The trials and the tribulations of an upper middle class white anglo-saxon Protestant male who has just graduated from college. What in the world is he going to do with his life when he has to decide this smack dab in the middle of “the Sixties”?
In other words: Can you even imagine this film being made today?!
To wit:
wiki
The theme of an innocent and confused youth who is exploited, mis-directed, seduced (literally and figuratively) and betrayed by a corrupt, decadent, and discredited older generation (that finds its stability in “plastics”) was well understood by film audiences and captured the spirit of the times. One of the film’s posters proclaimed the difficult coming-of-age for the recent, aimless college graduate.
IMDb
[b]Within a year of the movie’s release, plastic manufacturing companies became enormously successful. Many people attribute this to Walter Brooke’s quote about “plastics”. Brooke himself once told his nephew that he would have invested in plastics, if he had known that the remark would lead to such success.
On Inside the Actors Studio, director Mike Nichols claims that the final “sobering” emotion that Benjamin and Elaine go through was due to the fact that he had just been shouting at the two of them to laugh in the scene. The actors were so scared that after laughing they stopped, scared. Nichols liked it so much, he kept it.[/b]
Look for Richard Dreyfuss and Mr. Roper.
THE GRADUATE [1967]
Directed by Mike Nichols
[b]Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
…
Benjamin: Mrs. Robinson, if you don’t mind my saying so, this conversation is getting a little strange.
…
Benjamin: Oh my God!
Mrs. Robinson: Pardon?
Benjamin: Oh no, Mrs. Robinson. Oh no.
Mrs. Robinson: What’s wrong?
Benjamin: Mrs. Robinson, you didn’t… I mean, you didn’t expect…
Mrs. Robinson: What?
Benjamin: I mean, you didn’t really think I’d do something like that.
Mrs. Robinson: Like what?
Benjamin: What do you think?
Mrs. Robinson: Well, I don’t know.
Benjamin: For god’s sake, Mrs. Robinson. Here we are. You got me into your house. You give me a drink. You… put on music. Now you start opening up your personal life to me and tell me your husband won’t be home for hours.
Mrs. Robinson: So?
Benjamin: Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.
Mrs. Robinson: [laughs] What?
Benjamin: Aren’t you?
…
Benjamin: Dad, could we just talk about this for a minute?
…
Hotel Desk Clerk: Are you here for an affair, sir?
Benjamin [startled]: What?!
Hotel Desk Clerk: The Singleman party, sir?
Benjamin: Ah, yes, the Singleman party.
…
Mrs. Robinson: Benjamin.
Benjamin: Yes?
Mrs. Robinson: Isn’t there something you want to tell me?
Benjamin: To tell you?
Mrs. Robinson: Yes.
Benjamin: Well, I want you to know how much I appreciate this, really.
Mrs. Robinson: The room number.
Benjamin: What?
Mrs. Robinson: The room number, Benjamin. I think you ought to tell me that.
…
Mrs. Robinson: Benjamin, would you get me a hanger.
Benjamin [at the closet]: Wood?
Mrs. Robinson: What?
Benjamin: Wood or wire? They have both.
…
Mr. Braddock: Ben, what are you doing?
Benjamin: Well, I would say that I’m just drifting. Here in the pool.
Mr. Braddock: Why?
Benjamin: Well, it’s very comfortable just to drift here.
Mr. Braddock: Have you thought about graduate school?
Benjamin: No.
Mr. Braddock: Would you mind telling me then what those four years of college were for? What was the point of all that hard work?
Benjamin: You got me.
…
Mrs. Braddock: The Robinson’s are here.
…
Benjamin: What was your major subject at college?
Mrs. Robinson: Art.
Benjamin: Art? But I thought you…I guess you kind of lost interest in it over the years then.
Mrs. Robinson: Kind of.
…
Benjamin: A Ford. Goddamn, that’s great. That’s great, a Ford.
Mrs. Robinson: That’s enough.
Benjamin: So old Elaine Robinson got started in a Ford.
…
Benjamin: But why shouldn’t I take Elaine out?
Mrs. Robinson: I have my reasons.
Benjamin: Then let’s hear them.
Mrs. Robinson: No.
Benjamin: Let’s hear your reasons, Mrs. Robinson. Because I think I know what they are. I’m not good enough for her to associate with, am I? I’m not good enough to even talk about her, am I?
Mrs. Robinson: Let’s drop it.
Benjamin: We’re not dropping it. I’m good enough for you but I’m too slimy to associate with your daughter. That’s it, isn’t it? ISN’T IT?!
Mrs. Robinson [after long pause]: Yes.
…
Mrs. Robinson: Benjanmin…
Benjamin: Let’s not talk about it. Let’s not talk at all.
…
Benjamin: Now listen, this was not my idea. It was my father’s idea.
Mrs. Robinson: Benjamin, I thought I made myself perfectly clear about this.
Benjamin: Look, we’ll go out to dinner and have a drink and I’ll bring her back. Because it was either that or a dinner party for the two families. And I’m afraid I couldn’t quite handle that, if you don’t mind.
…
Benjamin: Sit down…Why don’t you watch the show?
Elaine: Benjamin, do you dislike me for some reason?
Benjamin: No - why should I?..You’re missing a great effect here. How do you like that? Could you do it?
…
Elaine: Where we going?
Benjamin: I’m trying to think of where there’s a place to have a drink around here.
