The Graduate (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition)

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Few films have defined a generation as The Graduate did. The alienation, the nonconformity, the intergenerational romance, the blissful Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack--they all served to lob a cultural grenade smack into the middle of 1967 America, ultimately making the film the third most profitable up to that time. Seen from a later perspective, its radical chicness has dimmed a bit, yet it's still a joy to see Dustin Hoffman's bemused Benjamin and Anne Bancroft's deliciously decadent, sardonic Mrs. Robinson. The script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham is still offbeat and dryly funny, and Mike Nichols, who won an Oscar for his direction, has just the right, light touch. --Anne Hurley

Description

Nominated* for seven Academy AwardsÂ(r) and winner for Best Director, this ground breaking and "wildly hilarious" (The Boston Globe) social satire launched the career of two-time OscarÂ(r)-winner** Dustin Hoffman and cemented the reputation of acclaimed director Mike Nichols. Pulsating with the rebellious spirit of the '60s and a haunting score sung by Simon and Garfunkel, The Graduate is truly a "landmark film" (Leonard Maltin). Shy Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) returns home from college with an uncertain future. Then the wife of his father's business partner, the sexy Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), seduces him, and the affair only deepens his confusion. That is, until he meets the girl of his dreams (Katharine Ross). But there's one problem: she's Mrs. Robinson's daughter!

Customer Reviews:

Still a Funny, Perceptive Classic Forty Years Later and in a DVD Package Worthy of Its Reputation.......2007-09-13

If there is one film deserving of a full-blown renaissance, it is this seminal 1967 social alienation comedy, and this 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD presents an especially pristine print, as well as several extras that will please die-hard fans. Based on the wry 1963 Charles Webb novel, the film itself holds a special affection among its original audience even now, the aging Vietnam War-era population who championed anarchy and the people who revise their personal histories, so they can think they were members of the now-fashionable counter-cultural movement. At the same time, it has a timeless quality for new generations simply because it's a consistently witty, observant piece of cinema targeted to anyone who has experienced that sense of post-academic confusion when the responsibilities of real life inevitably intrude.

This is an accomplished film for someone directing only his second film. But then again, judging from his subsequent work all the way to Angels in America and Closer, Mike Nichols seems to have come into filmmaking fully understanding the frailties of the human condition and knowing how to convey them in a way that audiences could empathize. It is a testament to Nichols and screenwriters Buck Henry and Calder Willingham that the social comedy aspects of this film do not seem at all dated. In fact, despite its provocative veneer, it's really old-fashioned in key ways from the protagonist's moralistic tendencies to his romantically compulsive motivations toward the end. Dustin Hoffman was pulled out of complete obscurity to play Benjamin, the alienated, recent college graduate drifting amid his parents' Southern California upper-middle class, swimming pool-centered ennui.

As Benjamin figures out what to do with his life and faces unwanted advice from his parents' friends, enter Mrs. Robinson, a bored, restless wife, a self-proclaimed alcoholic and about as sympathetic as Lady Macbeth. It's hard to imagine what the original choice, Doris Day, would have done with this role, as it takes Anne Bancroft's formidable arsenal of skills to bring this vituperative woman to life. She gives a masterful performance. The hotel sequence where Benjamin awkwardly asks Mrs. Robinson for a drink is shrewdly observed and downright hilarious - the suspicious hotel clerk (Henry, the film's co-screenwriter) eyeing Benjamin's every move; the reception line which Benjamin pretends to know (TV veterans Alice Ghostley and Marion Lorne, Esmeralda and Aunt Clara from Bewitched, make indelible marks here); and the predatory Mrs. Robinson's business-like approach to seduction.

Complicating matters exorbitantly is Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine, played with relative nonchalance by Katharine Ross. The film then turns into a revenge comedy with Mrs. Robinson trying to prevent the inevitable coupling of Benjamin and Elaine. She almost succeeds but not before a series of revelations and dramatic encounters that lead to the classic ending aboard the public bus. Some of the comedy and characterizations seem a bit extreme, for example, Hoffman seems to amplify his character's nebbishness a few too many times, and Elaine's fiancée appears like a textbook 1960's TV stereotype. There are also a few forgivable geographic gaffes - most of the campus scenes are not filmed at Berkeley as portrayed in the film but at USC, and Benjamin crosses the Bay Bridge in the wrong direction to hunt for Elaine.

The 2007 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD contains two separate commentary tracks, both insightful but for different reasons - the first is an anecdotal remembrance with Hoffman and Ross quite engaged with details of the filming (Hoffman apparently had quite a crush on Ross and still does), and the second has Nichols and director Steven Soderbergh discussing all aspects of the production from casting to camera set-ups within specific scenes. The main featurette is the new 25-minute "Students of `The Graduate'", which amounts to an extended appreciation of the film from Henry; producer Lawrence Turman; two film scholars; various directors (Harold Ramis, Marc Forster, Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton, David O. Russell); and film critics (Newsweek's David Ansen, Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman). The second new short, "The Seduction", is a nine-minute retrospective look at the famous scene where Mrs. Robinson nonchalantly pounces on Benjamin. The participants from the first featurette are involved here as well, and it provides a good dissection of not only the scene but the sexual mores prevalent at the time of filming.

