The Untold Truth Of The Graduate

the graduate has become one of the most important movies of the latter half of the 20th century featuring acclaimed performances from anne bancroft and dustin hoffman the movie not only had a huge impact on the film industry but also american culture here's the untold truth of the graduate benjamin played by dustin hoffman is supposed to be seen as a naive young man compared to anne bancroft's mature seductive housewife character mrs robinson the central taboo of the film is their affair and the age difference between the two but in reality the actors were only six years apart and bancroft was 35 playing a woman a decade older than herself often was 29. according to vanity fair gene hackman who was originally cast in the film as mr robinson was fired and replaced with someone older in order to really drive home the age difference between benjamin and mrs robinson however director mike nichols wasn't bothered by the real-life six-year age difference between the lead performers in his film he told vanity fair both actors seemed to be the ages their characters were that's acting hoffman admitted in the same article that he was a neophyte with the graduate being his first lead film role and that bancroft was an accomplished actress so we felt they had a unique and special relationship with one another hoffman said about bangkok you're either working with the people who are going for the same truth as you are or you're not she was she had a character the graduate would have been an entirely different film if the actors who nichols originally intended to work with had been cast into two lead roles many stars auditioned or were approached for the roles of benjamin and mrs robinson doris day could have played mrs robinson according to box nichols approached day but she turned it down noting that the part quote offended her sense of values robert redford who fit the physical description of benjamin and the eponymous novel the film was adapting screen tested for the part apparently during the session nichols questioned whether the very handsome redfird could convincingly play a loser who was capable of being rejected by women you're very nearly perfect it's a rotten thing to say by the mid-1960s ann bancroft had garnered a reputation as a serious film and stage actress who was known for playing acclaimed roles like her award-winning turn as blind helen keller tutor annie sullivan in the miracle worker many were concerned that the racy controversial role of mrs robinson and the graduate might ruin her career nichols told vanity fair everyone cautioned her to turn it down how can you go from the saintly annie sullivan to the medusa like mrs robinson too risky it's hard to imagine by today's standards that this type of role would legitimately concern an actress about her future career prospects then again the graduate was made just on the cusp of the beginnings of the sexual revolution and bancroft's husband mel brooks convinced her to do the film brooks reportedly liked the script and had worked with its screenwriter in the past she followed his gut instinct and in the end anne nabbed a best actress oscar nomination for her performance despite the accolades she received for the role bancroft admitted to being resentful of only becoming known as mrs robinson for the rest of her career he told the la times in 1997 i'm still trying to get away from it before such classic comedies as spaceballs and blazing saddles there was the producers mel brooks freshman film broke comedic boundaries satirized the nazis and was a wildly popular movie that eventually became a successful musical and won brooks an oscar for best original screenplay before the graduate hoffman had a few minor roles under his belt according to indy wire brooks approached hoffman to be in the producers and the young actor originally said yes to playing the fanatical hitler supporter franz liebkind however hoffman also asked brooks permission to audition for the graduate brooks agreed as he was aware of the script considering that his wife ann bancroft was already slated to star in it plus he didn't think hoffman stood a chance of getting the role brook said i thought this was all too bizarre go you're a mutt the minute they see you on film they'll say we got the wrong guy he called me back two days later and said they want me this big break made hoffman instantly famous and propelled him down a path to becoming one of the most acclaimed dramatic actors of his generation based on a low-selling virtually unknown 1963 novel of the same name by charles webb the rights to the graduate weren't on hollywood's radar nichols was still a very green director at this point and actor-turned-writer buck henry had no screenwriting experience the film was also notoriously difficult to cast despite all the challenges the movie was acquired for a very low price and financed by embassy pictures the first screenings of the initial cut didn't impress executives either they especially didn't like nickel's choice for the leading man much to everyone's surprise however the obscure low-budget indie with an unknown star was a runaway hit it even included one of the greatest quotes in movie history mrs robinson you're trying to seduce me [Music] aren't you alice albert a film critic at the time recalls the public's reaction to the movie in the guardian lines extended around the corner all the way down the block except that the people waiting for the next showing were not family groups but mostly young people in their teens and early 20s it was as though they all knew they were going to see something good something made for them dustin hoffman was the physical opposite of the book's lead character benjamin bratt who looked more like nichol's first choice robert redford the character is described in the book and screenplay as tall and handsome other hugely popular actors such as steve mcqueen and warren beatty were also being considered not only was hoffman not the right physical type but he nearly blew his audition and even told nichols he didn't think he was right for the party when nichols decided to cast him it would shift the culture in hollywood