Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, needs a better DVD
Review: The Graduate is a great film and I grow to love it more with each viewing. Everything is nearly perfect about it. The script, Mike Nichols' direction, the performances of Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katherine Ross, the music of Simon and Garfunkel. It's funny yet dramatic, moving and profound all at the same time. A very enjoyable film all around. Dustin Hoffman has rarely been better than in The Graduate, although he has certainly given many other fine performances (Midnight Cowboy, Rain Man, Kramer Vs. Kramer). However, even more than those pictures, Hoffman will always be remembered for The Graduate and his portrayal of an awkward young man trying to get a hold on his life. Also worth noting in particular is the direction of Mike Nichols. He truly gives the film a unique visual style to make it an experience rather than just a comedy/drama. Note the opening credits with Hoffman on an airport moving sidewalk set to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence". Nichols' uses cuts very interestingly in several scenes such as the scene where Benjamin jumps up on his raft in the pool, and lands in bed with Mrs. Robinson. He also uses zooms to great effect throughout the film. Nichols' Best Director Oscar for this film was well-deserved. I think that Hoffman's performance should have won also, as well as the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. One other thing that I must mention is that The Graduate absolutely must been seen in its original aspect ratio! If you're not watching a widescreen version, then you're not watching The Graduate. The film was shot in the Panavision process with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Mike Nichols makes wonderful use of the 2.35:1 frame, so the film will be absolutely botched in pan and scan. If you watch The Graduate in full-screen pan and scan, you're really, really missing out. The visual impact of the film will be irreparably damaged. The DVD is adequate, but this film deserves much better. The disc is labeled a special edition, but it's really too skimpy to be that. At very least you're getting a widescreen version of the film. However, the transfer is not enhanced for 16:9 televisions. What we need is a fully remastered 16:9 transfer which would be immensely beneficial. The picture quality is fair, but could be so much better. It's really stunning what difference a brand new remastered 16:9 transfer can make for an older film like this. Just look at the new DVD of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The film also deserves better supplemental materials. A better documentary and a commentary by the filmmakers would be great. A seperate commentary by Dustin Hoffman would be even better. I'm convinced that someday The Graduate will receive a worthy DVD edition, and I will wait until then to purchase it.
Rating:
Summary: WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, JOE DIMAGGIO?
Review: A landmark film that's still just as pungent - and funny - as ever. One of the most talked about hits of the late sixties, it was a formative influence on the counterculture, and it was the movie that made Dustin Hoffman a star. Anne Bancroft is tremendously fun at first. She's the amusingly voracious middle-aged woman who seduces the naive Benjamin, and when he's in bed with and wants to talk about art, the comic moments click along with the rhythm of a hit Broadway show. But then the movie deliberately undercuts its own hip expertise and begins to pander to youth. Benjamin is in love with Mrs. Robinson's fresh, wide-eyed daughter (Katherine Ross), and the mother is turned into a vindictive witch. (and the comedy turns into melodrama). The movie functioned as a psychodrama: the graduate stood for truth; the older people stood for sham and for corrupt sexuality. And this "generation gap" view of youth and age entered the national bloodstream; many moviegoers went to see the picture over and over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad movie, no donut
Review: I was 21 when this came out, it was pointless then and still is.
Hoffman was no actor and still is not.
Rating:
Summary: Here¿s to you, Mrs. Robinson
Review: Heaven loves you more than you can say, hey, hey, hey. Some of the best music of the 60s, by Simon and Garfunkle, makes up the sound track for this iconic movie with Dustin Hoffman (looking impossibly young), Ann Bancroft (looking incredibly wicked and sexy), and Katherine Ross (looking incredibly innocent). Mike Nichols directed this film that highlights all that was good and bad about the 60s.
Who among us will forget Hoffman standing at the bottom of the swimming pool in scuba gear during the party at which one of his father's business friends has just poked him repeatedly on the chest and said, "I have one word for you, Benjamin. Plastics."
Coerce your teenage kids into re-watching this film with you. It'll give them a better sense of how it was back then than anything you could try to explain.
Rating:
Summary: "Mrs. Robinson...are you trying to seduce me?"