There are two holdovers from the 1999 DVD release. The first is the 22-minute "'The Graduate' at 25" produced in 1992 for the laserdisc release. It has the advantage of participation from Hoffman and Ross but otherwise echoes the information presented in the newer retrospective featurette. The second is a 22-minute interview with Hoffman done in quick takes. He lends invaluable and often amusing insight into his selection for the role and the filmmaking experience. He also talks about the proposed sequel which one can assume eventually turned into 2005's execrable Rumor Has It.... Beyond the original theatrical trailer, the DVD contains a print of the film that makes it look as good as it did in its original release. There is a bonus soundtrack sampler CD with four of the distinctive Simon and Garfunkel songs featured in the movie - "The Sound of Silence", "Scarborough Fair/Canticle", "April Come She Will", and of course, "Mrs. Robinson". Lastly, there is a helpful six-page booklet that fills in the rest of the blanks on the production. This is a great package for a classic film.

Unlikely Tale of Immorality.......2007-09-12

This absurd film was a sensation like a million years because of its taboo content. But was it really good? No, it was like a train wreck, you looked at it anyhow. I've seen this nonsense on TV, and it is just BORING. An old crone like Mrs. Robinson who's interested in young men could certainly get something better than the little creep played by Dustin Hoffman. He looks like the following:

1. A playmate of Pee-Wee Herman.

2. A little nerd.

3. A no muscle little sissy boy.

4. A pathetic version of Jerry Lewis (the oily hair).

In conclusion, didn't old woman Robinson have a gardener or pool man to bother? Was she that desperate? I mean Dustin Hoffman, Jeez!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enhanced for Widescreen TV's ??? YES, YES, YES !!!.......2007-09-11

Get out the church key and crack open a can of Olympia beer. "It's the water" couldn't be a more appropriate title for the "Sounds of Silence"/"April Come She Will" sequence as Ben drifts between diving into the pool and diving onto Mrs. Robinson.

Los Angles and Berkeley have never looked better, now that The Graduate has finally been re-mastered in the anamorphic splendor that it deserves. Ben is still traveling from Los Angeles to Berkeley on Highway 101, by way of the upper deck of the Bay Bridge. However, he finally manages to find his way to the University.

Seeing old Telegraph Avenue landmarks, such as Print Mint and Moe's Books brings back memories. Ben is probably reading the latest issue of Zap Comix as he sips his Coors at the sidewalk cafe.

The Landmark Film - Done RIGHT!!!.......2007-08-31

The previous reviews posted here are all based on what the reviewers HOPED would be on the new 40th Anniversary and raised some questions. I can answer most of the concerns having watched the DVD this week.

As for how important this film is, let's just say it defined a generation in the 1970s. And nearly anyone in either high school or college (or a recent "graduate" entering the working world) when the film was released can quote verbatim important lines and whole scenes. Try "Are you trying to seduce me Mrs. Robinson?" or even the mention of one word ""Plastics!". I have only watched the film (on VHS) once since my original viewing on the big screen forty years ago. Of course I remember many of the great moments (the finale at the church, for one) and the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack. (Dave Grusin wrote the incidental music.). I did not see the "25th Anniversary" reissue. So much of the supplemental material was new to me.

First off the transfer is great! It must have been remastered. And yes, it's in Wide Screen. It HAS to be. The hardest video to pan and scan was always this film as Director Mike Nichols spaced his characters at the far sides of the screen. I watched this on an 25 year old 26 in TV and it was still perfect.

Okay, now the bonus features. It's a 2 "disc" set because one disc is a CD of FOUR songs from the film. So it's really more of a CD single.", That's fine with me, but most of us have the music in our collection.

There are TWO commentary tracks: One is Hoffman and Ross talking. Since Ross doesn't even appear in the film until almost half way through, she has little to say for a while. And there are long periods where Hoffman says nothing so you get to hear the soundtrack dialogue at that point. The second commentary is with Director Mike Nichols and Director Stephen Soderburgh. It more that SS is interviewing Nichols. And Nichols is very outgoing here. Where I found a small problem is that the conversation often does not match what is on the screen. During the "Seduction" scene I expected to hear details about the set up. But Nichols was talking about Screen Tests or something else. I have not made it all the way through the commentaries. Too much other good stuff here.

There is a NEW 25-minute documentary: "Students of the Graduate" which has interviews with young directors who learned techniques from Nichols direction. The Directors of "Little Miss Sunshine" were ones I remember. It's interesting. There is a short 8-minute one on "the Seduction" as well. This appears to be new.

The other featurettes are from the 25th Anniversary release. One is obvious as it's title is "The Graduate at 25". You can see from the excerpted scenes how poor the 25th Anniversary print was. And - what I found MOST interesting was a "One on One" featurette with Dustin Hoffman which runs 22 minutes. It was recorded for the 25th - similar comments appear in the "Graduate at 25" feature - but Hoffman tells GREAT stories and I was on the floor laughing!

ONE of the tywo screen tests that Ross did - with Charles Grodin - is included in the "at 25" featurette but the announced "two screen tests with introduction" are not on the final DVD. NEITHER is the "Coming of Age: The Making of the Graduate" one.

