The Graduate was filmed in 1967 and Directed by Mike Nichols and starred new comer Dustin Hoffman. It was adapted from a novel and was supposed to star Robert Redford which was much more like the character in the book. This was very much new American Cinema at its best. Although it received mixed reviews was one of the highest grossing movies that year. The Vietnam war was going, and the world was changing during this time. The Graduate came out when Time magazine voted that 1966 was a generation of the year instead of man of the year. Generation of young people under 25 and under who had already shown that they would remake the world. The article goes on to speak about the huge generation gap between youth and their parents at the time and “Never have the young been so assertive or so articulate, so well educated or so worldly. Predictably, they are a highly independent breed, and—to adult eyes—their independence has made them highly unpredictable. This is not just a new generation, but a new kind of generation.” The Graduate had an attitude of the changing world at the time. Dustin Hoffman’s character is exactly what the 1967 Time Magazine describes the youth, educated, independent and unpredictable.

The Graduate is a story of a traditional middle-class college graduate who wants a different future. He has an affair with his parent’s friend and falls in love with her daughter. Benjamin comes home from college to a bunch of adults asking and telling him and telling him what he should do with his future. He comes home confused and unsure what his future should hold. He then floats through the movie so to speak putting off going to graduate school like his father suggests.

The story starts with Benjamin a nearly 21 old returning from college to a packed house of party goers and friends of his parents. All of which are in his face asking, “what are your plans” “what are you going to do now’? Benjamin at one points answers “I’m going upstairs to be alone for a minute”.  He is approached by Mr.’s Robinson one of the party goers and friends of his parents for a ride home. Once home she tries to seduce him. Benjamin a young and pretty awkward guy refuses Mr.’s Robinsons advances. Mr. Robinson comes home to find Benjamin in the bar area and wants to talk. He tells Benjamin to enjoy his youth and sew his wild oats. A few days later Benjamin calls Mr.’s Robinson and an affair begins. Benjamin later meets Elaine her daughter and falls in love with her despite promising Mr.’s Robinson he would never date her. Elaine finds out about the affair between Benjamin and her mother and decides to cut it off with Benjamin. The movie ends with Benjamin crashing Elaine’s wedding and the two run off together and hop on a bus happy then a bit confused about their decision, now what?

The filming of this movie was artsy in a symbolic manner.  Mike Nichols uses a lot of zooming in and out in scenes. He also uses images to suggest Benjamin is “underwater” or out of depth with life, the fish tank, the pool and the scuba outfit.  This movie had drama and a lot of comedy in it.  I think this movie was supposed to be unconventional but ended up mainstream because it appealed to many people and resulted in huge sales. This was a good movie then and now.