Set in Haiti during the regime of François Duvalier (known as Papa Doc), it was filmed in Dahomey (Benin since 1975). The film tells the story of a sardonic British hotel owner and his encroaching fatalism as he watches Haiti sink into barbarism and squalor under Duvalier.
Plot
In Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mr. Brown owns a hotel which he inherited
from his mother. Returning from New York, where he tried unsuccessfully
to sell the floundering business, Brown finds some clientele among his
shipmates: Major Jones of England and Mr. and Mrs. Smith of the United
States.
Jones has come to sell arms to the government, run by François "Papa Doc" Duvalier,
but his contact has fallen out of favour so Jones is arrested, beaten,
and jailed by Captain Concasseur. The Smiths have come to promote
vegetarianism but their contact, the Minister of Public Welfare, has
also run afoul of the regime and has killed himself at Brown's hotel to
avoid being tortured by the Tontons Macoute, Duvalier's secret police.
At the centre of the story is Brown's ongoing affair with Martha Pineda, the wife of a South American ambassador to Haiti.
Brown tries to help his guests navigate the treacherous regime,
and introduces the Smiths to the new minister, who becomes interested
when he learns how much money they are willing to invest. But after the
Smiths witness several atrocities of the Tontons, they become
disenchanted and leave Haiti.
Major Jones is able to interest the government in his arms deal
and he is released from jail. When it becomes apparent that he can't
deliver on his promises, he has to go into hiding. Brown smuggles him
into the Pinedas' embassy for refuge, outwitting the ever-watchful
Tontons. Over several weeks, Jones establishes himself as an
entertaining houseguest, raising the ire of the jealous Brown, who
suspects Jones and Mrs. Pineda of starting an affair.
Captain Concasseur offers Brown money to drive Jones to the
airport under safe conduct. Knowing of Brown's affair with Martha, he
threatens the expulsion of the Pinedas unless Brown cooperates.
Realizing Jones would be killed, Brown refuses.
Though Brown professes no interest in politics, he knows some of
the people who are keen to overthrow Duvalier, including Henri Philipot,
the nephew of the suicide minister, and Dr. Magiot. Philipot has a
tiny army of would-be revolutionaries and Magiot wants Major Jones to
train them. Martha helps smuggle Jones out of the embassy, but as Magiot
has been killed by the Tontons it is Brown who drives Jones into the
mountains to meet up with the rebels.
During the journey, Brown's suspicions about Jones and Martha
seem to be confirmed by the boasts and innuendo of the inebriated Jones,
but while they are waiting at the rendezvous Jones confesses to lying,
not only about Martha but also his military service.
Captain Concasseur arrives and kills Jones. Brown is about to be
shot but is saved by Philipot. For the sake of his men's morale,
Philipot convinces Brown to take the place of Jones and join the rebels.
Because they aided Jones, the Pinedas must leave the country.
Having heard reports of rebel casualties, Martha doesn't know if Brown
is alive as she flies home with her husband.
Because political conditions in Haiti made filming there impossible, location shooting took place in Dahomey (now part of the Republic of Benin). Filming also took place on the Côte d'Azur in France. A short promotional documentary titled The Comedians in Africa was released in 1967, which chronicled the difficulties encountered by the on-location crew and cast.
The film featured a group of black American
actors who would become famous into the 1970s: Raymond St. Jacques,
James Earl Jones, and Cicely Tyson. Of these stars, both Tyson and Jones
would be nominated for Academy Awards
for other performances. Other black stars in the film included Zakes
Mokae, Roscoe Lee Browne, Gloria Foster, and Georg Stanford Brown.
This was the final film directed by Glenville. Three years earlier he had directed Burton in an award-winning production of Becket. Glenville previously directed the premier of Graham Greene's first play, The Living Room, at Wyndham's Theatre in April 1953.
