Bonnie Parker, a bored waitress falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Director:
Arthur Penn
Stars:
Warren Beatty,
Faye Dunaway,
Michael J. Pollard
Ted Kramer's wife leaves him, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple's son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.
Director:
Robert Benton
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Meryl Streep,
Jane Alexander
"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
Director:
Alan J. Pakula
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Robert Redford,
Jack Warden
A graduate history student is unwittingly caught in the middle of an international conspiracy involving stolen diamonds, an exiled Nazi war criminal, and a rogue government agent.
Director:
John Schlesinger
Stars:
Dustin Hoffman,
Laurence Olivier,
Roy Scheider
Ben has recently graduated from college, with his parents now expecting great things from him. At his "Homecoming" party, Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner, has Ben drive her home, which leads to an affair between the two. The affair eventually ends, but comes back to haunt him when he finds himself falling for Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter.Written by
Zac Abrams
According to Susan Hayward's biographers, Mike Nichols originally wanted her for the role of Mrs. Robinson, but she declined because she wanted to avoid modifying her screen image. After Doris Day and Patricia Neal also turned it down, Nichols eventually offered it to Anne Bancroft. See more »
Goofs
During the "plastics" speech, we see a shot of Mr. McGuire and Ben from the middle of the living room. In the next shot, they are by the sliding door. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Pilot:
Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin our descent into Los Angeles. The sound you just heard is the landing gear locking into place. Los Angeles weather is clear; temperature is 72. We expect to make our 4 hour and 18 minute flight on schedule. We have enjoyed having you on board, and look forward to seeing you again in the near future.
See more »
Alternate Versions
There are two versions of the first encounter between Ben and Mrs Robinson. When Ben turns around after Mrs Robinson locks the door to her daughter's bedroom to make a proposition to him. In one, Ben says "Jesus Christ," and "Oh, my Christ" as he views Mrs Robinson in the nude. In another version the words Ben says have been dubbed to "Jesus God" and Oh, my God". See more »
Many of the remarks which are critical of this film are coming from people who are too young to have fully understood the mood of the sixties. Young people today embrace the goals of career advancement and material success as all-important, and in that respect, they are much like the older generation of the sixties. The younger generation of that era are, of course, today's older generation. At the time (though it may be hard to tell now), they rejected the values of their parents and were idealistic and Utopian in their approach to life. The generation gap was the biggest issue of the day (aside from the Vietnam War) and it was a recurrent theme in this film. The shallow, cynical, and corrupt older generation were wonderfully depicted by the boozing Robinsons. They wallowed in bourgeois elitism and hypocrisy, an apt theme the extravagant, big band lounge music that Mrs. Robinson puts on after Ben drives her home from the party. Recall, as well, the seemingly off-the-wall advice given to Ben by a man at the party: "One word, son -- plastics!" Actually, it might have been good advice, considering the way things have developed, but it sure didn't seem so at the time. The older generation were "plastic" (artificial and phony), whereas the younger generation strove to be honest and natural, though obviously, few succeeded at it for long. In any case, you had to have been there to fully appreciate and understand these references, which at the time were anything but subtle.
Even though Mrs. Robinson is undeniably a far more sophisticated and sexy woman than her pretty, naive daughter, Elaine represents the unapologetic and uncompromising idealism of the younger generation. Ben, who more than anything wanted his life to be "different" and grew tired of his purely physical relationship with Elaine's mother, just naturally shifted his romantic attachment to her daughter. The movie's score began to play a more important role as he courted her. I don't necessarily agree with those who claim the second part of the movie wasn't as good as the first. Although Ben indeed may have been kidding himself about just how much he loved and needed Elaine, he nevertheless fervently pursued her, and his love for the girl, whether real or imagined, represented what he considered most important in life. This was a real parting of the ways from the values of the older generation, who appeared to place romantic love fairly low on their list of priorities. In fact, without so many examples of their cynical and oft-nauseating attitudes continually in evidence, the movie changed into something else, just as it did in real life when the relatively innocent younger generation tried to experience life on their own terms (which few of them ever succeeded at doing for very long).
"The Graduate" was thus a classic movie that spoke for an entire generation. It is easy to understand why many members of the younger generation of today would be turned off by this movie. They are like the older generation of yesterday (only more so)-- boozing at an early age, driven by a desire to achieve material success above all else, obsessed with gadgets and other ephemeral distractions, and terrified that they might be perceived as "losers," which not coincidentally is the biggest insult they can apply to one another or to members of the older generation of today. Benjamin Braddock would be, to them, "a loser" who didn't know what was important or what he ought to want. When their own kids reach maturity and begin to seek greater meaning and purpose than the emphasis on money and position that is obviously so important to their parents, watch them reject almost everything Generation X stands for. It will be "The Graduate" all over again.
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Many of the remarks which are critical of this film are coming from people who are too young to have fully understood the mood of the sixties. Young people today embrace the goals of career advancement and material success as all-important, and in that respect, they are much like the older generation of the sixties. The younger generation of that era are, of course, today's older generation. At the time (though it may be hard to tell now), they rejected the values of their parents and were idealistic and Utopian in their approach to life. The generation gap was the biggest issue of the day (aside from the Vietnam War) and it was a recurrent theme in this film. The shallow, cynical, and corrupt older generation were wonderfully depicted by the boozing Robinsons. They wallowed in bourgeois elitism and hypocrisy, an apt theme the extravagant, big band lounge music that Mrs. Robinson puts on after Ben drives her home from the party. Recall, as well, the seemingly off-the-wall advice given to Ben by a man at the party: "One word, son -- plastics!" Actually, it might have been good advice, considering the way things have developed, but it sure didn't seem so at the time. The older generation were "plastic" (artificial and phony), whereas the younger generation strove to be honest and natural, though obviously, few succeeded at it for long. In any case, you had to have been there to fully appreciate and understand these references, which at the time were anything but subtle.
Even though Mrs. Robinson is undeniably a far more sophisticated and sexy woman than her pretty, naive daughter, Elaine represents the unapologetic and uncompromising idealism of the younger generation. Ben, who more than anything wanted his life to be "different" and grew tired of his purely physical relationship with Elaine's mother, just naturally shifted his romantic attachment to her daughter. The movie's score began to play a more important role as he courted her. I don't necessarily agree with those who claim the second part of the movie wasn't as good as the first. Although Ben indeed may have been kidding himself about just how much he loved and needed Elaine, he nevertheless fervently pursued her, and his love for the girl, whether real or imagined, represented what he considered most important in life. This was a real parting of the ways from the values of the older generation, who appeared to place romantic love fairly low on their list of priorities. In fact, without so many examples of their cynical and oft-nauseating attitudes continually in evidence, the movie changed into something else, just as it did in real life when the relatively innocent younger generation tried to experience life on their own terms (which few of them ever succeeded at doing for very long).
"The Graduate" was thus a classic movie that spoke for an entire generation. It is easy to understand why many members of the younger generation of today would be turned off by this movie. They are like the older generation of yesterday (only more so)-- boozing at an early age, driven by a desire to achieve material success above all else, obsessed with gadgets and other ephemeral distractions, and terrified that they might be perceived as "losers," which not coincidentally is the biggest insult they can apply to one another or to members of the older generation of today. Benjamin Braddock would be, to them, "a loser" who didn't know what was important or what he ought to want. When their own kids reach maturity and begin to seek greater meaning and purpose than the emphasis on money and position that is obviously so important to their parents, watch them reject almost everything Generation X stands for. It will be "The Graduate" all over again.