Interestingly, this is another article written about The Graduate by Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun Times. He approaches his review slightly differently here, through the lens of comedy. In his later review of the film, he discusses the blandness of the characters, but alternately in this article, he discusses their subtle humor. In some ways, he relates these two things implying that the humoristic gawkiness of the characters comes from their quiet mouthed, simple minded personalities.  While The Graduate is not a film that is readily recognized for comic aspects, they are very much present.

            Firstly, Ebert's article makes an important point about comedy in general. It does not have to be drawn from obvious punch lines, but can come from quirky points of view. He discusses a new type of British film, popular at the time, which incorporated this new style of comedy. Rather than having characters react to funny situations, "the movie itself reacts by what it shows next." In The Graduate, some of the humor is derived from the honesty and embarrassment of the characters.

            The real comedy, though, comes when audiences are able to step back and realize the outrageous story that they are watching. Ben is seduced by his parents good friend in their strict suburban society, and ends up falling classically (almost) in love with her daughter, Elaine. He bangs on the church doors to stop Elaine from marrying the wrong man and rides away with her on the back of a bus. It is simple descriptions like this that show the true humor of the plot.

An interesting detail about this film that is often overlooked is that fact that Buck Henry, who plays the hotel clerk, collaborated with Nichols and in addition to adding comedy on-screen, he added a lot of humor to the script. (Buck Henry is now one of the countries funniest comedians.)

This excerpt gives a very detailed and relevant account of the 1960s counterculture. The author discusses this new culture in three major categories: music, sex, and politics. All three of these things can very closely be tied to The Graduate.

Rock and roll culture really took off in the 1960s. The Beatles first came to America in 1964 and generated the passionate young fans that fueled the entire rock and roll industry. Perhaps it was because of the free and individual nature that the bands stood for, but the followings were huge, and were only getting huger. Songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" would make children feel rebellious without ever even trying LSD. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle provided the entire soundtrack for The Graduate, which not only made Ben Braddock seem like he was a youngster that fit in with the times, but also drew many young audiences to the film.

The second important facet of the counterculture was the sexual revolution. It started in 1949 with the publication of the Kinsey report by Alfred Kinsey. His studies, although later proven somewhat false, revealed that heterosexual sex among married couples was no longer the only sexual activity people were willing to admit to. Heterosexuality and polygamy were revealed, and were no longer considered outrageous. This more widely accepted sexual culture arrived because of many reasons, one of them medical. In the late 50s and 60s many medical advances were made allowing for the spread of the sexual revolution, including the introduction of antibiotics that might be able to cure sexually transmitted diseases, and the first birth control pill. The average age at which Americans lost their virginity began to decrease while the average number of sexual partners a person had in a lifetime increased. This sexual explicitness, especially with the ideas of adultery and seduction, was clearly exposed in 1967s The Graduate.

The last important thing that is quickly mentioned is the idea that youths were likely to cling to the ideals of democracy. In the 60s, liberalism captured the attention of many youths as their way of rebelling, and this is a third thing that is evident in the film. This short excerpt is a great succinct summary of the ways in which The Graduate was truly a reflection of its time.

"Graduating with Honors" is the New York Times' first review of The Graduate, written by Bosley Crowther on New Years Eve 1967. Crowther claims that writing about this movie as his last ever review as a Times film critic is an honor. It is one of the strongest film reviews that I have ever read in the New York Times, praising everything from the music, to the acting, to the direction and humor. The article recognizes the "american-ness" of both the setting and the characters. It talks about Nichols ability to create a brilliant satire on the American affluent society, with its roots in his older skits with Elaine May. 

Crowther describes the cinematic style as "aggressive and full of surprise", which is exactly what Nichols was going for. Interestingly, he does not refer to Simon and Garfunkle as the celebrated artists they are today; rather, he nonchalantly mentions that their music is included in the film, creating appropriate moods. He also keeps referring to Dustin Hoffman as a new talent, which seems so interesting looking back, although it is reasonable that this movie would have put him on the map as an actor. Anne Bancroft is deemed the best woman for the role of Mrs. Robinson, and Katherine Ross is claimed to be the perfect mixture of innocent girlishness and naivety to form a believable Elaine.

Crowther reveals the affair with Mrs. Robinson in a slightly different light from many other critics. After describing the typical nature of the affluent Beverly Hills society, he indicates that this incident is a revelation of the corruption that is often present behind the scenes of such phony lifestyles. It seems significant that a writer at the time, who was probably emerged in a similar lifestyle, was able to recognize and indicate the fallacy of the "perfect" suburbs.

This article is especially important because the New York Times is probably the most widely influential newspaper in the country. Movie fans await the rare occasion upon which the Times will give such high praise to a film. The Graduate is one of the few films deserving of such wonderful ratings in all of its various facets.

The Graduate was an incredibly inspirational film, putting a spin on the classic coming of age story. The plot behind it proved to be very popular and inspired subplots in many movies afterwards. Most recently, Rumor Has It, was made about the family whose twisted story inspired Nichols to make The Graduate. The movie got mediocre reviews, because audiences are constantly comparing it to remarkableness of The Graduate.

