An aimless college man (Dustin Hoffman) lets an older woman (Anne Bancroft) seduce him, then finds himself... (Learn more)
Starring: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross (View All)
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Starring: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross
"Just one word: plastic." "Are you here for an affair?" These lines and others became cultural touchstones, as 1960s youth rebellion seeped into the California upper middle-class in Mike Nichols' landmark hit. Mentally adrift the summer after graduating from college, suburbanite Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) would rather float in his parents' pool than follow adult advice about his future. But the exhortation of family friend Mr. Robinson (Murray Hamilton) to seize every possible opportunity inspires Ben to accept an offer of sex from icily feline Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). The affair and the pool are all well and good until Ben is pushed to go out with the Robinsons' daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross) and he falls in love with her. Mrs. Robinson sabotages the relationship and an understandably disgusted Elaine runs back to college. Determined not to let Elaine get away, Ben follows her to school and then disrupts her family-sanctioned wedding. None too happy about her pre-determined destiny, Elaine flees with Ben -- but to what? Directing his second feature film after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Nichols matched the story's satire of suffocating middle-class shallowness with an anti-Hollywood style influenced by the then-voguish French New Wave. Using odd angles, jittery editing, and evocative widescreen photography, Nichols welded a hip New Wave style and a generation-gap theme to a fairly traditional screwball comedy script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham from Charles Webb's novel. Adding to the European art film sensibility, the movie offers an unsettling and ambiguous ending with no firm closure. And rather than Robert Redford, Nichols opted for a less glamorous unknown for the pivotal role of Ben, turning Hoffman into a star and opening the door for unconventional leading men throughout the 1970s. With a pop-song score written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel bolstering its contemporary appeal, The Graduate opened to rave reviews in December 1967 and surpassed all commercial expectations. It became the top-grossing film of 1968 and was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Actor, and Actress, with Nichols winning Best Director. Together with Bonnie and Clyde, it stands as one of the most influential films of the late '60s, as its mordant dissection of the generation gap helped lead the way to the youth-oriented Hollywood artistic "renaissance" of the early '70s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
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US Release Date
12/20/67
MPAA Rating
Rated R
Running Time
105 mins.
Locations
- Beverly Hills, California, USA
- Los Angeles, California, USA
Language
- English
Box Office Total
$242,611
Awards
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Editing award at the 1968 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1967 New York Film Critics Circle [Festival Awards.
- Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 1968 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
- Winner of the Most Promising Newcomer award at the 1968 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
- Winner of the New Star of the Year - Male award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Actor award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Picture award at the 1968 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
- Winner of the New Star of the Year - Female award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Winner of the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Winner of the Best Picture - Musical or Comedy award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Winner of the U.S. National Film Registry award at the 1996 Library of Congress [Festival/Award] Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Picture award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the 100 Greatest American Movies award at the 1998 American Film Institute [Festival/Awar Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Actress award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Screenplay award at the 1967 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Cinematography award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1967 Directors Guild of America [Festival/A Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Picture award at the 1967 National Board of Review [Festival/Awa Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award at the 1967 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1968 British Academy of Film and Television Awards.
Distributor
- Embassy Pictures
- New Line Home Entertainment
- Strand Releasing
