The Graduate

It just ended on TCM. First time I've watched it all the way through; seen bits and pieces over the years. I'm still processing. Good movie although I wanted to punch the crap out of the first-40-minutes Benjamin Braddock. Loosen the fuck up, dude.

So, because I'm curious by nature and enjoy finding out peoples' reactions to pop culture, I have a question for those SportsJournalists.com folks who watched the movie when it came out in theaters: How old were you when you watched it, and what impact did it have on you? Almost 40 years later does it have an impact?

 

I caught a bit too and I'm still trying to figure out why Norman Fell wanted him out of the house... Hearsay and innuendo...

 

I'm too young to answer your question, but this movie is my all-time favorite. It's Berkeley in the 60s, it's Simon and Garfunkel, it's great writing and great acting ...

I actually went to Berkeley, where "The Graduate" was shown right before finals, every term. Amid all our frantic studying, we could take a break to watch a movie with a scene where Dad walks out to the back patio, sees his newly-graduated son floating aimlessly in the pool and ...

MR. BRADDOCK
Would you mind telling me then -
what were those four years of
college for? What was the point
of all that hard work?

BEN
You got me.

Loud applause and laughter. Your tension just, well, floated away, at least for a few minutes.

Oh, and if I can offer just one word of advice to my fellow posters ...

PLASTICS!

 

The movie went where few movies dare to tread: an ambiguous ending.

A perfect ending to a near-perfect film.

 

The fact that you wanted to belt Benjamin was one of the points of the film.
Also, the fact that Mel Brooks snagged the Anne Bancroft of this era forever is hope enough for every cheap-laughs expert in every bar in America.

 

The scene where he is nervously trying to pay for a room in the hotel lobby is just wonderful.

 

One of my all-time favorite movies with some great lines.

"Oh no Mrs. Robinson, that's not it at all, I think you're the most attractive of all my parents' friends."

Nice compliment Ben.

 

I found it to be over-rated :-\

 

Watched a movie the other day with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner that was kind of a sequel to "The Graduate." Not bad. Costner is the Dustin Hoffman character all grown up and Shirley McClaine is the Anne Bancroft character. Suffice to say Benjamin Braddock is a lot smoother by this point.

The whole premise is that the movie was based on real-life events in Pasadena, and Aniston realizes that it was about her own family.

 

Does Kevin Costner play Jennifer Anniston's father?

 

Well, she thinks he might be her father, so she seeks him out to find out ... I'll leave it at that as not to give it away.

 

Ben Braddock, drinking Oly.

Richard Dreyfess (sp?) making a cameo appearance and uttering one line in the stairway scene with Norman Fell.

Pretty good movie, it has aged a lot better than "Easy Rider," "The Strawberry Statement" or others from that period.