So there is lots to watch here and moments to remember. I, for one, loved this set and the special featurettes - which rarely, though sometimes, repeat themselves - briefing out things you missed and make you want to playback some scenes.

This should be a hot release for September!

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

Enhanced for Widescreen TV's ???.......2007-08-21

There is no confirmation anywhere on the web that this new edition DVD is anamorphic or "enhanced" for widescreen TV's. The universal absence of this information makes me wonder whether it is. Especially since the previous transfers were so awful. This information needs to be available for prospective buyers. I will hold off on purchasing until this is confirmed and I would recommend to others that they do the same.

This is a great movie that deserves 5 stars and a first class transfer.

Average customer rating:

A classic
Greatest movie ever?
Independent Cinema's Forebear
Top ten favorites
Movie Buff

Harold and Maude
Starring: Harvey Brumfield , Eric Christmas , Bud Cort , Cyril Cusack , and Gordon Devol
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video
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ASIN: 6305882592
Release Date: 2000-06-27

Amazon.com essential video

Black comedies don't come much blacker than this cult favorite from 1972, and they don't come much funnier, either. It seemed that director Hal Ashby was the perfect choice to mine a mother lode of eccentricity from the original script by Colin Higgins, about the unlikely romance between a death-obsessed 19-year-old named Harold (Bud Cort) and a life-loving 79-year-old widow named Maude (Ruth Gordon). They meet at a funeral, and Maude finds something oddly appealing about Harold, urging him to "reach out" and grab life by the lapels as opposed to dwelling morbidly on mortality. Harold grows fond of the old gal--she's a lot more fun than the girls his mother desperately matches him up with--and together they make Harold & Maude one of the sweetest and most unconventional love stories ever made. Much of the earlier humor arises from Harold's outrageous suicide fantasies, played out as a kind of twisted parlor game to mortify his mother, who's grown immune to her strange son's antics. Gradually, however, the film's clever humor shifts to a brighter outlook and finally arrives at a point where Harold is truly happy to be alive. Featuring soundtrack songs by Cat Stevens, this comedy certainly won't appeal to all tastes (it was a box-office flop when first released), but if you're on its quirky wavelength, it might just strike you as one of the funniest movies you've ever seen. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A classic.......2007-09-10

Great movie with awesome soundtrack. No violence or nudity. My teenagers loved it too. Very Quirky.

Greatest movie ever?.......2007-09-08

I've loved this movie ever since I was first introduced to it in college 15 years ago. It's filled with very funny scenes, terrific acting, and the most PERFECT movie soundtrack. Buy it! Watch it until you have every line and musical note memorized!

Independent Cinema's Forebear.......2007-08-15

What can be said about Harold and Maude? Beautiful love story of two cosmic souls brought together by death. Hilarious black comedy with a heart of gold. I could think of more cliches but I digress.
Harold is a lonely lost young man, he stages suicides for his mother's benefit in a fruitless attempt for her attention. Upon attending a funeral he meets Maude, an elderly jovial woman so full of life she radiates happiness. Their friendship blossoms and Harold leans how to live instead of just existing. It is amazing how just one person could free him from his mental prison and realize that life is worth living.
Maude is really the muse of this film. Her philosophy is so clear and truthful that all the (explitive deleted) of the world just melts away and she is truly free. It is still is a very fun movie not heavy handed, just a pure delight.

Top ten favorites.......2007-07-21

From beginning to end, you will be blown away by this movie. Hilarious yet moving, creative and real, full of imagination. Excellent acting, directing and filming...Would rate it higher then 5 stars if possible.

Movie Buff.......2007-07-19

One of the funniest "off-beat" comedies I have seen. This will be a cult classic for years to come.

Average customer rating:

Great movie. My all-time favorite.
So Utterly Charming
Great Movie
One of my favorite chick flicks.
Finding Love Where You Wouldn't Expect

Murphy's Romance
Starring: Sally Field , James Garner , Brian Kerwin , Corey Haim , and Dennis Burkley
Director: Martin Ritt
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0767827813
Release Date: 2000-05-02

Amazon.com

Director Martin Ritt (Norma Rae) helmed this offbeat romance that earned costar James Garner an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a widowed druggist who befriends a confused divorcee (Sally Field) and her son, who move to a small rural town to start over. The laid-back performance of Garner as a man finding love "for the last time in his life" contrasts wonderfully with Field's portrayal of a woman scared and unsure of what the future may hold for her, and the two of them together exhibit great comic timing. As well written and as deftly performed as any movie of its type, Murphy's Romance will rope you in with its winning style. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews:

Great movie. My all-time favorite........2007-09-09

Great movie. My all-time favorite.

I've seen this movie about 30 times.
Far more than any other that I've ever watched.

Great family viewing.

So Utterly Charming.......2007-09-04

This film is practically impossible to not like. It has likeable but three dimensional characters. James Garner is at his best, earning his only Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Sally Field is almost his equal. All in all this is a wonderful concoction of romance, wooing, charm and your normal run of the mill slice of life. It is really enjoyable and undemanding. One feels good about life after viewing this one. Its message is probably that you can find your true love much later than you thought you would or perhaps again.

