The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American independent[6] romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols[7] and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham,[8] based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The film tells the story of 21-year-old Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate with no well-defined aim in life who is seduced by an older married woman, Mrs. Robinson, but then falls for her daughter, Elaine.
For other uses, see The Graduate (disambiguation).The Graduate
- Paul Simon (songs)
- Dave Grusin (score)
- Embassy Pictures (United States)
- United Artists (International)[1][2]
- December 20, 1967 (premiere)
- December 21, 1967 (United States)[3]
106 minutes[1]
United States
English
$3 million
The Graduate was released December 21, 1967, to critical and commercial success, grossing $104.9 million in the United States and Canada, making it the highest-grossing film of 1967. Adjusted for inflation (as of 2021), the film's gross is $857 million, making it the 22nd highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada, with inflation taken into account.[9]
It received seven nominations at the 40th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Director, the latter being the film's sole win.[10] In 1996, The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[11][12] It is currently (as of the 2007 rankings) ranked by the American Film Institute as the 17th greatest American film of all time, having been ranked 7th in 1997.
Plot[edit]
After earning his bachelor's degree from an East Coast college, Benjamin Braddock returns to his parents' Pasadena, California, home. During his graduation party, he is urged to join a business dealing in plastics, the material of the future. Benjamin cringes as his parents praise him during the party, and he retreats to his bedroom, until Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's law partner, insists that he drive her home. Once there, she tries to seduce him. He initially resists her advances, but his failed attempts to connect with his parents make him feel isolated. Desperate for any kind of connection, he soon invites Mrs. Robinson to the Taft Hotel, where he registers under the pseudonym, "Mr. Gladstone".
Benjamin spends the summer floating in his parents' swimming pool by day and meeting Mrs. Robinson at the hotel by night. During one of their trysts, Mrs. Robinson reveals that her loveless marriage resulted when she accidentally became pregnant with her daughter, Elaine. When Benjamin jokingly suggests that he date Elaine, Mrs. Robinson angrily forbids it. However, Benjamin's parents and Mr. Robinson, unaware of the affair, are eager for Benjamin to date Elaine, and relentlessly pester him to ask her out. Benjamin gives in, and he reluctantly takes Elaine on a date.
When Benjamin sees how upset Mrs. Robinson is, he attempts to sabotage the date by ignoring Elaine, driving recklessly and taking her to a strip club. She flees the club in tears, but Benjamin, feeling remorseful, goes after her, apologizes, and kisses her. They eat at a drive-in restaurant, where they bond over their shared uncertainty about their future 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 with a married woman. Benjamin swears that the affair is over and makes plans for another date with Elaine for the following day.
To prevent Benjamin from dating Elaine, Mrs. Robinson threatens to tell Elaine about their affair. To thwart this, Benjamin reveals to Elaine that the married woman is her mother. Elaine is so upset that she throws Benjamin out of the house. Soon, she returns to school at Berkeley. Benjamin follows her to Berkeley, hoping to regain her affections. Elaine initially rejects him and briefly dates medical student Carl Smith, but then learns that her mother lied to her when she claimed Benjamin raped her, and the pair reconcile. Benjamin pushes for an early marriage, but Elaine is uncertain despite her feelings for him. Later, an angry Mr. Robinson arrives at Berkeley and confronts Benjamin in his boardinghouse room, where he informs him that he and his wife will be divorcing soon and threatens to have Benjamin locked up in prison if he continues to see Elaine. He then forces Elaine to leave college to marry Carl.
