In his first major film role Dustin Hoffman plays an ultra-nave college graduate who's seduced by a middle-aged woman played by the scintillating Anne Bancroft and then falls in love with her daughter. With the sharpest of scripts and a perfect soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel this film was deservedly nominated for 6 Oscars and won Nichols an Academy Award for Best Director.
Few films have defined a generation as much as The Graduate did. The alienation, the nonconformity, the intergenerational romance, the blissful Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack--they all served to lob a cultural grenade smack into the middle of 1967 America, ultimately making the film the third most profitable up to that time. Seen from a later perspective, its radical chic has dimmed a bit, yet it's still a joy to see Dustin Hoffman's bemused Benjamin and Anne Bancroft's deliciously decadent, sardonic Mrs Robinson. The script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham is still offbeat and dryly funny and Mike Nichols, who won an Oscar for his direction, has just the right, light touch. --Anne Hurley, Amazon.com
Few films have defined a generation as much as The Graduate did. The alienation, the nonconformity, the intergenerational romance, the blissful Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack--they all served to lob a cultural grenade smack into the middle of 1967 America, ultimately making the film the third most profitable up to that time. Seen from a later perspective, its radical chic has dimmed a bit, yet it's still a joy to see Dustin Hoffman's bemused Benjamin and Anne Bancroft's deliciously decadent, sardonic Mrs Robinson. The script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham is still offbeat and dryly funny and Mike Nichols, who won an Oscar for his direction, has just the right, light touch. --Anne Hurley, Amazon.com
50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION BRAND NEW RESTORATION A complete sensation on its original release in 1967, THE GRADUATE was a one-of-a-kind cinematic portrait of America which captured the mood of disaffected youth seething beneath the laid-back exterior of 1960s California. It earned Mike Nichols a Best Director Oscar, introduced the music of Simon & Garfunkel to a wider audience and featured one of the most famous seductions in movie history and a truly iconic final scene. THE GRADUATE also introduced the world to a young actor named Dustin Hoffman, perfectly cast as the jaw-droppingly naïve Benjamin. Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) has just finished college and is already lost in a sea of confusion as he wonders what to do with his life. He returns to his parents' luxurious Beverly Hills home, where he idles away the summer floating in the pool and brooding in silence. He is rescued from the boredom when he is seduced into a clandestine affair with a middle-aged married friend of his parents, Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft). That liaison is soon complicated by Benjamin's infatuation with her college-age daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). Visually imaginative and impeccably acted, with a witty, endlessly quotable script by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry (based on the novel by Charles Webb), with a supporting cast that includes William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Walter Brooke and Elizabeth Wilson, THE GRADUATE had the kind of cultural impact that comes along only once in a generation.
Mike Nichols directs this 1960s comedy drama starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross. After graduating from college, Ben Braddock (Hoffman) returns to his wealthy parents' South Californian home unsure of what he wants to do next. Feeling pressurised to get on with his life, the young Braddock escapes into an aimless affair with Mrs Robinson (Bancroft), an older, married woman and friend of the family. The pair meet regularly, with neither expecting anything serious from the...