screenwriter buck henry says in vanity fair a whole generation changed its idea of what guy should look like i think dustin's physical being brought a sort of social and visual change the infamous highly dramatic church scene of the graduate was inspired by harold lloyd's 1924 classic silent comedy girl shy the film is about a shy taylor's apprentice with a stutter who rushes to save the girl he loves from getting married to a bigamist nichols was inspired by the film's climactic race to rescue sequence while filming the graduate's wedding scene inside a united methodist church in california many bizarre complications arose apparently the heat was unbearable and there were so many people crowded together on the set that bancroft fainted at one point according to the endland valley daily bulletin oftman nearly passed out as well but the strangest moment came when hoffman's character is banging on the balcony glass to get elaine's attention who was about to get married below him he and the cast and crew nearly got thrown out of the church by the pastor donald woods hoffman says in an interview included in the 2015 dvd release in the middle of a take i hear screaming and it's the reverend and he's screaming stop stop everybody out that's it everybody out apparently the glass window hoffman had been banging on was precious and irreplaceable which is why hoffman taps on the window with his palms instead of banging with his fists in the final cut much like the 1960s shook up american socio-political culture the graduate was the very definition of a late 60s film controversial at times taboo breaking from convention and grappling with themes such as youth disillusionment and questioning societal norms politico points out that if the film had come out prior to 1967 it might have been dismissed as quote cultural slander the graduate came out the same year as the rebellious romantic caper film bonnie and clyde and the critically acclaimed guess who's coming to dinner but benjamin isn't exactly a counterculture hippie rebelling against society as one might expect from a youth-centric film of this time in fact he's a bit of a square but the events that unfold due to decisions he makes along the way conclude in a sort of symbolic character arc that pushes him to his breaking point as the final scene implies he makes a conscious decision to ignore society's rules and attempts to grasp at a life of free will as film historian mark harris states in smithsonian magazine's 50-year anniversary review before the graduate was released the studios believed quote everything should appeal to everyone after dissecting what made the film so successful executives came to the realization that almost half their paying audience was under 24. why does the graduate still resonate so strongly with movie audiences to this day it may be that its themes of questioning institutions including marriage higher education and capitalist model are all too applicable now inside higher ed makes the argument that the film is quote an emblem of youth alienation in post-war america after all one of the most memorable exchanges of dialogue is when a family friend of benjamin's parents gives him a simple word of advice that concerns his future just one word yes sir are you listening yes are you plastics it's a not so subtle allegory of the generational gap and the growing distaste for consumer culture and entering the adult world reviews in 1967 like one by new york times critic bosley prouther praised the film calling it one of the best serial comic social satires we've had from hollywood walking the line between tragic comedy and political satire may have put the film a bit ahead of its time seeming more novel to its audience than it would today but history repeats itself and the themes of the graduate certainly still hold significance in the 2020s nichols approached paul simon to write three original songs for the film however one track that wasn't meant for the film made the cut originally the first line to the famous mrs robinson tune was here's to you mrs roosevelt in a variety article nichols reminisces on the song's conception he said that simon told him it's a song about time's past about mrs eleanor roosevelt and joe dimaggio and stuff nichols replied to him quote it's now about mrs robinson not mrs roosevelt though the song became famously tied to the film only a small portion of the chorus of the song actually makes the cut of the movie which leads to speculation that the song wasn't even completed until after the film came out mrs robinson became one of the most famous movie songs in film history and was also a number one hit along with the soundtrack album which was released in 1968 due to the film's popularity the fairly obscure new york folk duo gained an entirely new audience the track also appeared on simon garfunkel's next studio album bookends and became one of their most successful and beloved songs a walking tour entitled the story of the graduate movie is given at uc berkeley's campus taking fans of the film through its many backdrops and locations around town stops on the tour include bin's boarding house an old victorian building on campus the famous moe's books where bin stocks elaine and the cafe mediterranean where he keeps an eye on the bookstore across the street other locations on the tour include the theta delta kai fraternity house and sproul plaza the tour is guided by former berkeley historical society president steve fenikom he spoke to the arizona republic about the taurus and why they're so popular saying i think people are interested in seeing places from history even fictional history the 60s has a hold on the imagination berkeley did really capture the attention of the nation in that era the same can be said of the graduate as the film continues to reverberate through popular culture and capture the attention of viewers today as much as it did in 1967. 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Channel: Grunge

Views: 286,198

Keywords: grunge, the graduate, classic movies, actors, dustin hoffman

Id: 7a7gdXW9EfE

Length: 12min 14sec (734 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 24 2021