The Graduate

The Graduate

The Graduate is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham. The film is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb. The Graduate was released on December 21, 1967 to critical and commercial success grossing USD 104. 9 million. It received seven nominations at the 40th Academy Awards including for the Best Picture and won Best Director.

About The Graduate in brief

Summary The GraduateThe Graduate is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham. The film is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb. The Graduate was released on December 21, 1967 to critical and commercial success grossing USD 104. 9 million, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1967 worldwide. It received seven nominations at the 40th Academy Awards including for the Best Picture and won Best Director. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’ It is ranked by the American Film Institute as the 17th greatest American film of all-time.Plot involves a recent college graduate with no well-defined aim in life. He is seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson, and then falls in love with her daughter Elaine. To thwart this, Benjamin reveals to Elaine that the married woman is her mother. Elaine is so upset that she refuses to see Benjamin again and returns to school at Berkeley. Benjamin follows her to Berkeley hoping to regain her affections. He asks her to marry him, but she is uncertain despite her feelings for him. He then breaks into the Robinson home in search of Elaine and claims that he cannot prevent her marriage to Carl Smith. After surveying the angry faces of Carl and her parents, Benjamin flees the house and drives back to Berkeley. He later visits Carl’s fraternity and discovers that the wedding will take place in Santa Barbara that day.

He rushes to the church and arrives just as the ceremony ends. He bangs on the glass separating him from the wedding sanctuary and shouts, ‘Benjamin, I love you!’ He then flees to the sanctuary and flees, which is guarded by a large group of guests. The wedding takes place in a Santa Barbara church, which ends in a fight between Benjamin and Mr. Robinson. He flees back to his car and drives to the Berkeley campus where he finishes the job he started in the first place. Benjamin then goes back to the University of California, Berkeley to finish his degree. He also goes on to work as a bartender at the Taft Hotel, where he registers under the pseudonym ‘Mr. Gladstone’. He eventually marries Elaine and they have a daughter, Elaine. Benjamin later learns that her mother is married to his father’s law partner. He tries to sabotage his date by ignoring Elaine, driving recklessly, and taking her to a strip club. Elaine deduces that Benjamin is having an affair with a married woman. Benjamin swears that the affair is over and makes plans for another date with Elaine for the following day. However, an angry Mr. Robinson arrives to Berkeley and confronts Benjamin in his boarding room. He informs him that he and his wife will be divorcing soon and threatens to have Benjamin jailed if he continues to see Elaine. He then forces Elaine to leave college to marry Carl Smith, a classmate whom she briefly dated. She then tells Benjamin that her house is being burgled.