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Show Barefott Dustin Hoffman speculates on the academic values of Anne Bancroft's elevated leg in a potentially revealing scene from "The Graduate" still at the Southeast Theatre. Movie Review The Graduate By STEVE DIMEO In spite of crowds that fool students stu-dents and teachers alike, universities univers-ities are essentially empty institutions. insti-tutions. And yet when a student graduates from one, a kind of void takes its place inside him. It's that time in the life of a successful suc-cessful scholar -athlete that Dustin Hoffman traces in Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" continuing a long run at the Southeast Theatre. The time isn't exactly well-spent for the graduate but, at his expense, it should be for the viewer. Anne Bancroft Stars Anne Bancroft plays (in more ways than one) the wife of Hoffman's Hoff-man's father's business partner, while Katherine Ross appears as Miss Bancroft's daughter. Both attempt at-tempt to fill Hoffman's void. Miss Bancroft tries by luring him into filling her void constantly, for she never gets her fill. It is Miss Ross who offers something that can replace his internal vacuum naturally, Gloriously Omnipotent True Love. The movie's conflict arises, of course, from Miss Ross's knowledge knowl-edge that the man she loves has had more than the innocent kind of conversations with her mother not an easy obstacle for even Gloriously Omnipotent True Love to overcome. Hoffman's hopes for a perfect relationship with his prospective pros-pective in-laws, too, are somewhat dimmed by the light of that knowledge. knowl-edge. If you can accept the romantically romantic-ally unrealistic climax, "The Graduate" Grad-uate" should offer even a critical audience a high degree of satis- usually for some effect whether it be to see what Hoffman sees, or to see the kind of world that sees him. The photography is also marked by an original montage meant to indicate the passage of time after the beginning of Hoffman's affair with Miss Bancroft. It consists of consecutive close-ups of Hoffman each fading back into medium close-ups that every time reveal a new and later setting. Nichols also makes the photography photog-raphy sustain a mood. The scene in the hotel bedroom when Hoffman and Miss Bancroft finally talk is a long one unbroken by any cuts at all. But the cuts of a nervous Hoffman Hoff-man and the nude body of his seductress seduc-tress are appropriately rapid. The only flaw in this photographic flourish may be that it sometimes calls too much attention to itself. Caustic Script Much of the movie's success is due to the screenplay co-authored by Calder Willingham (author of the novels "End As a Man" and "Eternal Fire" and the script of "The Vikings") and Buck Henry. They're to blame for the subtle sarcasm not the Joe Pyne kind that Dustin Hoffman delivers as the unkinder cuts of all. A good example: Miss Bancroft, while admitting her alcoholism to Hoffman alone in her house with her, raises one of her legs to a bar stool. Hoffman then nervously confesses con-fesses he's become quite ill at ease about her "opening up your personal per-sonal life" like that. Simon and Garfunkel provide the score for the soundtrack. Most of the time their additions accent appropriately, ap-propriately, but even a good song gets tiresome with too much repetition. faction. Film Critics' Award Director Mike Nichols, who has already won the New York Film Critics' Award for best director of the year for this film, clearly deserves de-serves his accolades. He has successfully suc-cessfully combined talented performers per-formers with careful and clever photographic techniques, an often acerbically witty script and an appropriate ap-propriate soundtrack. Dustin Hoffman, a newcomer to films, looks and acts in "The Graduate" Grad-uate" much like the comic character char-acter Mike Nichols himself portrayed por-trayed before becoming a director. Hoffman's worth as an actor would be scarcely measurable were it to rely on his sharp Roman nose or his close-set eyes. In "The Graduate" Grad-uate" it relies on the general ease with which he plays the part. Hoffman is plainly perfect for the role. Whether he is an actor of versatile skill remains yet to be seen. Anne Bancroft, who won an academy acad-emy award for her performance in "The Miracle Worker" earlier in the decade, has a relatively small though vital part as Hoffman's possessive seducer. But she handles the role whether or not you'll permit like a professional. Camera Techniques When the camera moves, it is Nichols' Success Where it may seem difficult to assign the credit to any one department, de-partment, it must go to the noveau-riche noveau-riche Nichols. He is ultimately responsible re-sponsible for the success of such scenes as Hoffman's first night in the hotel with Miss Bancroft or his hilarious entrance on his twenty-first twenty-first birthday celebration in his skin diving suit. He, too, is responsible for underlining under-lining the conscentious unity at work in other scenes. The opening and closing shots provide an example. ex-ample. Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" is the mus-sic mus-sic for both. In the first there is a sober close-up of Hoffman. In the next to last there is a sober close-up of Hoffman and Miss Ross (which may in fact suggest something other than the happy ending it seems to be one might desperately desper-ately hope). "The Graduate," then, in spite of some overdone art, is sometimes a bit bitter, often much better than simply funny. But it is never as dull as the lives of those who haven't yet graduated to something better. |