The Graduate (1967)

VERDICT:
8/10 Original Cougars

The anthem for all us of out there just floating around in life.

The Graduate is about a recent college grad with no idea of what he wants to do with his life, a complete disconnect with everyone around him who seems to know exactly what he should be doing with his life and a much older friend of his parents who’s hellbent on getting him in the sack despite her being married. Lo and behold, she gets her way and life is still pretty blah for our little Benjy Braddock, but then this lady’s daughter shows up on the scene, Ben takes her out on a date, realizes that she’s the only thing in his life that actually matters, and that’s when things get awkward.

This is one of those movies that’s been placed on a cultural pedestal of epic proportions, from “Mrs. Robinson” to the final Act of Wayne’s World 2, it’s become a cinematic legend of sorts that I feel more people know about than have actually seen. Maybe I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, but the general reaction I hear from folks who finally get around to actually watching this tends to fall somewhere in the area of  “History was right! That was effing great!”

And rightly so, because it really is that effing great and has totally stood the test of time.

That’s because The Graduate is universal. Regardless of age, gender, education or generation, I’m pretty sure everyone comes a crossroads in their life where they just don’t know what to do with themselves and might even be pretty content with it. It might come in the form of a mid-life crisis, maybe it’s been there all along, but for our boy Ben, it came right around the same time it came for me, right after getting his college diploma.

Ben’s not so much the voice of a generation, because I’m pretty sure these kinds of mood swings aren’t gonna be fading out any time soon, but rather the poster boy for disenchantment with life. He’s nervous as sin, he’s green behind the ears in nearly every single way, everything he does is prompted by someone else telling him to do it and by the time he does find that one thing in life he actually does want, that he actually does connect with, it ends up being the one thing he can’t have.

Sounds familiar? That’s what I thought.

As good as Anne Bancroft is as Mrs. Robinson and as much as I love a Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack as the next guy, The Graduate‘s all about Ben for me and this funny, insightful script along with Dustin Hoffman being the man brings him real close to home. It’s great to watch him go from this pushover and professional hanger-outer to someone insanely passionate that will stop at nothing to steal away Elaine Robinson.

And honestly, didn’t we all absolutely hate being asked by everyone what we were going to do after college? Jesus H. Murphy did that wear out fast. I’m all about having direction in life, but who out there always knows exactly what they’re gonna do next? These are the kinds of things we’ve gotta figure out for ourselves, folks, and who the hell wants to work in plastics anyway?

It’s also a really well-made movie by Mike Nichols that’s just beautifully shot, moves along at a great pace and serves as a crash course in Great Editing 101.

But here’s the thing…

If I had written this review four years ago when I had first seen it as a college undergrad, clueless as to what the hell I was gonna do with my life, too busy perfecting the art of funneling beer to even think about graduation and feeling like Ben Braddock was the walking, talking voice of Aiden that was written up just for me, I would probably have given this a 9 or even a 10. But now, with a real job in the real world with my own real cubicle, hardly able to finish a six pack without feeling like a beached whale and doing my best to turn a hobby into a career, it’s at an 8, and I’m alright with that even if I wasn’t expecting it.

Don’t get me wrong, The Graduate is a phenomenal movie that lives up to all the hype it’s garnered over the course of 40 years and spoke to me in a way that movies rarely do, but just as I’ve changed since college, so has my connection to Ben. It’s the same with The Catcher in the Rye – first time I read it as a High School Sophomore, I thought Holden was a bum, read it again four years later and I thought he was the man. Strange how that happens.

From a technical standpoint, this is always going to be out of sight and so will the cast, but it’s a movie worth revisiting at different points in your life because life is what it’s about and I don’t think any of us are the same person we were four years ago.

And how about Mr. Feeney as Ben’s dad? Awesome.