I saw this movie in the 80s and never forgot it. I watched it when I was roughly the same as Benjamin in the movie and I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.
Dustin Hoffman portrays Benjamin Braddock a college graduate coming home and not having a clue what he was going to do with his life. He keeps getting asked and grilled about it and he keeps retreating into himself. He is eventually seduced by an old friend of his parents Mrs. Robinson. At first, he tries to avoid her but he is such an easy target for the older woman. He finds himself eventually succumbing to her advances.
Benjamin is full of confusion and anxiety but keeps meeting her. He realizes he wants more than sex out of a relationship and then the affair turns into a nightmare. He finds himself falling for the one woman in the world Mrs. Robinson tells him to stay away from…her daughter Elaine.
Elaine starts to like Benjamin and Elaine is told about what happened. Elaine goes away to school but he Benjamin will not give up trying to explain and win her back. Elaine is to be married and Benjamin eventually tracks the wedding down and crashes it.
He arrives but Elaine was just married. Mrs. Robinson says its too late and Elaine said “not for me….” Elaine and Benjamin ran off with joy and triumph and get on a bus.
The last couple of minutes are the magical part of this movie. The church scene and the close-ups setup the last scene. It’s the last scene that makes this movie different from others. The two get on a bus and are smiling but then the smiles fade…the look on Hoffman’s face tells a story…they got what they wanted and now what does he do? Where do they go from here? Is it all downhill from there? It’s open to interpretation.
The Simon and Garfunkel’s songs set the mood of this movie and it would not be the same without them. They are as big a part of this movie as the actors. This movie made me more of a fan of Simon and Garfunkel. I tracked the soundtrack down in the 80s just for the song “April Come She Will.”
The cast included
Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katherine Ross. William Daniels and Murray Hamilton… and it was directed by Mike Nichols
A great and memorable movie and great soundtrack. It is also the last movie where the director of the movie won an Oscar- and that was the only Oscar awarded to the film.
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correction- the last film where the director won- and no other Oscar’s were won for the film.
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That is very interesting. I can’t believe it didn’t win anything else. I love the way it is presented. .. I hunted dearly for that soundtrack just for that song back then. The mood and movie stuck with me.
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I wore out my parents’ soundtrack album; and may have worn an actual groove in Sound of Silence, but I have never been able to get through the movie. It’s just not for me.
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This really made me a Simon and Garfunkel fan. The Sound of Silence is awesome. It takes me back to where I first listened to it. I was SO happy when I found that soundtrack…it took a lot to track down back then.
I know other people that don’t like it…it’s the very last scene that makes me watch it again…as dumb as that sounds.
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I didn’t realize the soundtrack was hard to find for a time. Glad you finally landed your own copy.
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Of course, now it’s easy but in the 80s it wasn’t that easy. When Tower Records came to Nashville in the mid-80s everything was available then. I would basically live there on weekends.
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I remember leafing through the record store inventories. Some records were indeed impossible to find.
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I think some were rights issues…
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Interesting. Could have been.
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Another amazing movie that couldn’t agree more on. Which is also one of the earliest reviews I did: https://mastermixmovies.wordpress.com/2017/02/04/heres-to-you-mrs-robinson/
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That last scene is magic isn’t it? I love the way you have your movies organized… I’ll be visiting tonight again. I can write about music much easier than movies… you do a great job.
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Definitely magic, it makes me wish more movies would take risks like that. And thank you. It wasn’t easy, but I generally have a good memory for things I’ve done or haven’t done. All of my reviews past, present, and future are also cataloged in a word document.
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There is so much money in mainstream movies they are afraid to take chances.
Your site is clean and easy to maneuver.
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I loved the film and saw in many times but, curiously, have never had it on video/DVD. Must remedy that some time. The Simon and Garfunkel songs really make the movie.
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The songs set the mood for that film so well. I saw it in the 80s for the first time I believe and I searched everywhere for a song called “April She Will Come” that was in the movie.
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I love ‘April’. Brilliant song.
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