Review of The Graduate (1967) by Uditha D — 23 Feb 2012

Mr Maguire: Ben. Ben: Will you excuse me? (turning around) Mr Maguire. Mr Maguire: (shaking his head) Ben. Ben: Mr Maguire.

1967 seems to be a peak year for top-notch films. There was an out-of-the blue gangster thriller, a love story rebelling against interracial barriers, a racially-themed detective story, Disney's lovable adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling novel, and a college drama that seemed, on second glance, anything BUT an ordinary college drama. And this one - The Graduate - is in my opinion the best of them all. It has a superb set of actors, not just limited to Hoffman, Bancroft and Ross. It also has an unforgettable script and some really memorable funny lines (such as the above mentioned example). And above all, it contains the iconic Simon-Garfunkel soundtrack, which I think is the best soundtrack ever incorporated to address an America caught in the counter-cultural 1960s. All these elements draw up into one feature, and that feature - The Graduate - remains to be, in my view, a very genuine comedy. And because of one main good reason - it's a silent comedy. It needs a witty outlook to extract the comedic elements within, and is not immediately apparent. That is the essential nature of a genuine comedy, and in The Graduate, there's a lot of it.