Benjamin drives back to Pasadena and breaks into the Robinson home, searching for Elaine. Instead, he finds Mrs. Robinson, who calls the police and claims her house is being burglarized. She tells Benjamin that he cannot prevent Elaine's marriage to Carl. Before the police arrive, Benjamin flees the Robinson home and drives back to Berkeley. There, he visits Carl's fraternity and is told that the wedding will take place in Santa Barbara that day. He speeds to Santa Barbara in the Alfa Romeo he received as a graduation present from his parents. The car runs out of gas a short distance from the church. Benjamin runs to the church, arriving just as the ceremony is ending. Benjamin's 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 barricade the church doors, trapping everyone inside. Benjamin and Elaine (the latter still in her wedding gown) escape aboard a bus and sit among the startled and staring passengers. As the bus drives on, their ecstatic smiles slowly fade away as they begin to ponder their uncertain future.
Reception and legacy[edit]
Critical response[edit]
The Graduate was met with generally positive reviews from critics upon its release. A.D. Murphy of Variety and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, with Murphy describing it as a "delightful satirical comedy drama",[40] and Ebert claiming it was the "funniest American comedy of the year".[41]
However, Life critic Richard 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."
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?"[42]
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 (who he considered "an insufferable creep"), viewing one's sympathy for Mrs. Robinson and disdainful attitude toward Ben as a function of aging and wisdom.[43]
He, along with Gene Siskel, gave the film a positive, if unenthusiastic review on the television program Siskel & Ebert.[44] Furthermore, the film's rating in the American Film Institute list of the greatest American films fell from seventh in 1997 to 17th in the 2007 update. Lang Thompson, however, argued that "it really hasn't dated much".[45]
Review aggregator Rotten 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."[46] On the similar website, Metacritic, the film holds a score of 83 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[47]
In popular culture[edit]
In The Player, Robert Altman's satire of Hollywood, Buck Henry pitches a sequel to The Graduate to producer Griffin Mill (played by Tim Robbins) during the film's opening sequence. A parody of Hollywood high 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.
The climactic sequence of The Graduate in which Benjamin crashes the wedding and leaves with Elaine is frequently parodied and referenced, including in:
Stage adaptation[edit]
Terry Johnson's adaptation of the original novel and the film ran on both London's West End and Broadway, and has toured the United States. There is a Brazilian version adapted by Miguel Falabella. Several actresses have starred as Mrs. Robinson, including Kathleen Turner, Lorraine Bracco, Jerry Hall, Amanda Donohoe, Morgan Fairchild, Anne Archer, Vera Fischer, Patricia Richardson and Linda Gray.
The stage production adds several scenes not in the novel nor the film, as well as using material from both film and novel.[68]
The soundtrack uses songs by Simon & 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 as The Byrds and The Beach Boys.[69] The West End production opened at the Gielgud Theatre on April 5, 2000, after previews from March 24, with Kathleen Turner starring as Mrs. Robinson.[70][71] Jerry Hall replaced Turner from July 31, 2000, followed by Amanda Donohoe from February 2001, Anne Archer from June 2001, and Linda Gray from October 2001.[72][73] The production closed in January 2002. The 2003 U.K. touring production starred Glynis Barber as Mrs. Robinson.[74]
The Broadway production opened at the Plymouth Theatre April 4, 2002, and closed March 2, 2003, after 380 performances. Directed by Terry Johnson, the play featured the cast of Jason Biggs as Benjamin Braddock, Alicia Silverstone as Elaine Robinson, and Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson. The play received no award nominations.[75] Linda Gray briefly filled in for Turner in September 2002. Lorraine Bracco replaced Turner from November 19, 2002.[76]
The Graduate ran at the Cape Playhouse (Dennis, Massachusetts) in July 2011, and starred Patricia Richardson.[77]
Possible sequel[edit]
Charles Webb wrote a sequel to his original novel, titled Home School, but initially refused to publish it in its entirety because of a contract he signed in the 1960s. When he sold the film rights to The Graduate, he surrendered the rights to any sequels. If he were to publish Home School, the French media company that owns the rights to The Graduate, Canal+, would be able to adapt it for the screen without his permission.[78] Extracts of Home School were printed in The Times on May 2, 2006.[79] 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.[80] On May 30, 2006, The Times reported Webb had signed a publishing deal for Home School with Random 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.[81]