The Graduate was an eye opening film filled with lessons and symbolism. The Graduate was filmed in 1967 but the film was ahead of it’s time. Ben (the main character) is a recent college graduate that came home to overwhelming control from the people around him. He struggles with maintaining his control over his life and not giving the people around him control of his life. Ben made a mistake of having an affair with Mrs. Robinson. Mrs. Robinson had a husband and a daughter named Elaine. Ben went on a date with Elaine, against Mrs. Robinson’s directions, he fell in love with Elaine and did everything in his power to win her love even when she found out about the affair. The director Mike Nichols started a revolution of the “new wave of Hollywood.” The plot of the movie was well done and very detailed but the music gave the movie a new flavor of entertainment for the general public. Simon & Garfunkel wrote a song for the movie called Mrs. Robinson, the single brought the movie soundtrack to the top of the charts in 1968. Simon was originally supposed to write three new songs for the movie but he was too busy with his tour so he only wrote one new song but he had a song started wrote about Mrs. Roosevelt which the producer suggested he change it to a song about Mrs. Robinson. The movie is based on a novel written by Charles Webb that was transformed into a comedy and drama film. The only downside was the provocative scenes that took away from some of the quotes and lessons. The Graduate was nominated for seven Academy Awards including the Best Picture. The movie certainly deserves the #7 on the America’s Greatest Movies list.