CS Weekly Archive > DVD > 09/07/07

Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson

By dennis sampson

The classic movie about a young man with too much time on his hands continues to hold a strong influence over today's cinema. Now the 1967 coming-of-age film that spoke for a generation is given a super-deluxe 40th Anniversary DVD treatment. Too bad the stellar screenplay doesn't receive the attention it deserves.

The Graduate (40th Anniversary Edition)

Screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry
Based on the novel by Charles Webb

Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is a recent college-graduate completely unsure of his future. His aimless life is filled with a meandering sense of being ("I'm just floating," he tells his father) as he's bombarded with bad career advice ("Plastics" is the horrifying council one adult offers him). The boredom of Benjamin's world is interrupted when he begins an affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a peer of his parents. Things turn really dicey when Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross) returns from school and steals Benjamin's heart.

The simplicity of The Graduate's plot does little to serve the intricate complexities and layered depths of its screenplay. The script could serve as a model for the unintentional hilarity of the human condition. On a personal, character level, it's about being trapped (director Mike Nichols uses a number of framing devices to drive this point home, including a scuba-clad Benjamin wallowing at the bottom of his parent's swimming pool), both for Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson. But the script also works as a biting satire of a materialistic society so all-consumed by its possessions that it's lost its sense of self (the aforementioned useless scuba gear Benjamin receives as a birthday present, case in point). This theme is driven home through illustrating the great chasm and lack of communication between generations (Mr. Robinson advising Ben to "sow his wild oats," for example).

Speaking of communication, the dialogue crackles in this film. Equally crucial are the silences (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel); screenwriters Calder Willingham and Buck Henry seem aware that what's not spoken is actually more character-defining than what is (consider the mocking pause Benjamin receives when he utters the famous, "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me."). The movie is loaded with quotable dialogue that resonates not just within the fabric of the narrative, but on an iconic level as well.

The Graduate also pulls off a remarkable feat that's not typically discussed when the film is scrutinized. Benjamin's actions, particularly those involved in chasing Elaine all the way back to Berkley, are compulsive, and border on stalker behavior. And yet the movie somehow deftly manages to keep this fixated young man endearing. Imagine, despite such an unhealthy obsession, we're actually rooting for him to get the girl.

- Commentary by Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh
- Commentary by Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross
- "Students of The Graduate" Featurette"
- "The Seduction" Featurette
- "One on One with Dustin Hoffman" Featurette
- "The Graduate at 25" Featurette
- Theatrical Trailer

The extras are devoted to examining the seemingly boundless influence The Graduate has had over the years. It seems there are few successful filmmakers not affected by this picture (Harold Ramis, Marc Forster, Jonathan Dayton, and Valerie Faris are among those who discuss the movie's effect on their own work). Consequently, the focus of the supplementals is aimed less at the film's screenplay than it is at director Nichols' filmic innovations to tell his story. Even co-screenwriter Buck Henry is used sparingly in the few interview segments in which he appears.

Despite the occasional dated cinematic (perhaps one zoom too many), the circumstances, themes, and spirit of The Graduate still resonate powerfully. The jokes are still funny, the characters still real, and its message remains loud and clear. The film represents a genre long-forgotten by today's Hollywood: the comedy with a brain.

The Graduate (40th Anniversary Edition)
MGM Home Entertainment
Rated R; 106 min.
$24.98

Buy it now

Dennis Sampson is a commercial production coordinator and unproduced screenwriter. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his better half, Susan, and their dog Tripp.

The Graduate (40th Anniversary Edition) courtesy MGM Home Entertainment

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