When watching this movie, we realize that we have falsely pinpointed what it was that we loved about The Graduate. It was the characters of course, but more specifically, it was the way they handled their situations in the confused time in which they lived. The Graduate was a brilliant presentation of groundbreaking directing, story-telling, and acting of the time. However, there was nothing special about any of those three things in Rumor Has It.

There are also many aspects of this new movie in discord from what audiences were led to believe about the original Graduate characters. The best example lies in Kevin Costner's character, the adult Ben Braddock. Perhaps it is merely irony, but Costner, works for Microsoft, which is basically the "plastic" of today. It seems like a new and exciting technology, however staring at a computer screen all day in a small cubical couldn't be further from the unrestricted life that Braddock longed for.  

The Graduate was used as the underlying plot in hopes of drawing viewers to the new film. But the film failed miserably in living up to its standards. It leaves audiences unfulfilled, yet reminded of the enchanting original

This article, "Rock and Roll Soundtracks in the Production of Nostalgia", written by David Shumway for Cinema Journal, discusses a very important aspect of this movie: the soundtrack. It describes that in life, our auditory sense plays a huge role in evoking specific memories and emotions. Simon and Garfunkle's 1967 hit, Mrs. Robinson, does that for audiences that have ever seen The Graduate. Consisting only of songs by Simon and Garfunkle, a favorite of Mike Nichols, the soundtrack is one of the most memorable aspects of the masterpiece. Firstly, since the movie contains only the voice of Paul Simon, the songs are more substantial as the only non-diegetic aspect. In addition, the film, for the most part, has rather simple dialogues and uninteresting visuals, and often, audiences are taken inside the minds of the characters. The score in the background sets an appropriate tone for these scenes.

The fact that the music is that of Simon and Garfunkle, a popular duo at the time, reflects the youthfulness that Nichols is trying to evoke in Ben's character. The rock and roll plays into the counterculture that was so imminent at the time the film was released.

Although most of the Simon and Garfunkle songs had been released a few years before the movie, "Mrs. Robinson" was written specifically for the film. Nichols approached Paul Simon and begged him to write music for the score, but Simon said he was too busy. However, he quickly played him "Mrs. Robinson", which was originally "Mrs. Roosevelt" and was a song discussing times past. Nichols insisted that the name be changed so that it could be included in the score of his movie. Since the song was new and fit perfectly into the rock and roll genre that was quickly rising in 1967, audiences at the time were very likely to remember the new catchy tune and recall the wonderful and innovative film, The Graduate.

This article "Religion and Sex" written by Don Lattin in the San Francisco Chronicle, discusses many of the moral issues of the 1960s raised by the film The Graduate. He argues that American culture, starting in the 60s, began to move quickly away from traditions of religion. In fact, sixty five percent of baby boomers believed that individuals should freely associate themselves with certain religions without being influenced by factions such as church groups. Americans' minds have become increasingly consumed with thoughts of sex and promiscuity as opposed to Jesus and the Bible.

As we move further away from the religious society that Lattin hopes for, we begin to lose values and lose sight of what's truly important. In The Graduate, Hoffman's character, Ben, is straight out of college and is quickly bombarded by the new culture of the 60s. Since society seemed to have moved far from tradition, more and more opportunities seemed to present themselves, leaving Ben, and the rest of his generation confused with too many potential directions to turn in.

Lattin argues that, beginning in the 60s, "with flowers in their hair and lust in their hearts", young Americans adopted the sexual revolution, making traditionally promiscuous things seem almost mundane. Homosexuality became more readily accepted along with ideas of extramarital and premarital sex. Polygamy became expected and it seemed that few people like Lattin still held onto traditional beliefs.

Benjamin Braddock never fully breaks Lattin's traditional barriers and never fully allows the new racy society to completely consume him. What is most important about his character is that he was able to "follow his bliss". Although Ben was presented with all of these new opportunities both sexually and in the fast-growing plastic world, in the end, he resorts to tradition.

From plastic, to suburbia, to masculinity, to entrapment, this article, written by Robert Beuka for the Journal of Popular Film and Television., discusses the essential issues raised by The Graduate. The title of the article comes from an important line in the movie in which a family friend of the Braddock's, Mr. McGuire, has only one suggestion for Ben in terms of his future..."plastics." This idea of plastic is mirrored in the suburban life that Ben returns to after graduating from college. Blocks and blocks of individual houses with small cars and rectangular pools structure the suburbia that seems impossible to escape.  As an insecure and confused 20 year old, he is looking for any excuse to break out of the entrapment. Water is a symbol of escape from the American Dream that will inevitably be pushed on him. He jumps into the pool to drown out the voices of his parents and their friends and stares at them through the cloudy water, blurring their hopes for him.

Mrs. Robinson provided a perfect opportunity to escape from the bland environment of dinner parties and trivial conversations he is forced to engage in. As much as he wants to resist her sexuality, she provides a new and more interesting frontier for him to experiment with. She also represents a reversal of traditional roles. In the suburban culture, the man is supposed to be the master. He is supposed to come home from work and find the meatloaf waiting on the table. However, in Ben's relationship with Mrs. Robinson, he often finds himself being the submissive one. By trying to resist her sexuality, he attempts to prove his masculinity.  

