The Graduate (DVD)

This film seduced me a long, long time ago, and the affair isn’t anywhere near being over yet. ‘The Graduate’ was filmed in 1967, and is one of those classic stories that doesn’t seem to date. Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman) is fresh out of college and unsure about what direction he wants his life to go in. When a friend of his parents, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), makes him an offer he can’t refuse, he finds things slipping pleasurably out of his control. Ben feels utterly alienated from the suburban world of his parents, with their cocktail parties and their luxurious house and pool. He doesn’t seem to have ...  Read the complete review

For anyone that has been to University, Mike Nichols' oddysey into the existential unknown is a must-see, particularly if you've just completed your degree (as I myself have). It deals with the seemingly empty milieu that follows graduation, as protagonist Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) must decide what to do next with his life, amid a sexual encounter with his former teacher Mrs. Robinson, played iconically by the departed Anne Bancroft. Further complicating manners is Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross), who Braddock has conflicted feelings for, torn between the experienced old woman and the sweet girl that's his age. It's a ...  Read the complete review

I had bought The Graduate on DVD over a year ago, since then it has sat on my shelf like many other films just waiting to be seen. I'd heard of it before I went to film school but was shown some of it during that time which is why I bought it. Made in 1967, it's already a classis. One of those films that rearely get's made now because it's pretty ordinary when you come to think about it. It has characters talking and not much else. Hopefully one day Hollywood will realize that these are the films that last after 25 years and more of them need to be made. A young Dustin Hoffman plays Ben Braddock, he's just graduated from college and ...  Read the complete review

The Graduate (1967) DVD ----------------------- Ratio 2.35:1 Letterboxed Running Time 1 hour 46 minutes New Stereo Surround Soundtrack The plot: Aimless Graduate, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), is willingly seduced by a family friend, Mrs Robinson (Ann Bancroft), only to fall for her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). The opening scenes perfectly capture that vaguely aimless/worried/anticlimactic moment when you've finished school/university and haven't a clue what to do next - if you've been there you'll recognise it. This film was Hoffman's astonishing star debut (aged 29, playing 20). He oozes ...  Read the complete review

The Graduate has just been voted the 9th most funny film in the AFI's (American Film Institute's) 100 Years 100 Laughs Poll. So I thought it was the right time for me to watch this 1967 classic again, and I wasn't disappointed. In fact I laughed more this time round. The film opens with Benjamin Braddock, played wonderfully by Dustin Hoffman, returning to is all-American home having just completed his degree. His future is wide open to him and yet he feels trapped, burdened by expectation having done so well at University. At a huge party he is taken aside by one family friend who has for him "... one word: Plastics!" The theme ...  Read the complete review