History YMMV / TheGraduate

* MisaimedFandom: Kids from the 1960's cheered Ben. Twenty years later, they cheered for Mrs. Robinson, when they realized WhatAnIdiot Ben was. Creator/RogerEbert notes this in his re-review.

** She won't stop at FalseRapeAccusation, either; later in the movie, she [=SWATs=] her own house when Ben stops by looking for Elaine ''purely as an intimidation tactic''.

* DesignatedHero: Much of Ebert's re-review is about feeling [[FridgeLogic 30 years after]] that there's absolutely nothing good or admirable about Ben.

* MisaimedFandom: Kids from the 1960's cheered Ben. Twenty years later, they cheered for Mrs. Robinson, when they realized WhatAnIdiot Ben was. RogerEbert notes this in his re-review.

* BittersweetEnding

** A young Mike Farrell (aka B.J. on ''{{Series/Mash}}'' can be briefly glimpsed as one of the hotel staff greeting "Mr. Gladstone" when Ben takes Elaine there for a drink.

* DesignatedHero: Much of Ebert's re-review is about realizing [[FridgeLogic 30 years after the fact]] that there's absolutely nothing good or admirable about Ben.

** Ben in the book is a blond jock. No wonder they auditioned Robert Redford for the role, and no wonder Creator/MelBrooks was confident Dustin Hoffman would fail ''his'' audition, and be available to work in ''TheProducers''.

** Ben in the book is a blond jock. No wonder they auditioned Robert Redford for the role, and no wonder MelBrooks was confident Dustin Hoffman would fail ''his'' audition, and be available to work in ''TheProducers''.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The film is much like Mike Nichols' films - they're more subversive that they seem to be at the time. For example, the advice "Plastics"? It's ''good advice''.
** The part about plastics [[MisBlamed was unintentional]] - shortly after the movie was released, new advances in plastics production (that the script writers were highly unlikely to know about) caused the industry to grow at an extremely rapid pace. The fortuitous timing did result in the entire plastics industry becoming a PeripheryDemographic.

** There is also a bizarre moment when the camera stops focusing on Ben and zooms in on a gorilla in the background, for reasons that only make sense to the director.

** Ben in the book is a blond jock. No wonder Mel Brooks was confident Dustin Hoffman would fail his audition, and be available to work in ''TheProducers''.

* ReverseShazam: ''The Graduate'' has been referred to as "the Mrs. Robinson movie".

** No, it's symbolic!

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Ben fighting people off with a cross in the [[spoiler: wedding scene]]. Dude, sweet.
* MemeticMutation: [bangs on church window] ''[[{{ELAINE}} ELAIIIIIIINE!]]''

* RetroactiveRecognition: Richard Dreyfuss has a bit part as a resident of the boarding house.