Tootsie inevitably looks dated in some respects now, but it's still fabulous in others--the sexual politics look distinctly faded in their sniggering approach to sexual ambiguities, while the sardonic portrayal of a showbiz that loathes perfectionism is still both timely and hysterically funny. Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Michael Dorsey is a memorable self-caricature--the man is so obsessed with the craft of acting that he refuses to sit down when playing a tomato in a commercial, and so producers run away rather than work with him. By playing Dorothy Michaels playing her soap character, Dorsey gives himself the freedom to be a bad and popular actor. He is so busy with the surface of being a woman--the voice, the hair, the frocks--and with all the bad faith of his and Dorothy's emotional lives, that he learns to relax into the pleasure of performance. This aspect of the film is far more interesting, ironic and funny than the corny New Man moralising about sexual roles that goes with it. Jessica Lange got, and earned, an Oscar for her sensitive straight woman performance as the colleague Michael falls for, and Bill Murray, Teri Garr, Geena Davis (momentarily) and Charles Durning all turn in reliable supporting roles. Sydney Pollack directs efficiently rather than inspiredly--oddly, he earns almost more credit for his well-observed performance as Michael's world-weary agent. On the DVD: The DVD is presented in crisp Dolby Digital sound and with the original theatrical visual ratio of 2.35:1; enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions. It is dubbed into French, German, Italian and Spanish and has subtitles in most European languages as well as Arabic, Hindi and Hebrew. The only special features are the theatrical trailer and filmographies for the leading performers and director. --Roz Kaveney
Mad City is an earnest effort at media criticism that's never convincing enough to stir a viewer's outrage in the way filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Music Box) might have intended. John Travolta plays a barely educated museum guard who is laid off from his job and ends up holding his former boss (Blythe Danner) and a bunch of schoolchildren hostage. Dustin Hoffman is a former television-network journalist making a grab at the limelight again by pushing and controlling press coverage of the story. What follows is by the numbers and not nearly as enlightening or enthralling as other films (such as Dog Day Afternoon or Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole) about simple events manipulated into a media circus. Despite Travolta's tragic performance and Hoffman's impassioned one, the film breaks up over efforts to blame electronic voyeurism for social chaos. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Blu-ray steelbook, new and sealed
A beautifully realized portrait of a close-knit community on the outskirts of Baltimore, Putty Hill is the second feature from celebrated young filmmaker Matt Porterfield. At a neighbourhood karaoke bar, friends and family gather to remember a young man who passed away. Knowing little about his final days, they attempt to reconstruct his life. In the process, they offer a window onto their own lives, an evocative picture of working-class America, dislocated from the progress and mobility around them, but united in pursuit of a shared dream. Exquisitely shot and employing surprising documentary techniques, Putty Hill is one of the most exciting American indie films in years.
Carnal Knowledge: One of the most controversial movies of its time this thought-provoking (Leonard Maltin) comedy-drama from legendary director Mike Nichols is a funny yet poignant look at relationships as seen through the eyes of two friends over a 20-year period. Superbly crafted by playwright Jules Feiffer Carnal Knowledge is brimming with touching insights sexy banter and powerful performances by three-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson Ann-Margaret Candice Bergen and pop music icon Arthur Garfunkel. Jonathan (Nicholson) and Sandy (Garfunkel) are college roommates who share an endless fascination - and obsession - with women. As time goes by their relentless pursuit for the joys of the flesh becomes more competitive. And more damaging. Soon Jonathan and Sandy's lives become a vicious circle of girls booze and unfulfillment and they realize only too late that in the war of the sexes they are their own worst enemy... The Graduate: In his first major film role Dustin Hoffman plays an ultra-na''ve college graduate who's seduced by a middle-aged woman played by the scintillating Anne Bancroft and then falls in love with her daughter. With the sharpest of scripts and a perfect soundtrack by Simon & Garfunkel this film was deservedly nominated for 6 Oscars and won Nichols an Academy Award for Best Director. The Elephant Man: David Lynch creator of Twin Peaks and acclaimed director of 'Eraserhead' 'Blue Velvet' and 'Wild At Heart' directs this bizarre but true story of courage and human dignity. John Hurt gives the performance of a lifetime as John Merrick the worst freak known to Victorian medical science a man whose body is hideously distorted into a grotesque parody of an elephant. Rescued from a travelling freak show by Sir Frederick Treves Merrick gradually reveals himself to be a strangely sweet and gentle man remarkably unembittered by the degradation and torment he suffered at the circus. Beautifully shot by Freddie Francis and with an excellent supporting cast including Sir John Gielgud Anne Bancroft and Dame Wendy Hiller 'The Elephant Man' is a compelling moving and enchanting story. The film was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture Best Director and Best Actor.
Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is inexperienced in the ways of the world. On graduating he resolves to redress this imbalance embarking on a rebellious quest that challenges the deals and morals of his parents' generation. In an iconic twist he is seduced by the dazzling Mrs. Robinson wife of his father's best friend. Their union is electrifying but the affair takes an unexpected turn when much to Mrs. Robinson's disgust Ben falls in love with her daughter. With its unforgettable Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack and witty script The Graduate paved the way for a golden age in American filmmaking winning a Best Director Oscar'' for Mike Nichols and launching the illustrious career of Dustin Hoffman.
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