Several of the characters were based on historic people. The newspaper columnist Petit Pierre, for instance, was based on Aubelin Jolicoeur.[4]
Reception
The film was poorly received, despite the all-star cast.[3] On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 27% based on reviews from 11 critics.[5]
Variety described the film as "plodding, low-key, and eventually tedious".[6]Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times
that "the movie tries to be serious and politically significant, and
succeeds only in being tedious and pompous", and denounced the "long,
very wordy discussions". He said that "the atmosphere of the Caribbean
is invoked convincingly".[7]Leslie Halliwell called it "Clumsy and heavy-going... Neither entertaining nor instructive, but bits of acting please."[8] He also quoted part of a review by critic Stanley Kaufmann:
" 'It's pleasant to spend two hours again in Greenland, still
well-stocked with bilious minor crucifixions, furtive fornication,
cynical politics, and reluctant hope.' " [9]Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, praising the atmosphere and some individual scenes, but writing:
"Mr. Greene's characteristic story of white men carrying
their burdens cheerlessly and with an undisguised readiness to dump them
as soon as they can get away from this God-forsaken place is no great
shakes of a drama. It is conventional and obvious, indeed, and is
rendered no better or more beguiling by some rather superfluous
additions of amorous scenes".[10]
After a torrid week-long honeymoon at the Plaza Hotel, free-spirited Corie Bratter and husband, Paul, a conservative, uptight young attorney, move into a fifth-floor Greenwich Village
apartment which has no elevator. Corie decorates the small, leaky
space, turning it into a picturesque home. Among their many eccentric
neighbors is the quirky Victor Velasco, who befriends Corie and flirts
with her. He lives in the building's attic, so he climbs through the
Bratters' window to get to his apartment. He also helps Corie with her
place, showing her how to work the heating and plumbing.
Corie sets up a dinner date with Paul, Victor, and Corie's
mother, Ethel Banks, in a scheme to make her mother fall for Victor.
Victor takes them all to an Albanian restaurant on Staten Island.
There, the group drinks, and Corie and Victor dance with a belly
dancer, while Paul and Ethel watch in embarrassment. Afterward, Corie
and Victor return to their building in high spirits as Paul and Ethel
drag themselves along in fatigue. As Victor escorts Ethel outside, Corie
and Paul argue over their different personalities. Corie feels that her
adventurous spirit is impeded by Paul's cautious attitude, noting that
he refused to go barefoot in the park with her one evening. His excuse
was that it was freezing. They eventually go to sleep, Corie in their
tiny bedroom and Paul on the couch under a hole in the skylight on a
snowy February night.
The next day, Paul comes down with a fever, but Corie still
insists she wants a divorce. The two spend an awkward time in their
apartment until Corie kicks Paul out. She then receives a call from her
aunt, who says that Ethel never came home. Corie eventually learns that
her mother was at Victor's apartment. While Victor was escorting her to
her home in New Jersey the previous night, Ethel slipped on icy stairs
and fell. Victor and some neighbors took her back to Victor's apartment,
where they spent the night.
Meanwhile, a drunken Paul skips work and sits in Washington Square Park.
Heeding her mother's advice, Corie goes out searching for Paul and
finds him drunk and running barefoot through the park. The once cautious
Paul is now a fun-loving drunk while Corie chases him in order to get
him to sober up. Eventually, Paul says it is his apartment and he is
going home. Corie follows. Back at the apartment, Paul, still drunk,
climbs onto the roof of the apartment. Realizing where he is, Paul
becomes scared, and almost falls off the building. Corie asks Paul to
sing an Albanian folk song
they had heard at the restaurant to calm himself down. While he sings,
Corie climbs up to the roof to help him down. A crowd of onlookers
gathers in the street, including Ethel and Victor. When Corie reaches
Paul, they kiss and climb back down as the crowd cheers.
Barefoot in the Park opened to positive reviews at the time of its release, although later reviews have been mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Barefoot in the Park
may strike some modern viewers as dated, but what it lacks in
timeliness, it more than makes up with the effervescent chemistry
between its stars".[2] On Metacritic,
which assigns a rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average
score of 55 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or
average" reviews.[3]
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times
wrote, "If it's romantic farce you delight in – old-fashioned romantic
farce loaded with incongruities and snappy verbal gags – then you should
find the movie version of Barefoot in the Park to your taste ...
