out of fear that he wouldn't be able to convey Ben's naivete. Charles Grodin was cast in the role, but there was a salary dispute. Anne Bancroft wasn't the first choice for Mrs. Robinson, either. The role was offered to Patricia Neal, who was ill, and Doris Day, who was reportedly offended by the character.

The Graduate made the third highest box-office profit of any American film up to that time. Written by Calder Willingham with help from Buck Henry (who has a cameo as the hotel clerk), it was based on the novel by Charles Webb. Ironically, the Simon and Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson" as we know it was not on the movie's soundtrack--only an instrumental part was. After the film's successful release, Nichols persuaded Paul Simon to write an actual song with lyrics, for use as a marketing tool. It became a huge hit.