Elaine: Isn’t there one in the Taft Hotel?
…
Elaine: Benjamin, what’s happening?
Benjamin: I don’t know. They all think I look like this guy Gladstone.
…
Elaine: Benjamin - are you having an affair with someone?
…
Benjamin: Elaine, I have to tell you something. That woman. The older woman we talked about.
Elaine: You mean the one who…
Benjamin: Yes, the married woman. It wasn’t just some woman.
Elaine: What are you telling me? Benjamin, will you just tell me what it is all about?
[she sees her mother]
Elaine: Oh, no.
Benjamin: Elaine…
Elaine: Oh my God!
Benjamin: Please!
Elaine: Get out of here!
Benjamin: Don’t cry…
Elaine: GET OUT! GET OUT!
Mrs. Robinson: Goodbye, Benjamin.
…
Mrs. Braddock: What’s happening?
Mr. Braddock: Ben says he and Elaine are getting married.
Mrs. Braddock: I don’t believe it!!
Mr. Braddock: That’s what he says. Right?
Benjamin: I’m going up to Berkeley today.
Mrs. Braddock:: Come on, let’s call the Robinsons. We’ve got something to celebrate.
Benjamin: No, I think you’ll want to wait on that.
Mr. Braddock: They don’t know?
Benjamin: No - they don’t.
Mrs. Braddock: Well, when did you decide all this?
Benjamin: About an hour ago.
Mr. Braddock: Wait a minute. You talked to Elaine this morning?
Benjamin: No, she doesn’t know about it.
Mr. Braddock: You mean she doesn’t know that you’re coming up to Berkeley?
Benjamin: No. Actually, she doesn’t know about us getting married yet.
Mrs. Braddock: Well, when did you two talk this over?
Benjamin: We haven’t.
Mrs. Braddock: You haven’t?
Mr. Braddock: Ben, this whole idea sounds pretty half-baked.
Benjamin: No, it’s not. It’s completely baked. It’s a decision I’ve made.
Mrs. Braddock: But what makes you think she wants to marry you?
Benjamin: She doesn’t. To be perfectly honest, she doesn’t like me.
…
Mr. McCleery [to Benjamin]: You aren’t one of those outside agitators, are you?
…
Benjamin: I’ve got a real feeling that this is the fellow.
…
Elaine: How could you do that, Benjamin? How could you possibly rape my mother?
Benjamin: What?! What did she say? You got tell me what did she say.
Elaine: Why?
Benjamin: Because it isn’t true. Tell me.
Elaine: She said she was having a drink in the hotel with a friend. You waited for her in the parking lot and told her she was too drunk to drive home and you would get her a room for the night.
Benjamin: Then what?
Elaine: Then you took her upstairs and you raped her.
Benjamin: Oh, no, no, no, that’s not what happened. What happened was there was this party at my parents…
…
Elaine: What are you going to do now?
Benjamin: I don’t know.
Elaine: Are you going home?
Benjamin: No.
Elaine: Well, where are you going?
Benjamin: Elaine, you’re going to stop asking me.
…
Benjamin: Good God…
…
Benjamin: We’ll need our Birth Certificates. I happen to have mine with me. Where’s yours?
…
Elaine: I have to see Carl first.
Benjamin: Carl who?
Elaine: Carl Smith. He’s a medical student. We’ve known him for years.
Benjamin: Who, that guy at the Zoo?
Elaine: Yes.
Benjamin: Why do you have to see him?
Elaine: Well, I said I might marry him.
…
Benjanin: Well, what did he say? I’m curious.
Elaine: He said he thought we’d make a pretty good team.
Benjamin: Oh no. He said that. Where did he do it?
[Elaine gets up to leave the library]
Benjamin: I’d like to know where it happened? It wasn’t in his car, was it?!
…
Elaine: Good night.
Benjamin: Are we getting married tomorrow?
Elaine: No…
Benjamin: Day after tomorrow?
Elaine: I don’t know. Maybe we are, and maybe we’re not.
…
Benjamin: I am trying to tell you I have no personal feelings about you, Mr. Robinson. I am trying to tell you I do not resent you.
Mr. Robinson: But you don’t respect me terribly much either, do you?
Benjamin: No, Sir.
…
Benjamin: Listen to me. What happened between Mrs. Robinson and me was nothing. It didn’t mean anything. We might just as well have been shaking hands.
Mr. Robinson: Shaking hands? Well, that’s not saying much for my wife, is it?
Benjamin: You miss the point.
Mr. Robinson: I guess I do.
Benjamin: The point is I don’t love your wife. I love your daughter, sir.
…
Benjamin: Elaine.
Mrs. Robinson: Hello, Benjamin.
Benjamin: Where is she?
Mrs. Robinson [on phone]: Hello. Get me the police, please.
Benjamin: Where is Elaine?
Mrs. Robinson: I’ll be with you in a moment. [back on the phone] Do you have a petrol car in the vicinity of 1200 Glenview Road. Good, we have a burgler here. Just a second. I’ll ask him.
[she looks over to Benjamin]
Are you armed?
[back to the phone]
Mrs. Robinson: No, I don’t believe he is.
…
Gas station attendant: Do you need any gas, Father?!
…
Elaine: BEN!!!
…
Mrs. Robinson: Elaine, it’s too late!
Elaine: Not for me![/b]