But if you are in for a certain measure of intelligence and
plausibility in what is presumed to be take-out of what might happen to
reckless newlyweds today; if you expect a wisp of logic in the make-up
of comic characters, which is, after all, what makes them funny, instead
of sheer gagging it up, then beware."[4] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called the film "a thoroughly entertaining comedy delight about young marriage."[5]Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times
stated, "High-gloss, low-density comedy requires a special touch and
Robert Redford and Jane Fonda handle themselves with a fine, deft charm
... As after a souffle, you may shortly be hungry for something more
substantial but while it lasts it's very tasty."[6]Brendan Gill of The New Yorker called the film "a funny adaptation by Neil Simon of his funny play."[7] Leo Sullivan of The Washington Post
wrote, "An excellent cast plays the light-as-air plot as coolly as
possible. What's most important, it is as funny as ever it was and makes
an ideal summer attraction."[8]
Barefoot in the Park spent a record 12 weeks at Radio City Music Hall in New York City grossing a house record $2.3 million.[9]
After earning his bachelor's degree, Benjamin Braddock returns to his parents' home in Pasadena, California.
During his graduation party, Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's
law partner, asks him to drive her home. Once there, she reveals that
she is an alcoholic and tries to seduce him. He resists her advances,
but later invites Mrs. Robinson to the Taft Hotel, where he registers
under the surname Gladstone. Benjamin spends the summer idly floating in
his parents' swimming pool by day and meeting Mrs. Robinson at the
hotel at night. During one of their trysts, Mrs. Robinson reveals that
she and her husband married after she accidentally became pregnant with
their daughter, Elaine. When Benjamin jokingly suggests that he date
Elaine, Mrs. Robinson angrily forbids it.
Benjamin's parents and Mr. Robinson pester Benjamin to ask Elaine
out. He reluctantly takes her out, but attempts to sabotage the date by
ignoring her, driving recklessly and taking her to a strip club. She flees in tears, but Benjamin chases after her, apologizes and kisses her. They eat at a drive-in
restaurant, where they bond over their shared uncertainty about their
future plans after college, although Elaine has not yet graduated from UC Berkeley.
After they visit the Taft Hotel for a late-night drink and the staff
greet Benjamin as Mr. Gladstone, Elaine deduces that Benjamin is having
an affair. Benjamin admits to having an affair with a married woman whom
he does not name. He tells Elaine the affair is over and asks to see
her again.
To prevent Benjamin from dating Elaine, Mrs. Robinson threatens
to tell her about their affair. To thwart this, Benjamin goes to the
Robinson home and tells Elaine that the married woman is her mother.
Elaine throws Benjamin out of the house and returns to school at
Berkeley. Benjamin follows her there, hoping to regain her affections.
Elaine initially rejects him and briefly dates a medical student, Carl.
When she learns her mother lied about Benjamin raping her, she
reconciles with him. Benjamin pushes for marriage, but Elaine is
uncertain. Mr. Robinson arrives at Berkeley and angrily confronts
Benjamin. He informs him that he and Mrs. Robinson are getting divorced
and threatens to have him jailed if he keeps seeing Elaine. Mr. Robinson
forces Elaine to leave college to marry Carl.
Benjamin drives to Pasadena and enters the Robinson home
searching for Elaine. He finds Mrs. Robinson, who tells him that he
cannot prevent Elaine's marriage to Carl and calls the police on him.
Benjamin flees the house and drives back to Berkeley. There he discovers
the wedding is in Santa Barbara that very day. He speeds over 300 miles to Santa Barbara, but his car runs out of gas a short distance from the church.
Benjamin runs to the church, arriving just as the ceremony is
ending. His desperate appearance and plaintive shouts of Elaine's name
from the glass church gallery overlooking the seated wedding guests
stirs Elaine into defying her mother and fleeing the sanctuary. Benjamin
fights off Mr. Robinson and repels the wedding guests by swinging a
large cross, which he uses to bar the church doors, trapping everyone
inside. Benjamin and Elaine escape aboard a city bus and sit among the
startled passengers, with Elaine still in her wedding gown. As the bus
drives on, their ecstatic smiles slowly change into ambivalent
expressions.
