{"id":2689,"date":"2025-08-01T03:24:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2689"},"modified":"2026-08-19T17:21:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T21:21:25","slug":"the-graduate-1967","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2689","title":{"rendered":"The Graduate-1967"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Graduate-1967<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Mike Nichols<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #57<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #335<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Reviewed January 9, 2016<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Graduate is an immeasurable success and highly influential comedy from 1967- a time when films were gaining creative freedoms and pushing the envelope in new, edgy ideas and risqu\u00e9 subject matter.<\/p>\n

Almost scandalous at the time of release, the film holds up exceptionally well and remains fresh and cutting-edge.<\/p>\n

It is slick, sophisticated, and quite funny, though peppered with dark humor.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, the film succeeds and remains among my all-time favorites.<\/p>\n

Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, a nervous and insecure recent college graduate who returns home to sunny California, unsure of what his future holds.<\/p>\n

His overbearing parents throw a lavish celebration at their home, where Benjamin is flocked by well-wishers, most of whom have a materialistic edge to them. His parents live in a very affluent community where wealth and material possessions matter most.<\/p>\n

All Benjamin wants is to be by himself. At the party, Benjamin is pursued by the much older and glamorous Mrs. Robinson (Bancroft), who lives nearby and asks Benjamin for a ride home.<\/p>\n

Her attempted seduction sets the film’s narrative in motion as their relationship unfolds, especially when Mrs. Robinson’s daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross), enters the picture and captures Benjamin’s heart.<\/p>\n

Director Mike Nichols sets the right tone for the film, and we see the style and sophistication of wealthy 1960s California.<\/p>\n

Fashion, style, and glamour are prevalent, but they run counter to what Benjamin and Elaine stand for.<\/p>\n

The film also explores generations. Benjamin’s parents and all their friends are into material things like cars, houses, and parties.<\/p>\n

The triangle between Benjamin, Mrs. Robinson, and Elaine is the film’s heart. At first, we find ourselves rooting for Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson. Their romance has a sweet quality.<\/p>\n

She is the aggressor- mature, in control, and confident, whereas Benjamin is insecure and shy, yet enamored with Mrs. Robinson.<\/p>\n

Their awkward exchange in the hotel bar and their liaison in the hotel room are fantastic scenes.<\/p>\n

Slowly, once Elaine emerges, Mrs. Robinson becomes more manipulative, taking on a villainous role as the youngsters’ love blossoms, and we begin to root for their happiness.<\/p>\n

A fantastic aspect of The Graduate is its musical soundtrack, which was composed entirely by Simon and Garfunkel, a central musical duo of the late 1960s, from the opening chords of ‘The Sound of Silence ‘ to the appropriate ‘Mrs. Robinson’, the music adds life and energy to the film and helped attract young viewers at the time.<\/p>\n

The featured soundtrack was highly influential to other films released after The Graduate.<\/p>\n

Still fresh today, The Graduate (1967) launched the very successful career of Dustin Hoffman and emerged as an inspirational film that, though controversial in its day, seems tame now; however, the writing remains as crisp as ever.<\/p>\n

A film to watch over and over again. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 1 win<\/strong>– Best Picture, Best Director-Mike Nichols (won)<\/strong>, Best Actor-Dustin Hoffman, Best Actress-Anne Bancroft, Best Supporting Actress-Katharine Ross, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Cinematography<\/p>\n

Golden Globe Nominations: 6 wins-<\/strong>Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Director-Mike Nichols (won),<\/strong> Best Actress-Comedy or Musical-Anne Bancroft (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Supporting Actress-Katharine Ross, Best Screenplay (won),\u00a0<\/strong>New Star of the Year-Actor-Dustin Hoffman (won),<\/strong> New Star of the Year-Actress-Katharine Ross (won)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Graduate-1967 Director Mike Nichols Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft Top 250 Films #57 Scott’s Review #335 Reviewed January 9, 2016 Grade: A The Graduate is an immeasurable success and highly influential comedy from 1967- a time when films were gaining creative freedoms and pushing the envelope in new, edgy ideas and risqu\u00e9 subject matter. … Continue reading The Graduate-1967<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,12087,49,192,362,41,215,45,222,7530,7464],"tags":[8029,8671,797,8521,798,5475,788,8525,8524,774,8523,8691,1079,8522],"class_list":["post-2689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1967-films","category-best-picture-musical-or-comedy-golden-globe-winners","category-comedies","category-dramas","category-favorite-film-of-the-year","category-indiefilms","category-indie-comedies","category-romcoms","category-romantic-dramas","category-top-100-films","category-top-250-films","tag-57-favorite-film","tag-alice-ghostley","tag-anne-bancroft","tag-buck-henry","tag-dustin-hoffman","tag-elizabeth-wilson","tag-katharine-ross","tag-kevin-tighe","tag-mike-farrell","tag-mike-nichols","tag-murray-hamilton","tag-norman-fell","tag-richard-dreyfuss","tag-william-daniels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2689"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24177,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2689\/revisions\/24177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}