History YMMV / TheGraduate

* AwesomeMusic: ''Music/SimonAndGarfunkel'' breaths life into this film, including folk-rock tracks such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C1BCAgu2I8 Mrs. Robinson]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BakWVXHSug Scarborough Fair]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7McpVPlidc The Sound of Silence]].

* EarWorm: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C1BCAgu2I8 Mrs. Robinson.]]

* WTHCastingAgency: Dustin Hoffman was completely wrong for the role of Benjamin as described in the book; Book!Benjamin was a handsome, blond jock who was confident and on track for success in love and life, while Dustin Hoffman was small and rather unattractive. When Hoffman was cast at the last minute, Nichols and Hoffman revised the character to be an insecure, nerdy virgin, and the rest was history.

* TheWoobie: Elaine, considering the fact that her mother is a total bitch to her- First her mother commits adultery with Ben (in her own bedroom), then takes her out of college (to keep her away from Ben), forces her into an unhappy marriage, then finally slaps her hard across the head when she chooses to run off with Ben,

** Not to mention the realization that William Daniels played Ben's father, at least for those who grew up watching him as [[Series/BoyMeetsWorld Mr. Feeny]] or [[Series/KnightRider KITT]] or [[Series/StElsewhere Dr.Craig]] or [[Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix John Adams]] first.

* MostAnnoyingSound: Elaine's ''screaming'', particularly in the argument at the boarding house, where her screaming "OKAY!" sounds like it nearly took out one of the boom mikes.

* 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.) A more modern perspective, and presumably closest to the original vision of the film, is that they're ''all'' messed up and not terribly likeable.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Yes, it is based on a novel. (By Charles Webb: his Ben is a good deal stronger than movie-Ben.) Ben in the book is a blond jock. No wonder they auditioned Creator/RobertRedford for the role, and no wonder Creator/MelBrooks was confident Creator/DustinHoffman would fail ''his'' audition, and be available to work in ''Film/TheProducers''.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny:
** So many. Especially the ending. Ben's initial attempt to procure a room at the Taft Hotel is another prime example.
** A RealLife one: In Creator/MikeNichols' initial meeting with Music/SimonAndGarfunkel they played him some songs, and eventually got to one they hadn't decided on a title for yet. Just for the sake of something to call it they said it was "Mrs. Robinson," to which Nichols was understandably nonplussed that they had a song with the same name as one of the characters and didn't lead with that.

* JerkassWoobie: Mrs. Robinson, and to a certain extent Ben.

** Not to mention the realization that William Daniels played Ben's father, at least for those who grew up watching him as [[Series/BoyMeetsWorld Mr. Feeny]] or [[Series/KnightRider KITT]] or [[Series/StElsewhere Dr.Craig]] or [[Theatre/{{1776}} John Adams]] first.

* HarsherInHindsight: Seeing Katherine Ross end the movie in a MaybeEverAfter becomes very harsh if you've seen ''Film/TheStepfordWives'' where her husband eventually kills her and replaces her with a robot.
** After the allegations of Dustin Hoffman assaulting and exposing himself to women, the scene where Elaine confronts Ben about possibly raping her mother becomes less amusing.

** Not to mention the realization that William Daniels played Ben's father, at least for those who grew up watching him as [[Series/BoyMeetsWorld Mr. Feeny]] or [[Series/KnightRider KITT]] or [[Series/StElsewhere Dr.Craig]] or [[Theatre/1776 John Adams]] first.

** Not to mention the realization that William Daniels played Ben's father, at least for those who grew up watching him as [[Series/BoyMeetsWorld Mr. Feeny]] or [[Series/KnightRider KITT]] or [[Series/StElsewhere Dr.Craig]] first.

** Not to mention the realization that William Daniels played Ben's father, at least for those who grew up watching him as [[Series/BoyMeetsWorld Mr. Feeny]] or [[Series/KnightRider KITT]] first.

** A real life one: In Mike Nichols' initial meeting with Simon and Garfunkel they played him some songs, and eventually got to one they hadn't decided on a title for yet. Just for the sake of something to call it they said it was "Mrs. Robinson," to which Nichols was understandably nonplussed that they had a song with the same name as one of the characters and didn't lead with that.
* DesignatedHero: Much of Ebert's re-review is about feeling 30 years later that there's absolutely nothing good or admirable about Ben.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Like many of Mike Nichols' films, this one is more subversive than it seemed to be at the time. For example, the advice "Plastics"? It's ''good advice''. The part about plastics ''[[{{Misblamed}} wasn't]]'' [[{{Misblamed}} intentional]], however - 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 resulted in the entire plastics industry becoming a PeripheryDemographic.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: So many. Especially the ending. Ben's initial attempt to procure a room at the Taft Hotel is another prime example.

** The diving suit scene seems disconnected from the rest of the narrative. Nonetheless, it was meant to link Ben to the little diver figure in his aquarium he was looking at earlier on. Notice that when he sinks to the bottom of the pool, he stops moving and just lays there stiffly.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Like many of Mike Nichols' films, this one is more subversive than it seemed to be at the time. For example, the advice "Plastics"? It's ''good advice''. The part about plastics ''[[{{Misblamed}} was]]'' [[{{Misblamed}} unintentional]], however - 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.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Like many of Mike Nichols' films, this one is more subversive than it seemed 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.
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* UnbuiltTrope: Ben convincing Elaine to run out on her wedding is an iconic moment in the film, and many a RunawayBride examples homage it in some way. However this film is one of the few to show both characters wondering if they did the right thing and end ambiguously. Oh and this time the ceremony is already ''over'' by the time they do it.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Yes, it is based on a novel. (By Charles Webb: his Ben is a good deal stronger than movie-Ben.) Ben in the book is a blond jock. No wonder they auditioned Creator/RobertRedford for the role, and no wonder Creator/MelBrooks was confident Dustin Hoffman would fail ''his'' audition, and be available to work in ''Film/TheProducers''.