The Graduate
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Movie Reviews of The Graduate
Movie Review: INTERESTING LOVE STORY FOR CRAZY ERA
Summary: 3 Stars
The film boosted the profile of folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel, whose soundtrack album (The Graduate Original Soundtrack), on the strength of the hit single "Mrs. Robinson", rose to the top of the charts in 1968 (knocking off The Beatles' White Album).
The theme song of the movie, "The Sounds of Silence" is a melodramatic, slightly mournful tune. It manages to give the movie a sort of tension, which it demonstrates in other arenas. The generational gap is one of these themes which plays out throughout the movie. The songs seem to mainly play during moments of this particular tension, such as the scene when Ben is forced into the pool by his parents in his scuba outfit. The music gives the film a certain quality, without which it would be vastly different. Simon and Garfunkel were referred to as the "voice of a generation," and this is exactly what they provide in the movie for Benjamin and Elaine.
According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the 15 May 2005 issue, Nichols had become obsessed with Simon & Garfunkel's music while shooting the film. Lawrence Turman, his producer, made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the movie. By the time they were nearly finished editing the film, Simon had only written one new song. Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him a few notes of a new song he had been working on; "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past -- about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."
Noel Serrano
Gala Foundation
Movie Review: A classic film about youth angst and manhood
Summary: 3 Stars
There's been so much written about this classic movie that I won't bother to write too much more. The movie looks surprisingly fresh for being over 40 years old (especially the blu-ray version). It doesn't look old.
With that said, the movie isn't as funny as I had expected or hoped. Some of it might be Dustin Hoffman's acting - I like him in other movies, but he comes off pretty annoying here. Part of it might be that the movie pushed cultural boundaries and spoke to issues in the 1960s that don't have as much resonance today. Some scenes were just too over the top - like Hoffman's parents forcing him to go scuba-diving in the pool. I just don't get the humor there.
The movie made great use of Simon and Garfunkel songs for the soundtrack! It really becomes part of the film and tells the story. Frankly, it's probably the best part of the movie. It would be nice if more movies weaved pop music in their films.
Bottom line: if you liked The Catcher in the Rye (or stories like it), you'll like The Graduate. If you're like me and hated that book, you won't find the movie that exciting either.
Movie Review: Major classic - again botched by MGM
Summary: 3 Stars
MGM took the initiative to re-release this major classic (one in my personal top-5 list.) But again they didn't bother to do it right.
This release is served up as a non-anamorphic (non 16x9) widescreen edition. Translation: If you have (or when you get) a widescreen TV, it will look substandard.
A better alternative, if you can play Region 2 PAL DVDs, is to get the Euro version, which is enhanced for widescreen TVs. In addition, the color rendition of the Reg 2 version is far superior to this one (and all previous Reg 1 versions). But that alternative isn't perfect as you have to deal with a 4% speedup.
Phooey on MGM.
Movie Review: Cinematography and One-Liners Overshadow the Actual Story
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw this movie for the first time a week ago. With all its critical aclaim and praise, I was a bit disappointed in the actual plot and story. The quick love story between Elaine and Benjamin just didn't seem believable or perhaps the chemistry between the actors were less believable than Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin's affair. The best things about this film were the quirkly one-liners of Dustin Hoffman and the camera angles and cinematography of the director, which during this time period had to be "ground-breaking" or "matrix-like". It is worth seeing one time but not a movie I could repeatedly watch.Movie Review: this movie might be shockingly good at that time, but
Summary: 3 Stars
not too good in the 21st century when you re-watch it again. very bad screenplay and poorly directed actually. the ending just opened a door to the modern copycat version of 'the runaway bride', a more terrible terrible disastrous movie.