Several actors make uncredited appearances in minor roles. Elaine May plays the "Girl with Note for Benjamin."[12]Richard Dreyfuss speaks two lines, about calling "the cops", in his second film role as one of the tenants in McCleery's boarding house. Ben Murphy plays the shaving fraternity brother who comes out with a double entendre. Mike Farrell is a hotel bellhop. Kevin Tighe is one of the showering fraternity brothers. Noam Pitlik is the service station attendant.[citation needed]
Production
Getting the film made was difficult for Nichols, who, while noted for
being a successful Broadway director, was still an unknown in
Hollywood. Producer Lawrence Turman,
who wanted only Nichols to direct it, was continually turned down for
financing. Turman also said that every studio turned down the project,
saying "they read the book and hated it, and no one thought it was
funny".[13] He then contacted producer Joseph E. Levine, who said he would finance the film because he had associated with Nichols on the play The Knack,[14] and because he heard Elizabeth Taylor specifically wanted Nichols to direct her and Richard Burton in Virginia Woolf.[15]
With financing assured, Nichols suggested Buck Henry
for screenwriter, although Henry's experience had also been mostly in
improvised comedy, and he had no writing background. Nichols said to
Henry, "I think you could do it; I think you should do it."[15] Nichols was paid $150,000, and was to receive one-sixth of the profits.[14]
Dustin Hoffman was cast as Liebkind in the Mel Brooks film The Producers (1967), but before filming began Hoffman begged Brooks to let him go to audition for The Graduate.[22]
When Dustin Hoffman auditioned for the role of Benjamin, he was just
short of his 30th birthday at the time of filming. He was asked to
perform a love scene with Ross, having previously never done one, and
believed that, as he said later, "a girl like [Ross] would never go for a
guy like me in a million years". Ross agreed, believing that Hoffman
"looked about 3 feet tall ... so unkempt. This is going to be a
disaster." Producer Joseph E. Levine
later admitted that he at first believed Hoffman "was one of the
messenger boys". Despite – or perhaps because of – Hoffman's
awkwardness, Nichols chose him for the film.[23]
"As far as I'm concerned, Mike Nichols did a very courageous
thing casting me in a part that I was not right for, meaning I was
Jewish," said Hoffman. "In fact, many of the reviews were very negative.
It was kind of veiled anti-Semitism.... I was called 'big-nosed' in the
reviews; 'a nasal voice'."[24]
Hoffman was paid $20,000 for his role in the film, and netted $4,000
after taxes and paying for temporary accommodations. After spending that
money, Hoffman filed for New York State unemployment benefits, receiving $55 per week while living in a two-room apartment in the West Village of Manhattan.[25]
Before Hoffman was cast, Robert Redford and Charles Grodin were among the top choices. Redford tested for the part of Benjamin (with Candice Bergen as Elaine), but Nichols thought Redford did not possess the underdog quality Benjamin needed.[15] Grodin turned down the part at first because of the low $500/week salary offered by producer Lawrence Turman.
Grodin was offered more money, but declined again because he did not
believe he could prepare for a screen test for the film overnight. "If
they had given me three days to prepare, I think I would have gotten the
role," he said.[21]
Harrison Ford also auditioned for the role of Benjamin Braddock but was turned down.[26]
Ronald Reagan was considered for the part of Benjamin's father Mr. Braddock, which eventually went to William Daniels.[29] Nichols cast Gene Hackman as Mr. Robinson, but he was later fired after a few days of rehearsals; he was replaced by Murray Hamilton.[30] Many years later, Hackman said that being fired from the film still hurt him.[31]
Despite playing mother and daughter, Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross were only eight years apart in age. Bancroft and Hoffman differed less than six.