Great Movie.......2007-08-28

Sally Field & James Garner together? A great movie.
Sally is a single mom on an adventure, setting out on her, shows what a woman can do to survive!
James Garner can put his shoes under my bed anytime!
A great movie, great for an evening for a girls night out!

One of my favorite chick flicks........2007-08-23

I can't tell you how many times I've watched this movie. Still makes me laugh and the ending really touches my heart.

Finding Love Where You Wouldn't Expect.......2007-08-14

Emma is a single mother who moves into a small town in Arizona. What I admire most about this character played by Sally Field is her perseverance when things aren't going right - something we all have to have from time to time. She struggles with getting over her ex-husband who keeps popping back into the picture, re-establishing herself in a new town, kick-starting her business and learning to love in a deeper, more meaningful way. She finds love where she wouldn't expect it, and with someone she wouldn't have imagined. Set in an endearing small town, this story, simple and yet interesting, peppered with humor and defining moments, is sure to touch your heart. This movie always leaves me with a good feeling.

Average customer rating:

Cher
I'm stuck on Moonstruck
DVD Quality
A different romance
One of my all-time favorites

Moonstruck
Starring: Cher , Nicolas Cage , Vincent Gardenia , Olympia Dukakis , and Danny Aiello
Director: Norman Jewison
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0792838963
Release Date: 1998-06-30

Amazon.com essential video

Remember the outfit Cher wore to the Oscars when she won an Academy Award for her performance in this 1987 film? Ay-yi-yi. The actress' more retiring character in this infectious comedy leaps several psychological hurdles just giving her hair a permanent. But then the original screenplay by John Patrick Shanley (Joe Versus the Volcano) is a wonderful, gently satirical tale of an Italian-American family dealing with repression and dissatisfaction against a backdrop of cultural expectations. Cher is focused and funny as a widow who feels she should marry an older fellow (Danny Aiello), but then falls for his black-sheep brother (Nicolas Cage). Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia are perfect as her parents, and John Mahoney (of TV's Frasier) has a memorable, small role as a middle-aged man on the make who gets a lecture from Dukakis's character. Shanley's dialogue is comically stylized in a way that makes one appreciate how much words can inform an actor's performance. Taking its cues from him and director Norman Jewison (And Justice for All), the cast immerse themselves in a pool of hilariously operatic emotion. --Tom Keogh

Description

Fall under the delightful spell of Moonstruck, the mesmerizing romantic comedy from director Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof) and OscarÂ(r) winner* John Patrick Shanley. Academy AwardÂ(r) winners** Cher, Nicolas Cage and Olympia Dukakis excel in this explosively funny tale which also features flawless performances by Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia and Frasier's John Mahoney. Cher is "devastatingly funny, sinuous and beautiful" (Pauline Kael) as Loretta, an unlucky in love Italian widow who finds romance through the intervention of the Manhattan moon. With her wedding to a close friend just weeks away, she meets and falls hopelessly in love with his younger brother (Cage)! Her dilemma and her equally passionate and hilariously eccentric family make for an unforgettable film you'll find "beguiling" (Time), "enchanting" (Newsweek) and "irresistible" ("Today Show").

Customer Reviews:

Cher.......2007-07-26

Cher is one of my all time favorite people and I can watch this movie time and time again.

I'm stuck on Moonstruck.......2007-05-19

This is a delightful romantic comedy. Cher does a wonderful job of changing from a frumpy, overworked fiancee to a glamorous, sexy girlfriend of Nicholas Cage. Good performances by everyone.

DVD Quality.......2007-02-14

The first disc was defective. Returned it for replacement. The replacement is very slightly out of sync of video and audio at the end of movie. Shows poor quality control.

A different romance.......2007-02-12

A very good yet different comedy romance. Cher and Nickolas Cage are a great team in this movie!

One of my all-time favorites.......2006-11-10

I love this movie so much that I've watched it countless times and enjoy it every time I've seen it. I wore through my VHS copy, so it was time for a replacement. A very funny romantic comedy!

Average customer rating:

Great Movie!!!
Good One!
Ahead Of It's Time
A Movie Worthy of Showing to my Students
A Classic for all times

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Sidney Poitier , Katharine Hepburn , Katharine Houghton , and Cecil Kellaway
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0767821483
Release Date: 1999-02-02

Amazon.com essential video

Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love, and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie!!!.......2007-08-29

I would easily categorize this movie as a classic. For me (who lived all my life in Africa) where racism is a very strange concept, this is an 'eye opener'. So I'll recommend the movie to fellow Africans so they can understand a part of the history of the Africa-American.

If things were still this bad so many centuries after slavery was abolished, I can imagine what happened during and immediately after the slave trade.

Good One!.......2007-08-25

Sidney Poitier is one my favorite actors. He, Hepburn and Tracy were superb in this one.This movie will make you laugh. I liked it because it had a very positive spin on interacial relationships without it being too over the top. You could relate to it.

