Why I Love Film - "The Graduate"

Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate

I was re-watching the The Graduate the other day and I came out of it reassured that it is one of my all-time favorite favorite films. When  I get around to re-thinking my top 100 films of all time it will most likely remain in the top ten. This movie has such a simple-sounding plot, how could it be one of the few mainstream films (i.e. non-genre films) to crack my top ten? It’s not even one of these slick new films with quick edits that get the young kids all excited. This is from 1967, the second picture in Mike Nichols’ filmography which totals 22 titles. Throughout his career, Nichols has also mixed-in directing jobs on Broadway plays, and finding this out was not surprising after viewing some of the one-room, dialogue heavy scenes in his work (The Graduate has also been on Broadway, but not involving Nichols). But there also are things I like about The Graduate that I don’t imagine would transfer well to the stage. Some of these are the things I love about it, such as the the camera tricks, the musical montages and driving scenes, and the film’s setting- the 1960’s time period and the California location.

On top of those are the things that might transfer well to the stage- the plot, script, and acting- that is if you could find stage acting comparable to the film performances by Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katherine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, et. al.  And then there’s the music. This is one of those films where the the whole song-soundtrack of the movie is by one artist, Simon and Garfunkel, in this case. The Sound of Silence is the “theme of the movie”, but “Mrs. Robinson is the one most remembered for being from this movie. I can’t say for sure whether a person who hates Simon and Garfunkel will hate The Graduate, but I can say that I neither love or hate them, and I think the songs are perfectly placed, almost acting as a score themselves. There is a credited score composer, Dave Grusin.  He contributed music that seemed to be playing in the background in movie’s universe (the characters can hear it) and music cues that were instrumental and changed tempo versions of some of the Simon and Garfunkel songs.

The things I just described help explain why I love The Graduate, but there are other reasons that can explaining how The Graduate is a prime example of why I love film. As an art form and a form of entertainment the finished product of a movie is a culmination of choices and decisions of many artists and business people. In different hands this book adaptation could have been very ordinary. The screenplay was adapted from a novel of the same name and keeping the same plot: Benjamin Braddock is distressed about his unknown future after his college graduation. He has an affair with the older Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner. I have not read the book, but I can imagine the different ways this could be written and adapted just with tone alone. The film has two credited screenwriters, Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, who did not collaborate (one probably made major changes to the others’ draft).  I assume that Henry, known for his dry humor and later recurring appearances on "Saturday Night Live," was probably the one responsible for the film’s more overtly comedic elements.

Another thing important to all films is their casting. And in a coming-of-age story like this the lead role of Ben and the two female leads are essential. First of all they needed someone who could convey the confused identity of someone not sure yet who he’s going to be in life. He is really stressed out about not knowing how to live a life with meaning- that is “different,” so his mannerisms are not going to be consistent over the course of the film. In the beginning of the film, when he is most unsure, he is especially awkward and timid, though trying, and failing, to be a cool cat on the exterior. Dustin Hoffman was perfect in this very early role for him.

Hoffman needed to be cast opposite actresses who he would share on-screen chemistry with, but in two much different ways. The first of these characters, Mrs. Robinson, is the alcoholic mother in a failing marriage who seduces him and has an affair with him, and the second, Elaine, is her daughter who is slightly younger than Ben (still in college) and who he becomes attracted to, probably because she is not available to him. I sympathize with character of Mrs. Robinson as played by Anne Bancroft when the affair is innocent and private, but once it has run it’s course Ben learns how the world can be an ugly place when people are self-serving and put up false fronts (not he’s entirely innocent of this throughout the course of the film). Katherine Ross as Elaine conveys a much more innocent and vulnerable, yet strong young woman, entering a life crossroads just like Ben. And then there’s the great cast of character actors like Murray Hamilton (the mayor from Jaws) as Mr. Robinson, William Daniels (Mr. Feeney from "Boy Meets World") as Ben’s dad, and Norman Fell (Mr. Roper from "Three’s Company") as the boarding house landlord.

The Graduate is also a great film for recognizing a director’s style. Case in point is the montage scene used to show time passing and the continuing affair between Mrs. Robinson and the confused Ben as well as his leisurely, but straight-faced, life at his parent’s house (see above clip). The two songs “The "Sound of Silence" and "April Come She Will" play over the montage. The thing that sticks with me are Nichols’ transitions. Ben gets out of the pool at the house and puts on a white collared shirt. He opens the door to the house and walks through wearing the same shirt, but he’s in the hotel room with Mrs. Robinson. After he’s in bed with his head in front of the black headboard the camera cuts to a close-up, also in front of a black, shadowy background. Viewers assume the cut is just to a close-up in the same room, but it's a trick. A zoom-out shows Ben is now in his bedroom at home. The next transition, back to the hotel room is very similar. When they go back to his room at home in a close-up Nichols makes sure the background is again black, this time coming in on black pillows behind his head. The montage ends with the best trick of all, as Ben walks from foreground into the background, walking out to the pool diving board, while his mother, in the foreground stares at him. When he dives into the pool he swims across the pool and pops out over the edge at the other side and into the hotel bed with Mrs. Robinson as the music ends with a splash.

This is not the only montage or musical interlude in the movie meant to convey the passage of time, but it is my favorite example. Nichols does not use the same style of musical aside throughout his career, maybe since he’s done different types of films tonally. It could also be because this style fit more with the overall basic director as an auteur style in the 1960s and early 70s. I have only seen a smattering of Mike Nichols movies but I can recall similar interludes in The Day of the Dolphin (1973), albeit with instrumental score instead of songs, which were meant to develop emotional depth with characters. 

When I rate a movie I give points to things like director’s style and use of music. I recently saw the movie Mississippi Burning (1988) for the first time. That film used included some appropriate songs, and I didn’t have any complaints about the directing or acting (great turns by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe). The musical score, however, sounded repetitive and too emotionally manipulative to me. Every time there was a chase or a violent act such as arson (the literal slant of "burning" in the title) the same threatening drumbeat-led theme would play. Not with varying levels of tempo and subtlety, but pretty much the same each time. It may not always be as easy to recognize a great element in film until you see it done not as well, at least in your own opinion.

Even though I’ve seen it many times, I get caught up in the story within The Graduate and don’t completely realize that it’s about to end. And it’s such a satisfying moment when Ben has been driving and running all day and a big-eyed Elaine makes her choice between him and the man she's marrying. It’s because of the emotional depth and character development that the filmmakers have built up to that point that I get chills at that climactic moment and enjoy the denouement that in just a few seconds brings it all back to an uncertain future.