Filming
The quality of the cinematography was influenced by Nichols, who chose Oscar winner Robert Surtees to do the photography. Surtees, who had photographed major films since the 1920s, including Ben-Hur,
said later, "It took everything I had learned over 30 years to be able
to do the job. I knew that Mike Nichols was a young director who went in
for a lot of camera. We did more things in this picture than I ever did
in one film."[15]
Many of the exterior university campus shots of Berkeley were actually filmed on the brick campus of USC in Los Angeles.[32]
The United Methodist Church in La Verne, California used in the final act of the film.
The church used for the wedding scene is actually the United Methodist Church in La Verne. In an audio commentary released with the 40th anniversary DVD, Hoffman revealed he was uneasy about the scene in which he pounds on the church window, as the minister of the church had been watching the filming disapprovingly.[33][34] The wedding scene was highly influenced by the ending of the 1924 comedy film Girl Shy starring Harold Lloyd, who also served as an advisor for the scene in The Graduate.[35][36]
The film boosted the profile of folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Originally, Nichols and O'Steen used their existing songs like "The Sound of Silence"
merely as a pacing device for the editing, until Nichols decided that
substituting original music would not be effective, and decided to
include them on the soundtrack, an unusual move at that time.[37]
According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the May 15, 2005, issue, Lawrence Turman,
his producer, then made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for
the movie. By the time they had nearly finished editing the film, Simon
had written only one new song. Nichols begged him for more, but Simon,
who was touring constantly, told him he did not have the time. He did
play a few notes of a new song he had been working on: "It's not for the
movie... It's a song about times past — about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe DiMaggio and stuff." Nichols advised Simon, "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt."[38]
Release
The Graduate had a dual world premiere in New York City December 20, 1967, at the Coronet Theatre, and at the Lincoln Art Theatre on 57th Street.[3] Its general release began on December 21, 1967.[3]
The film played extended exclusive engagements at a small number of theaters nationally. At the Esquire Theatre in Denver, The Graduate
opened on December 22, 1967, and ran for 52 consecutive weeks, one of
the longest exclusive engagements in the film's national rollout,
matched only by the Four Star in Los Angeles, the Coronet in New York,
and the Town in Seattle.[39]
The Graduate was met with generally positive reviews from critics upon its release. A.D. Murphy of Variety and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, with Murphy describing it as a "delightful satirical comedy drama",[43] and Ebert claiming it was the "funniest American comedy of the year".[44]
Life critic Richard Schickel
felt the film "starts out to satirize the alienated spirit of modern
youth, does so with uncommon brilliance for its first half, but ends up
selling out to the very spirit its creators intended to make fun of...
It's a shame – they were halfway to something wonderful when they
skidded on a patch of greasy kid stuff."[45]
Pauline Kael
wondered, "How could you convince them [younger viewers] that a movie
that sells innocence is a very commercial piece of work when they're so
clearly in the market to buy innocence?"[46] Kael goes on to say that the fundamental problem with the film is in its attempt to "only succeed".[47] Kael posited that the success of the film was "sociological", that it was based on youth being emotionally manipulatable.[47]
Critics continue to praise the film, if not always with the same
ardor. For the film's thirtieth anniversary reissue, Ebert retracted
some of his previous praise for it, noting that he felt its time had
passed, and that he now had more sympathy for Mrs. Robinson than for
Benjamin (whom he considered "an insufferable creep") viewing one's
sympathy for Mrs. Robinson and disdainful attitude toward Ben as a
function of aging and wisdom.[48]
He and Gene Siskel gave the film a positive review on the television program Siskel & Ebert.[49] The film's rating in the American Film Institute
list of the greatest American films fell from seventh in 1997 to 17th
in the 2007 update. Lang Thompson argued that "it really hasn't dated
much".[50]
Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes
gives the film an approval rating of 87% based on 94 reviews, with an
average rating of 9.0/10. The site's consensus reads: "The music, the
performances, the precision in capturing the post-college malaise – The Graduate's coming-of-age story is indeed one for the ages".[51] On the similar website, Metacritic, the film holds a score of 83 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[52]
The leg-framing scene where Mrs. Robinson seduces Benjamin has been parodied in the Roseanne
episode "David and Goliath", which includes a fantasy scene in which
Jackie assumes the Bancroft role and appears to attempt to seduce David.[64] This scene is also parodied in The Simpsons episode, "Lisa's Substitute", when Mrs. Krabappel tries to seduce Mr. Bergstrom, who was voiced by Dustin Hoffman.[65]
The car Benjamin drives in the movie is an Alfa Romeo Spider.