Ahead Of It's Time.......2007-08-23

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
This is one of my favorite old school movies. Hollywood is continuing to beat around the subject of race relations which is what makes this movie timeless. Spencer Tracy, Audrey Hepburn & her niece (Katharine Houghton) with up and comming star; (back then) Sidney Poitier and 3-all time Hollywood favorites, accademy award winners and the top of the Hollywood all-star list, Tracy, Hepburn & Poitier with a supporting role by Isabel Sanford destined to become Weezy to George Jefferson. The premise is simple by today's standards and yet as old and complex as it was 3,000 years ago. When people fall in love nothing else matters, not money, not fame, not color, etc. Tracy and Hepburn play great parts as (shocked) parents of a young daughter home for a surprise visit from I think college in Hawaii. What their daughter (played very well by Katharine Houghton) who is actually Hepburn's niece in real life does not say is that she is bringing her husband to be with her and she just shows up back home to everyone's surprise with Sidney in tow. Sidney just happens to be a member of the "World Health Organization" and doctor in tropical diseases as well as being interned at Johns Hopkins is a black man. Well you can guess what a stir this movie made back in 1967 and if you are too young to know, it was a powder keg. Suffice it to say that as the day goes on Hepburn, the first to find out and later Tracy and eventually Sidney's parents not knowing any of this except that Sidney has met a wonderful girl and is home temporarily; plan to get married. The direction by Stanley Kramer is top notch. The wardrobe department back then had money to burn and with 2-academy award wins you can't go wrong if you like old school movies with heart you will enjoy this one. The best or at least my favorite part of the movie is Spencer Tracy's speech at the end of the movie is Tracey at his best. If it dosen't touch the heart, nothing will. Great movie, a must for your academy award collection and in this day and time when four-letter word movies can get a PG-13 rating, you can safely take the entire family on this "joy-ride" of a tender and significant movie. I'm not that impressed with Hollywood some times but sometimes they do get it right. In my opinion, they got it right.

A Movie Worthy of Showing to my Students.......2007-08-15

I teach English in a university in China and show them English movies every Friday night to help improve their vocabulary and listening skills. It has been a problem finding good movies without bad language that will portray good values to them. This movie teaches love of our fellowman and an example of loving family support without the terrible language so many of today's movies have.

A Classic for all times.......2007-08-13

I just love this movie even though is in the 60's it is time less, it is your classic love story, I just love the part were Hepburn tells her co-worker Hilary what to do and to get lost, plus I just love Spencer Tracy and Hepburn together, when he is telling them how much she has loved her wife, you just know he is talking to her personally.

Average customer rating:

Funny little film
Kind of a downer but Claire Danes saves it
Vanity piece that inspires queasiness (SPOILER ALERT)
It makes me wonder why I watch TV in the first place
Emotionally remote

Shopgirl
Starring: Steve Martin , Claire Danes , Jason Schwartzman , Bridgette Wilson , and Sam Bottoms
Director: Anand Tucker
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000EDWKX8
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Amazon.com

Any fan of Steve Martin's 2000 novella will enjoy this pitch-perfect adaptation, which glowingly captures the bittersweet tones of a May-December romance. Martin wrote the screenplay and stars as Ray Porter, a button-down 50-something executive who reaches out to a much younger woman as a Los Angeles playmate. The book and movie, though, are both primarily about Mirabelle (Claire Danes), a 20-something with a pile of promises, debt, and depression, as she fades away into a slow corner of Saks selling unneeded formal gloves. She's a wisp of a person, with a cat who doesn't love her, and when she finds a suitor, it's Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a scruffy artist who babbles on about speakers. When the gentlemanly Porter calls, his appearance in her life begins to make her whole. It also immediately sets her up for sadness--Ray thinks of Mirabella as a precious outlet for sex, while Mirabelle, very mistakenly, sees Ray as a potential lifelong mate. Martin deftly turns the novella's prose into dialogue, allowing the movie to feel full-bodied, and the film also works as a comedy, as we witness Jeremy's growth on the road with a rock band. Schwartzman would walk away with film if not for the perfectly cast leads: Martin does another smart turn away from his wild-and-crazy moniker, Danes has never been better in an Oscar-worthy performance, and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras aces her role as a hot-to-trot co-worker of Mirabelle's. Whoever's decision to have Martin be the omnipresent narrator, though, should be penalized, as it's confusing to have him in two roles, and the information is pretty useless, even robbing the film of a final grace note. --Doug Thomas

Description

Based on Steve Martin's best-selling novella, and starring Golden Globe(R) winner Claire Danes (Best Actress In A TV Series, MY SO-CALLED LIFE, 1994), Golden Globe(R) nominee Steve Martin (Best Actor In A Motion Picture -- Comedy/Musical, FATHER OF THE BRIDE PART II, 1995), and Jason Schwartzman (BEWITCHED), SHOPGIRL is a disarmingly funny love story. Mirabelle, brilliantly played by Danes, is an aspiring artist working behind the glove counter at a Beverly Hills department store when she meets two very different men -- Jeremy (Schwartzman), a socially inept guy who doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and Ray (Martin) a wealthy entrepreneur who has the world at his feet. Filled with the mixed signals and missteps of a modern romance, SHOPGIRL is a fresh and witty, warm, and funny romantic comedy you can't help but fall in love with.

Customer Reviews:

Funny little film.......2007-09-13

I'm not really sure why I picked up Shopgirl - I'd added it to my wishlist, without really knowing too much about it. It just sounded interesting.

It's a funny, quirky little movie, which might have otherwise sank without trace, had it not been based on Steve Martin's novella. He also stars in it, as the much older man, who tries to use Claire Danes' character as an LA plaything, for when he's in town.

