“Hello Darkness my old friend …”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Graduate. Benjamin Braddock is 71 years old. He had his 21st birthday one week after coming home from college. He flew home alone to his parents in southern California. It’s not clear if they simply did not attend the graduation or if he took some extra time in the east after the ceremony.

As I recall it, for those of us who were part of Ben’s generation, the film was spellbinding. I remember my classmates in medical school talking about it long after having seen it, and I presume I saw it more than once. One class- mate pronounced excitedly that he had fig- ured it out. “He’s schizophrenic!”

I decided to see it again with a hope that I might gain some additional understanding of its impact. I don’t think I succeeded in that, but I did see, or perhaps imagine, something that would never have occurred to me in 1967.

Continue reading “The Graduate” As Seen 50 Years Later