The Graduate (1967)

Classic romantic comedy-drama directed by Mike Nichols and adapted from the 1963 novel by Charles Webb. It was the most successful film of 1967.

Dustin Hoffman stars as the graduate of the title. He returns to his family’s California home after completing his college degree but is uncomfortable with his parents’ expectations for him. He’s bored, too, and begins an affair with one of their friends (Anne Bancroft). This becomes more complicated when he then starts to fall for her daughter (Katharine Ross).

It’s an intelligent script that satirises the wealthy middle-class lifestyles of the time and makes the most of the social awkwardness Hoffman delivers so well.

The music, by Simon & Garfunkel, is extremely pretty and somehow suits the narrative perfectly, even though only ‘Mrs. Robinson’ was specifically written for the film.

I always liked the closing seconds, which are downbeat and not at all what you might have expected.

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