Claire Danes plays Mirabelle, a bored shop assistant, who sells gloves in Saks. She appears to have no life outside of the shop, going home to her cat, and likes to take naked photos of herself, and then incorporate them into her artwork. She meets Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) in a laundrette of all places, and they get talking. She's originally interested, until discovering that he's boring, and expects a good night kiss, dismissing the idea that the date hasn't gone well. He gives her his phone number. It seems like that relationship died a death.

Then Mirabelle meets Steve Martin's character, Ray, who couldn't be more different from Jeremy. He has money, he buys some gloves from Mirabelle, and then has them delivered to her, with a dinner invitation. Who says romance is dead? Then there's a funny little sequence where Mirabelle admits to her friends he's the dreaded "one", and he admits to an unseen person (therapist?) that he's just using her for when he's in town. It progresses simply from there.

Shopgirl is a simplistic little movie, pretty basic. There's no special effects. It's just a story about a relationship, showing all the pain and hurt, and sometimes the love that is in a relationship. The only problem I had was with the character of Mirabelle. The wardrobe assistant decided Claire had to play 'frumpy', with dowdy, horrible clothes, and an awful pair of glasses. But there is a subtle subplot of the ugly duckling into the swan story, and watch for the transformation in Mirabelle by the last scene. What a difference.

Shopgirl probably will not give anyone faith in men out there, as it shows Steve Martin in a very bad light. Flash your flesh and keep your guy girls! Or find a guy who can keep it in his pants at least. But it's a little gem of a movie, and well worth picking up if you're looking in the DVD store.

Kind of a downer but Claire Danes saves it.......2007-09-05

Someone here wrote that Claire Danes was "luminescent" and "angelic" in this movie. True, she captivated me, and she and her performance held my attention - one can sense the loneliness, vulnerability and romantic loveliness of her character. No so for the loutish, unshaven younger guy (though he did clean up good when he shaved and spiffed up in the latter part of the film), and the wooden, soulless Steve Martin character who could not bring himself to return the love of that lovely young girl. Rent the movie in order to see Danes. Otherwises fugettaboutit.

Vanity piece that inspires queasiness (SPOILER ALERT).......2007-08-25

We are expected to swallow whole the old, zombified Steve Martin (complete with wispy comb-over) being served the young, naked Clare Danes on the halfshell. An old goat's fantasy that made me kinda sick. Jason Schwartzman is over the top as the slacker alternative in one of the more cliched roles ever penned. Still, I sat through the whole thing. It must have been Clare Danes, resurrecting Angela from My So Called Life, that kept me watching. In the end I wanted her to dump both of these losers and get a self and a life. She doesn't. The end.

It makes me wonder why I watch TV in the first place.......2007-07-24

The basic story: Lonely girl meets scumball one. After going out with scumball one (because he doesn't seem that much of a scumball then) and finding out how utterly unromatic he is, she meets scumball two. Scumball two is really nice and buys her very rich presents and she thinks he might be specail. But he's really just a scumball looking to use her. Scumball one goes on a trip with a rock band, comes back just about the time that scumball two reveals that he is a big scumball. I can't tell you the rest because that might ruin the movie, although I don't know why you'd watch it after I just said everyone is a scumball. (except her and she's stupid and flakey)

There is no character development. There is a thing that wants to be called a plot but really isn't. It doesn't leave anyone with a good feeling at the end because you really don't want either option to happen. It's not funny and it has an annoying narrator.

I won't watch this movie again. I don't recommend the movie. And I definitely don't think that my thirteen year old sisiter should have watched it with me.

Emotionally remote.......2007-07-06

Mirabelle is a "shopgirl" at an LAS Sachs where she sells gloves that are too expensive for anybody to want to buy. A transplant from the north east, she's awash in debt and stranded in "the vast openness" of LA when she becomes the object of desire to two worthless men. Jeremy is a talent less slacker with an infant's attention span, and few other signs of means. Ray is in varying degrees his polar opposite and his identical twin - possessing the means that outstrip Jeremy, but a similar emotional disconnect. "Shopgirl" tells the thin story of how Mirabelle will live with Ray for much of the story yet end up with the feckless slob of Jeremy.

Nothing much happens in "Shopgirl". At one point, Mirabelle (Danes) confronts Ray (Steve Martin) about the sad pointlessness of their relationship. "Why don't you love me?" she asks, and it's a question that pretty much undercuts this entire flick. Ray's got the money to demand pretty much any woman he wants, but he wants Mirabelle. Why doesn't Ray love her - as Mirabelle, Danes is plainly luminescent, almost angelic. Ray is supposed to want her for sex, but ends up pursuing her across the country, fixing her student debt and taking care of her antidepressants. Before "Shopgirl" ends, Ray will have cheated on Mirabelle and then apologized for it. It's clear that Ray does love Mirabelle, but not enough to let her love him back, and the plot never explains why that is other than dismissing Ray as an emotionally remote guy. Most of the characters here are remote - emotionally, intellectually, romantically - so that it's their world that makes no sense rather than themselves. Like Mirabelle, we're stranded in the vast openness of this story, navigable only by the emotionally dysfunctional leads who populate it.

