Having recently been subjected to the horrors of (500) Days of Summer I felt compelled to rewatch this classic, which is referenced several times in it. The Graduate hovers on the opposite end of the movie spectrum though and remains a great watch everytime I put it on. This movie, despite being very much a period piece of the 60s, is timeless. The central themes of the alienation between generations haven't changed all that much since 1967, the distanced feeling between Benjamin and any of the parental characters (be it Braddocks or Robinsons) is conveyed with such classic images as the scuba diving scene, a scene that is not only brilliantly shot and wildly imaginative but also significant to understand…

When my new housemate, excitedly casting her eyes over my collection, spied The Graduate and immediately insisted we watch it, I knew this latest domestic arrangement was going to work just fine. What do I love most about this film? Is it the way it manages to be one of the funniest comedies ever filmed whilst nonetheless managing to make me so very sad? Is it the countercultural tendencies at its heart, questioning the dominant values of contemporary society? Is it the magnificence of its soundtrack, flooding the film's soundscape with melancholy? The Graduate is, to me, the great masterpiece of New Hollywood, its ability to so comprehensively and concisely summate the disillusionment of the then-maturing baby boomers nothing short…

A couple of years ago I went to a pub quiz at our student union bar which was, at the time, called 'The Graduate'. It was one of those ones where you could win some naff prize if you had what the people doing the quiz judged to be the best team name. Our team came up with the name 'The Terrifying Loss of Dustin Hoffman's Virginity', because we were in a bar called 'The Graduate' and my teammates thought it was incredibly clever, poignant and funny, and the type of name that should win a prize for best team name. At the time, I hadn't seen the film, but was aware that it involved Dustin Hoffman losing his virginity…

What a truly great film.

Great script, great acting, great direction, great music and some great camerawork as well. It pretty much as perfect films can get, granted some tiny moments where camerawork feels a little shoddy and the editing and sound editing are a little clumsy.

I think the thing that really works about The Graduate is it's ability to be relatable to anyone without being a fable. It's a story with fully fleshed out characters and a story that is quite outlandish in the human world, but everyone at one moment of their life hits the point where they see that they're sick of heading towards the future and after doing something either completely compulsive or nothing at…

A couple years back, I came upon the "unofficial sequel" to The Graduate, Rumor Has It..., and not having watched its predecessor, and unfortunately not knowing any better, I watched it. I remember being so stricken by the indecent tone of the film, that I felt it was blasphemous, because I had thought the subject matter would be handled in a more discreet and serious manner. Only after I watched The Graduate did I understand where it came from, and felt it was appropriate and that it couldn't have been done any other way, because the characters and story were completely ridiculous.

I wanted to believe that Benjamin did what he did because he was genuinely lost and confused about…