Review: This film was so far ahead of its time that the producers waited almost 2 years to finally release it. The world will never be the same after that heartless "Mrs. Robinson" seduced the fresh baked (virgin) college graduate (convincingly played by a 30 year old Dustin Hofman) who was engaged to marry her own daughter. What a scandal! A rich (married!) society woman regularly checking into a posh hotel with her young lover! -- I'm sure you've seen the movie, now see the DVD version. What an experience! Finally repeat any scene at the push of a button, advance/go back at any speed (up to 60x!). The extras are pretty cool too. My favorite part of this film, even when I first saw it at a theater: The Simon & Garfunkel Soundtrack. Movie music doesn't get any better than this! This DVD is a big, big winner! Graduate Trivia: Did you know that initially the producers approached DORIS DAY about playing "Mrs. Robinson"? Shocked to have even be considered for such a "sleezy" part, Ms. Day refused without having read the entire script. Good for us; who could picture anyone other than the terrific Anne Bancroft in this film-role of a lifetime? You're gonna like this picture! *****
Rating:
Summary: A Film That Defines The Decadence Of The 60's
Review: 1967: Dustin Hoffman played the young, naive, confused, hormonal young graduate in the eponymous film, Anne Bancroft played the older, seductive Mrs. Robinson. The film was unlike anything the 60's had ever seen, ahead of its time, bleak, realistic. It portrayed a dismal aspect of non-comformity, the breaking of traditional familie values, in much the same way the recent "American Beauty" portrayed sub-urban America. The film is most famous for the scene in which Mrs. Robinson seduces the young Hoffman (Mrs. Robinson, I think you are trying to seduce me). The affair was scandalous. Not only was she a much older woman, but the mother of her daughter's fiance. The soundtrack was composed by Simon and Gurfunkel, whose song "Mrs. Robinson" was an instant hit and earned them lasting fame. Including also in the film is the symbolic, melancholy "Sounds Of Silence". Well-written screenplay, powerful and impressive performances by all the actors, great music, some comedy, irony, realism- this film could have well defined the decadence of the 60's era, a time when "free" love was becoming an established idea, when the seedy, steamy underbelly of suburbia was being excavated. An adult film, it should only be viewed by understanding adults, and not impressionable youth who can get the idea that they can follow in the muddy footsteps of Dustin Hoffman's character.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beautifully Crafted Film
Review: This movie is a classic example of how good films were even as recent as the 1960's. The plot itself is not so original (young man has an affair with older married woman), however the movie is done in such an artistic way that the affair itself is put in the backseat for most of the film. If this movie were to be remade today, it would have been very sexualy charged and raunchy will the majority of the content focusing on the actual affair itself. However because this movie was made during a time when true quality and craftsmanship was appreciated, the themes are delicate and subtle. It really makes you use your imagination and look deeper into the storyline, rather than just the obvious. The backdrop (Southern & Northern California), the wonderful musical score (Simon & Garfunkel) and great cast made this movie very worthwhile to see as well. If you enjoy movies made with thought and care behind it, you should definitely check this one out!
Rating:
Summary: Much Weirder Than I Anticipated
Review: I somehow managed not to see this movie until 2004, and I am very glad not to have missed it. What I found most surprising about the film is that it had a very quirky sense of humour, and that its lessons were not quite so "feel-good" or "Hollywood." I couldn't believe it won an Academy Award, because I thought those were reserved for good movies that were, nevertheless, still mainstream. The initial scene where Mrs. Robinson "makes herself available" to Ben will show the viewer what I'm talking about here. It's weird, creepy, and hillarious.
The opening sequence on the airplane and in the airport perfectly set the stage for Ben being a character who "goes with the flow," letting everything around him dictate the direction in which he takes his life, without hitting one over the head with exposition. The way this ties into the ending is also brilliant and subtle, but I would be remiss if I spoiled it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet.
Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman's performances are perfect, and the cinematography was good enough for me, someone who usually only cares about the script and story of a movie, to notice.
Rating:
Summary: Cum Laude
Review: In crucial ways, Graduate is a failure in terms of Nichol's intention: an American Euro-Art-Film. The influences of European masters show up mainly as window dressing. Yet, what makes this movie so memorable isn't the arty pretensions but its heart. Somehow, Nichol's pretensions serve only to accentuate the phoniness Braddock has to deal with. This is a movie about that stage in your life when one stands between lost freedom of youth and the inevitable future of the humdrum.
Graduate may be categorized as a sex comedy and it has witty dialogue and excellent performances, but what makes it stand out from the genre is Nichol's poetic lyricism and a mood saturated with romantic anguish.
Simon and Garfunkel songs add immeasurably to the theme of aching heart searching for love and truth.
Rating:
Summary: Enduring, Timeless
Review: The DVD version of this movie will delight true fans because it contains lenghty interviews with the stars Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross, and screenwriter Buck Henry. They recount the making of the movie, the critical decisions that Mike Nichols made and most of all they reminiessed about making the movie itself. I have watched this movie many many times and has not grown tired of it, if any, I have grown to apprreciate it even more. I think it has an enduring quality because it is a well made movie and as some reviewers have pointed out, we can all relate to Ben Braddock's lost, lonely and indecisive phase in our youths no matter if it was in a lesser or greater degree. And folks, let's face, the soundtrack is a Bomb. The movie is also an excercise in style and technique, although according to Henry, some came by accident as the actors and the director sort of fumbled around when they didn't know quite how to create a certain scene. I love the part when Dustin Hoffman eagerly kisses Anne Bancroft with smoke still in her mouth. Some reviewers complained that this movie didn't reflect the turbulent times and places that was happening then. But in a way doesn't Ben's own ambivalence towards his future and his ultimate courage to go against all odds and fight for what he wants reflect this? To lodge this particular complaint about this movie is really missing the point.
This movie will last and will appeal to any generation. I first saw this movie in junior high back in the early 80's and I thought what a neat movie it was. I was mostly impress by the cinematography and I loved the neat ending, but as you watched the movie with age, you grow to appreciate it in different levels, that's why I think this movie will endure many generations of movie lovers and DVD collectors. Get the DVD, it will make a nice addition to your collection and when you're feeling reflective on a nice gloomy day, pop it on and enjoy.
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