Revisiting an Old Favorite Film

We love to get into debates and discussions when it comes to the “best” of something.  It really doesn’t matter the topic. Best musical groups, best baseball players, best restaurants.  Get a few people together and you’ll likely get a lively discussion and a wide variety of opinions and thoughts.

There have been multiple lists when it comes to the best movies of all-time and like most arguments you sometimes need to be specific.  How do you compare “The Godfather” against “Annie Hall” or “Casablanca” against “Rocky?”  It’s kind of like comparing football players of today against those that played 40 years ago.

The truth is when it comes to these types of debates there is no definitive answer as everyone has their own opinions as to what is the best.

I mention this because my favorite movie of all time  is “The Graduate “which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary and returning to the big screen via a digitally restored version tomorrow at the AMC Loews Seacourt 10 in Toms River as well as 700 other theaters around the country.

I love everything about this movie which stars Dustin Hoffman, Katherine Ross and Ann Bancroft. It was the then 29 year-old Hoffman’s first big role as he played a recent college graduate who’s in no hurry to get on with his life.  He was not the first choice to play the role of Benjamin Braddock but Warren Beatty turned it down and Director Mike Nichols passed on Robert Redford.

What really makes the move iconic is the music of Simon & Garfunkel and songs like “The Sounds of Silence”, “Scarborough Fair”, and of course “Mrs. Robinson.”  Ironically Anne Bancroft who played Mrs. Robinson was only 6 years older than Hoffman when they made the film.  The cast also included William Daniels, Murry Hamilton (mayor in Jaws), Norman Fell, Buck Henry and for a few seconds in which he was not even credited….Richard Dreyfuss.

Even though it’s 50 years old “The Graduate” is a classic and tomorrow can be seen at 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. at the AMC Loews Seacourt 10 in Toms River.  I just might see you there!