Average customer rating:

* It's a Keeper *
Love in the Afternoon
Love before nightfall in Paris!
Love in the Afternoon
Incredibly Alluring

Love in the Afternoon
Starring: Gary Cooper , Audrey Hepburn , Maurice Chevalier , Van Doude , and John McGiver
Director: Billy Wilder
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005RRK0
Release Date: 2002-01-08

Amazon.com

Fairy-tale Paris doesn't get more enchanting than Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon, an ode to picnics on the grass and champagne at the Ritz. Audrey Hepburn (who had already made Sabrina with Wilder) is at her best as the inexperienced cellist with a fascination for millionaire American playboy Gary Cooper. Maurice Chevalier (who else?) is Hepburn's father, a private detective with ample evidence of Cooper's crowded history of l'amour. Alongside the sheen of the romance is Wilder's unerring sense of craftsmanship; watch how inanimate objects such as a liquor tray, a white carnation, or the little dog in the suite next door are developed into sublime running gags. The age difference between the two leads has often been questioned, but perhaps this is what gives the gossamer material the whiff of welcome melancholy. The final three minutes leave no doubt that Wilder hatched the best endings in Hollywood history. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

* It's a Keeper *.......2007-08-31

Other than the unlikely age difference between Hepburn and Cooper, this film is utterly enjoyable. Quaint postwar Par-ee abounding with love and comedic intrigue. Outstanding cinematography (mine is B&W although the cover is in color). Another timeless film that you'll watch again and again.

Love in the Afternoon.......2007-06-26

This is a delightful outing for Hepburn, who'd already been featured opposite an established, aging Hollywood star in another Wilder film ( "Sabrina" , with Humphrey Bogart). "Love" is a sophisticated romantic comedy with lots of Gallic joie de vivre that will brighten any rainy day. Chevalier, one of France's biggest stars, is marvelous as Hepburn's protective Dad. And Cooper, even at an advancing age, is charming in the extreme. Don't miss that famous ending at the train station- it's one of Wilder's cutest closers.

Love before nightfall in Paris!.......2007-01-07

Ariane Chavasse, daughter of a French detective, loves to read her father's private dossiers... She becomes fascinated with the file concerning American playboy millionaire Frank Flannagan and a certain Madame X... She soon learns that Monsieur X has sworn to kill the American, so she goes to his hotel suite to warn him... Flannagan, intrigued by the attractive mysterious girl, dates her for the following afternoon... Ariane is captured by his sophistication, and a succession of many 'afternoon rendezvous' follows...

Concealing her identity, Ariane tells Frank of the many lovers in her past... He now becomes concerned about her... One day, in a steam bath, Flannagan meets Monsieur X, who advises him to consult detective Chavasse... He does, asking the detective to find out about the mysterious girl...

Reunited with Billy Wilder, Audrey Hepburn once again finds herself cast opposite a father figure in the person of Gary Cooper... Their vehicle is a gay comedy that derived from a Claude Anet novel called 'Ariane,' and it had been filmed twice before... Both adaptations clung to the novel's concept of an innocent young girl's winning over a middle-aged Don Juan by pretending a romantic past of her own to equal his, and eventually reforming him altogether...

With the most popular French entertainer of the last century Maurice Chevalier as the loving father, and John McGiver as the jealous husband, and considering its slight plot, 'Love in the Afternoon' maintains an atmosphere of sly charm and amusing details that almost sustains the film's length...

Director Wilder is helped immensely by the luminous black-and-white photography of William Mellor and by musical composer Franz Waxman, whose various arrangements of the movie's long-playing leitmotif 'Fascination' lend so much to the resulting effect...

Love in the Afternoon.......2006-11-20

Pleasant movie but nothing special, a very ordinary story. Audrey Hepburn's charisma is what puts some life to the movie. Some subtle humour though.

Incredibly Alluring.......2006-09-04

Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper make an unlikely pair for a lot of reasons in this film but that does not stop the relationship from working. It sizzles.

Audrey is a young Parisian girl, the daughter of a private investigator played by Maurice Chevalier. She is young, beautiful, innocent and plays the cello and is a bit bored. She treats herself to adventure by reading the case files of her father. A good proportion of these case files involve the character played by Gary Cooper. He is a rich American playboy who is always got women. Often, these women are married.

Cooper is the single largest source of income for Chevalier and Chevalier cannot help be admire his style. Having gypsy musicians on call to serenade the mark day and night is just one example.

When Hepburn learns that an outraged husband plans to kill Cooper, she secretly goes to warn the lovers. In doing so, she falls for Cooper herself and manages to arouse his interest. She knows that any sort of clinging will just turn him off so she tries to play his own strategy against him. She plays the mysterious playgirl with more beaux than she can count. She will not even give him her name.

The strategy works. Cooper falls for her in a big way but still she remains silent. In desperation, Cooper hires a private investigator to learn more about her. Naturally, this would be her father.

Things do not work out as expected but they do work out well. Hepburn portrays beauty and innocence and not a little female cunning. She is a delight to behold. So are Cooper's fits of uncertainty. Chevalier lends the whole episode a degree of class and dignity. It's a first fate story all around.

