Summary

• The Graduate's authentic dialogue captures the awkward transition from adolescence to adulthood, making it relatable to modern audiences.
• Benjamin's pursuit of a romantic ideal demonstrates his cluelessness and willingness to abandon logic.
• The movie depicts a love pentagon and shows the immaturity of older characters, highlighting how they are not as grown-up as they believe themselves to be.

A classic coming-of-age movie, The Graduate is full of memorable quotes. The 1967 film follows Benjamin Braddock as he returns home from college and begins an affair with a friend of his parents. Dustin Hoffman brings a quirky charm to the lead role, but Anne Bancroft's portrayal of the manipulative Mrs. Robinson is just as central to the movie's success. The evergreen Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack roots the story firmly in the 1960s, but The Graduate stands the test of time.

One of the reasons The Graduate can still be enjoyed by modern audiences is the authenticity of its dialogue. Adapted from a novel by Charles Webb, the script perfectly captures the awkward period of life between adolescence and true adulthood. Benjamin struggles to articulate his feelings as a supposed success story with nobody to turn to. His parents and the older generation, including Mrs. Robinson, have a much more assured manner of speech.

10 "What makes you think she wants to marry you?" "She doesn't. To be perfectly honest, she doesn't like me."

Mrs. Braddock & Benjamin Braddock

Benjamin's parents are delighted to hear that he intends to marry Elaine Robinson, but his plan quickly falls apart under the slightest scrutiny. Aside from illustrating the enormous gap in understanding between Benjamin and his parents, this exchange shows just how clueless Benjamin is, willing to abandon all logic in pursuit of a romantic ideal. Dustin Hoffman's deadpan delivery sells the scene perfectly as he stares with a blank, alien detachment, and his parents return his gaze with the appropriate wariness. This scene in the Braddock family kitchen also stands out for Mrs. Braddock's unnecessarily blood-curdling scream of joy when Benjamin tells her his plans.

9 "I want it to be... different."

Benjamin Braddock

Spoken to his father shortly after returning home from college, this quote sums up Benjamin's listless existence. All he knows about his future is that it has to be different from what is expected of him and different from what his parents have. This sentiment from Graduate still holds up today, reflecting the views of many young people. Of course, when Benjamin says this, his father doesn't listen to him. Benjamin can't even reach out to his own parents for guidance. They simply usher him downstairs to show off his achievements in front of their friends, as if they see him as just one more impressive accessory to their lives.

8 "Do you have any luggage Mr. Gladstone?"

Desk Clerk

Benjamin's paranoia causes him to give a fake name at the hotel where he meets Mrs. Robinson. Everything about his meeting with Mrs. Robinson is illicit and shady, and Benjamin is hilariously awkward throughout. He never even refers to Mrs. Robinson by her first name, underlining the formality of the whole situation. With its depiction of a young man's affair with an older married woman, The Graduate represents a revolution in American cinema. The movie seems keenly aware of how scandalous it is. There's no indication where Benjamin drew the name "Mr. Gladstone," from but it certainly sounds like it belongs to an older man.

7 "I can see in the dark, you know. I've been here quite a while."

Mr. Robinson

Mr. Robinson is the forgotten victim of Benjamin's affair with Mrs. Robinson. The Graduate's love triangle focuses on Benjamin's feelings for both Elaine and her mother, but it's more of a love pentagon with the inclusion of Mr. Robinson and Elaine's fiancé, Carl. When Mr. Robinson confronts Benjamin, he betrays the fact that he has been sitting alone in the dark for a long time, presumably steeping in his own bitterness. It's a brief moment that shows the barely concealed immaturity of the older characters. Mr. Robinson and others would like to believe they are far more grown up than Benjamin, but they are still prone to childish rage.

6 "Is that so? You might marry me?"

Benjamin Braddock

Benjamin's pursuit of Elaine at Berkeley can come across as creepy to modern audiences, but the pair still shares undeniably tender moments. Elaine initially rebuffs Benjamin's proposal, but it's clear that she's more interested in him than the man she is supposed to marry. Elaine and Benjamin provide an escape for each other, partly because each one of them is explicitly forbidden from pursuing their relationship. The Graduate captures the mood of the 1960s with its portrayal of two young people trying to defy the rigid expectations of their parents. This intimate scene perfectly exemplifies the comfort they share when they are left alone.

5 "You're disappointing them, Ben. You're disappointing them."

Mr. Braddock

Mr. Braddock buys Benjamin a scuba suit for his birthday, but he makes sure that everyone at the party knows just how generous he is, proudly stating that it cost more than $200. Instead of being out in the open ocean, Benjamin is forced to demonstrate his new gift in the pool in his backyard with his whole family watching and cheering. He's essentially paraded around like a child. His parents smile as they push his head back underwater, and he's left alone at the bottom of the pool, mirroring the plastic scuba diver that sits in the fish tank in his childhood bedroom.

4 "I just want to say one word to you... just one word... are you listening? Plastics."

Mr. McGuire

When Benjamin's parents throw him a graduation party consisting of all their friends and none of his, Mr. McGuire pulls him aside to try and tempt him into a career in plastics. His dramatic delivery suggests that, in his mind, this is a revolutionary idea that Benjamin will immediately love. In truth, Benjamin is not so enthralled by the prospect of working with plastics. There's a fundamental disconnect between Benjamin and the adults around him. He lacks inspiration, and he isn't going to find it by emulating them. His parent's friends are deeply concerned with material possessions and the appearance of wealth, but ultimately, they seem hollow.

3 "I'm not proud that I spend my time with a broken alcoholic."

Benjamin Braddock

Benjamin starts out as a blank slate. He's very ive because he doesn't really know what he wants out of life. His verbal attack on Mrs. Robinson marks a shift in his character before he starts taking control of his future. Until this moment, Benjamin is content to merely bob along as adults around him try to make his decisions. His words here are meant to hurt, but not because he dislikes Mrs. Robinson in particular. It's more that she has just told him not to Elaine. Benjamin finds some form of sanctuary with Mrs. Robinson, but now he sees that even she wants to control his actions.

2 "It's too late!" "Not for me."

Mrs. Robinson & Elaine Robinson

Mrs. Robinson desperately tries to stop her daughter from running away with Benjamin, but Elaine makes her own decision. Mrs. Robinson tells Benjamin earlier that she felt pressured into marrying her husband after she became pregnant with Elaine in the back of a Ford. She resents her daughter for representing the prison she finds herself living in, and her imioned plea for Elaine to stay at the church suggests that she perceives Elaine's choice to pursue her own freedom as an injustice. These are the last words spoken in the movie, before The Graduate's famous ending on the bus as Elaine and Benjamin's smiles slowly fade.

1 "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me... aren't you?"

Benjamin Braddock

The most iconic and enduring quote from The Graduate is "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me... aren't you?" At this point, Benjamin is too old to be a child but too inexperienced to truly feel like an adult. He bluffs confidence but still needs the reassurance of someone older than him. This exchange underlines the uneasy power dynamic between Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson. She's happy to sit back and tease him, almost coaxing him into this bold statement with her demure act. Mrs. Robinson frequently wears animal prints, representing the freedom and danger that initially attracts Benjamin. In this scene, she sits and watches him like a predator.