Another important point made in this essay is that Ben Braddock's character bridged the gap between the suburbia culture that ruled much of the 50s and the counterculture that emerged in the late 60s. He tries to rebel against the uniformity and conformity of the past, while he cant quite grasp the liberal and relaxed atmosphere of the near future. He eventually finds himself trapped somewhere between these two, his internal controversy still not resolved.

~ "Americans in that era faced many controversial issues from civil rights, the Vietnam War ,nuclear arms, and the environment to drug use, sexual freedom, and nonconformity" Hoffman once cleverly commented. ~

In this article "The Graduate" written for the Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert approaches his review of the film slightly differently than others. Rather than claiming that the movie was typical of the 1960s counterculture, he stresses the idea that, in fact, most elements of that culture were left out of the film. There are "no flower children, no hippies, no dope, no rock music, no political manifestos and no danger." Ebert points out the true blandness of the script and the characters, which many people would overlook, because it is overshadowed by the wonderful directing techniques.

His point is valid. If you look at each of the main characters individually, they are standard representations of classic personalities that existed at the time, placed in (for the most part) standard controversial situations, and handling them with standard responses. Ebert provides an accurate and simple description of Elaine's character's thoughts and adventures causing readers to realize that her character had little depth. She only shows some substantial emotion when she finds out that Ben has been sleeping with her mother, but then again, who wouldn't react similarly?

Although it seems like a criticism of the movie, the lackluster of the characters worked for two reasons. Firstly, it offset the complexity of Mrs. Robinson, allowing her character to shine as a sexual and flamboyant. In addition, it allowed both the soundtrack and the directing to shine as groundbreaking innovations in the film industry.

This article is a film review in Film Quarterly that provides a very typical response to the movie The Graduate. It is especially significant because it was written in 1968, the year after the movie was released. Because of this, the author cannot take a step back and put the movie's many messages into the context of the time, as we see it today. Rather, he is emerged in the 60s culture. Although he can still recognize the "suburban phoniness" that Ben Braddock is stuck in, for the most part his opinions are slightly skewed.

The article first discusses the importance of Nichols being a young director. Because he was young, he could bring fresh perspectives to the world of directing and could develop realistic, youthful characters. This is important, especially with Ben, who is the audiences are desperately to understand, because Nichols clearly creates a character with genuine feelings and emotions. Ben's lifelike character can also be attributed to the wonderful acting of Dustin Hoffman. When necessary, he can portray the utmost awkwardness perfectly revealing the confusion in coming of age in the 1960s. Another interesting aspect of Ben's simple character is that he can overcome the Mrs. Robinson's sexuality, which seems like a strong decision to be made by such a simple character. Although perhaps he only appears so simple when placed next to Mrs. Robinson, who's character is incredibly complex and sophisticated.

Another juxtaposition discussed in this article is the quirkiness and eccentricity of Ben's love affair with Mrs. Robinson versus his love for Elaine, which appears traditional and classic. It really depicts a difference between sex and love.

Turman has two main criticisms of the movie. Caught up in the sexual revolution, Turman has become accustomed to the overly sexual society emerging in America at the time. He therefore believes that there is a lack of sex in the movie, which he states is one of its downfalls. His second criticism is that the movie doesn't fully develop the oedipal psychological aspects that it could have.  Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny the immediate widespread appreciation for the film.

Mike Nichols was born on November 6, 1931 in Berlin. His family moved to America when he was seven and five years later, his father died, causing incredible financial issues for his family. Nichols worked very hard in school to fulfill his dream of being accepted at the Universtiy of Chicago. However, in his college years, he quickly grew tired of academic life and small jobs. He dropped out and eventually joined a group of actors in Chicago that formed the Compass, which gave him some wonderful connections is the acting/film world, the most important being Elaine May. Elaine May had a profound affect on Nichols, inspiring him to mock the ordinary and typical, and look towards the unconventional. The two of them became stars in the Satire Boom, poking fun at mainstream American culture, which was something Nichols would later include in many of his movies. By the early 60s, they were finished working with each other, and Nichols began working on his first major film, a theater translation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was a groundbreaking translation and with stars like Elizabeth Taylor in his first movie, he was quickly put on the map as a wonderful director. This paved the way for his next movie The Graduate, which included some of the most playful and youthful directing ever seen at that time. He wanted to create his own individual path in the directing world, and proved very capable of this with the interesting perspectives in this inventive film. Although he made a name for himself in these early films, the nature of the movies he created took a different twist after The Graduate. As he continued down this path, critics began to lessen their reviews of him, because although his films were always cinematically artistic, they no longer contained great concepts about society.

Nichols' influence in the film world reaches many directors today. Certain scenes, such as the one with the scuba equipment epitomize the way that his novel directing could add to the mood of otherwise simple stories. The director of a movie plays an integral part in giving the film its own unique style, as Nichols did with The Graduate.