Average customer rating:

Finally, a deluxe edition
The Graduate
INTERESTING LOVE STORY FOR CRAZY ERA
Akwardness Excellence
GREAT MOVIE ABOUT AN INDIVIDUALIST

The Graduate
Starring: Anne Bancroft , Dustin Hoffman , Katharine Ross , William Daniels , and Murray Hamilton
Director: Mike Nichols
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00079Z9VO
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Amazon.com essential video

Description

Nominated* for seven Academy Awards® and winner for Best Director, this groundbreaking and "wildly hilarious" (The Boston Globe) social satire launched the career of two-time Oscar®-winner** Dustin Hoffman and cemented the reputation of acclaimed director Mike Nichols. Pulsating with the rebellious spirit of the '60s and a haunting score sung by Simon and Garfunkel, The Graduate is truly a "landmark film" (Leonard Maltin). Shy Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) returns home from college with an uncertain future. Then the wife of his father's business partner, the sexy Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), seduces him, and the affair only deepens his confusion. That is, until he meets the girl of his dreams (Katharine Ross). But there's one problem: she's Mrs. Robinson's daughter!

*1967: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress (Katharine Ross), Cinematography and Adapted Screenplay

**1988: Actor, Rain Man; 1979: Actor, Kramer vs. Kramer

Customer Reviews:

Finally, a deluxe edition.......2007-08-23

a great film-this is 2-disc remastered and anamorphic release-and the specail bonus- the Simon and Garfunkle soundtrack disc, the only one of their catalog until now, not yet remastered.

The Graduate.......2007-06-28

One of the signature films of the 1960s, this feature introduced the world to Hoffman and gave Bancroft a racy role she played with marvelous feline cunning. This sublime black comedy transcends its period, speaking to new generations of alienated youth beginning to navigate a discordant, dysfunctional adult world. The supporting cast, including deft character players William Daniels and Murray Hamilton, are note-perfect, and that Simon & Garfunkel score still stirs the soul. A must for repeat viewings.

INTERESTING LOVE STORY FOR CRAZY ERA.......2007-06-09

The film boosted the profile of folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel, whose soundtrack album (The Graduate Original Soundtrack), on the strength of the hit single "Mrs. Robinson", rose to the top of the charts in 1968 (knocking off The Beatles' White Album).

The theme song of the movie, "The Sounds of Silence" is a melodramatic, slightly mournful tune. It manages to give the movie a sort of tension, which it demonstrates in other arenas. The generational gap is one of these themes which plays out throughout the movie. The songs seem to mainly play during moments of this particular tension, such as the scene when Ben is forced into the pool by his parents in his scuba outfit. The music gives the film a certain quality, without which it would be vastly different. Simon and Garfunkel were referred to as the "voice of a generation," and this is exactly what they provide in the movie for Benjamin and Elaine.

According to a Variety article by Peter Bart in the 15 May 2005 issue, Nichols had become obsessed with Simon & Garfunkel's music while shooting the film. Lawrence Turman, his producer, made a deal for Simon to write three new songs for the movie. By the time they were nearly finished editing the film, Simon had only written one new song. Nichols begged him for more but Simon, who was touring constantly, told him he didn't have the time. He did play him 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."

Noel Serrano
Gala Foundation

Akwardness Excellence.......2007-05-31

The Graduate is a classic. This is probably Dustin Hoffman's greatest performance. Never have I felt for such an awkward character. The cinetamography and directing is amazing. The ending is perfect. A most buy!

GREAT MOVIE ABOUT AN INDIVIDUALIST.......2007-03-15

Without giving spoilers away, I immediately see parallels that can be drawn between Groundhog Day and The Graduate. The main characters are individuals who, in their own way, are seeking happiness. Unlike Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day, Hoffmann's Benjamin Braddock does not have the predicament or fortune, depending on how you look at it, of facing a "nine lives" way of living and reliving the exact same calendar day until he gets his life squared up and in order.

In both movies, there is plenty of stumbling and bumbling and repetitive, aimless wandering reminiscent of La Dolce Vita. Braddock is faced with several obstacles in his pursuit of happiness. He has just graduated from college and is expected to get a job and live out a life that is prescribed or envisioned by his parents and nearby locals.

Though he is a bit of an egoist and an egotist, Benjamin Braddock is willing to go against the grain to sort things out in his life and determine what his underlying sources of happiness truly are. This type of searching often puts him at odds with others, in fact, practically everyone else, and perhaps rightfully so, but the viewer almost cannot help but admire the "It ain't over 'til it's over" perseverance that comes to define this character.

In sum, after having also read and done a review of Ayn Rand's novel, We the Living, a book about a girl who is willing to sacrifice her personal safety in pursuit of her dreams, I conclude that The Graduate is a 1960's movie adaptation of this work but in a Western society with much fewer societal perils. A great character study is truly contained in this motion picture in a way that is not quite equalled forty years after the fact.

Five diplomas out of five for this movie!

Average customer rating:

Definitely in the top 100 of all time
Very Moving
An Unforgettable Coming of Age Movie
Unforgettable, Cherished Summer of 42
Summer of 42

Summer of '42
Starring: Katherine Allentuck , Oliver Conant , Lou Frizzell , Gary Grimes , and Jerry Houser
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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