Based on its iconic role, Alfa Romeo sold a version of the Spider in
the United States from 1985 to 1990 under the name "Spider Graduate".[66]
In the 1992 film The Player, Robert Altman's satire of Hollywood, Buck Henry pitches a sequel to The Graduate to producer Griffin Mill (played by Tim Robbins) during the film's opening sequence. A parody of Hollywood high concept
films, Henry describes the plot as Ben and Elaine living in a haunted
house in Northern California, with an invalid Mrs. Robinson living in
the attic.[67]
George Michael's 1992 song, "Too Funky,"
features a clip of the Anne Bancroft lines, "I am not trying to seduce
you... Would you like me to seduce you? Is that what you're trying to
tell me?", as an intro of the song, and is repeated during the final
crescendo.[68]
In conjunction with the film's 25th anniversary home video release, alternative rock band The Lemonheads recorded a punk-style cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson".[69] The music video includes scenes from the film. This cover was then used in Martin Scorsese's 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.[70]
The film Kingpin parodied the leg-framed shot, showing Woody Harrelson framed by his landlady's leg,[71]
and features an excerpt of "The Sound of Silence" after Harrelson's
character has sex with the landlady to make up for back rent.
Hoffman recreated the church wedding scene for a 2004 Audi commercial, in which he stops his daughter (played by Lake Bell)
from getting married, and tells her "you're just like your mother" as
they drive off, implying he is portraying an older Benjamin who has a
daughter with Elaine.[72]
(500) Days of Summer features a scene in which the protagonist, Tom, watches The Graduate
with his then girlfriend Summer. He is said to misinterpret the ending,
a fact that serves to characterize his naivety concerning
relationships.[74]
The stage production adds several scenes not in the novel nor the film, as well as using material from both film and novel.[94]
The soundtrack uses songs by Simon & Garfunkel also not used in the film, such as "Bridge Over Troubled Water", as well as music from other popular musicians from the era, such as The Byrds and The Beach Boys.[95] The West End production opened at the Gielgud Theatre on April 5, 2000, after previews from March 24, with Kathleen Turner starring as Mrs. Robinson.[96][97] Jerry Hall replaced Turner from July 31, 2000, followed by Amanda Donohoe from February 2001, Anne Archer from June 2001, and Linda Gray from October 2001.[98][99] The production closed in January 2002. The 2003 U.K. touring production starred Glynis Barber as Mrs. Robinson.[100]
The Broadway production opened at the Plymouth Theatre April 4, 2002, and closed March 2, 2003, after 380 performances. Directed by Terry Johnson, the play featured the cast of Jason Biggs as Benjamin Braddock, Alicia Silverstone as Elaine Robinson, and Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson. The play received no award nominations.[101] Linda Gray briefly filled in for Turner in September 2002. Lorraine Bracco replaced Turner from November 19, 2002.[102]
Possible sequel
Charles Webb wrote a sequel to his original novel, titled Home School, but initially refused to publish it in its entirety because of a contract he signed in the 1960s. When he sold the film rights to The Graduate, he surrendered the rights to any sequels. If he were to publish Home School, the French media company that owns the rights to The Graduate, Canal+, would be able to adapt it for the screen without his permission.[103] Extracts of Home School were printed in The Times on May 2, 2006.[104]
Webb told the newspaper there was a possibility he would find a
publisher for the full text, provided he could retrieve the film rights
using French copyright law.[105] On May 30, 2006, The Times reported Webb had signed a publishing deal for Home School with Random House,
which he hoped would enable him to instruct French lawyers to attempt
to retrieve his rights. The novel was published in Britain in 2007.[106]
.jpg)