Years & Movies: 1967

Mike Nichols' comedy "The Graduate" was recognized as the best film of world cinema of 1967 according to FilmGourmand. "The Graduate" premiered in New York on December 20, 1967.

The starting point for this film was a review of Charles Webb's novel "The Graduate". The review was published in The New York Times in October 1963. This review caught the eye of Lawrence Turman, a 37-year-old independent film producer. Turman's attention was drawn to the review's by the comparison of the novel's protagonist with his favorite character in Jerome Salinger's cult novel "Catcher in the Rye", Holden Caulfield. And, quickly finding his bearings, Turman acquired the rights to film Webb's story for just one thousand dollars.

A few years later, Turman considered himself quite ripe for producing a film based on the novel by Charles Webb, and initially the issue with the director of the future film was resolved for him - Mike Nichols (real name - Mikhail Pavlovich Peshkovsky). This choice was based on the following considerations. As the head of his own and independent (from large film companies) production company Lawrence Turman Productions, Lawrence Turman did not have significant financial resources, and, therefore, could not hire famous and expensive directors. And Mike Nichols just shot his first and highly successful "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

But many famous actors and actresses wanted to play the main roles in the film, which will be directed by the instantly extremely popular Mike Nichols. So, Sophia Loren, Simone Signoret and many other movie stars of that time applied for the role of Mrs. Robinson. Nichols himself wanted to shoot Jeanne Moreau in this role. However, the choice of the producer fell on Ann Bancroft. Even though the 36-year-old by that time, Anne Bancroft, in terms of age, did not really match the image of her heroine. Perhaps financial considerations played a role here as well. However, Mike Nichols already had experience filming young actresses in the roles of mature ladies. An example is Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

The role of Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine was tried on by Jane Fonda, Lee Remick, Julie Christie and many other stars. But the role went to little-known by that time Katharine Ross. Again, perhaps for financial reasons.

The main role was seriously claimed by Robert Redford. But he was refused. And not for financial reasons. If to summarize Nichols' negative answer to Redford, it looked something like this: "Do you yourself believe that it is difficult to seduce you? Yes, you yourself will seduce anyone in 5 minutes." And in the end, the main role went to Dustin Hoffman. It is precisely because of his natural shyness and indecision. Although, perhaps, financial considerations played here too: Hoffman's fee for this role was only 17 thousand dollars. And after paying taxes, Hoffman had only 4 thousand dollars left.

By the way, at the suggestion of Dustin Hoffman, Hoffman's friend Gene Hackman auditioned for the role of Mr. Robinson. But it was considered that Hackman was too young for the role (although he is only a year younger than Anne Bancroft). In the end, he was refused. This refusal brought Hackman luck: as a result of this refusal, he was able to accept the offer to star in the film "Bonnie and Clyde" by Arthur Penn, for which he was later nominated for an Academy Award, which began a successful streak in his acting career.

The contract, concluded with Mike Nichols himself, provided for a fee of $ 150,000, plus 16% of the profits that the screening of the film would bring.

The film's final budget was approximately $ 3 million. But the film produced a stunning result. In the United States, the film was watched by almost 86 million moviegoers, that is, almost 43% of the population, including babies. The box office grossed nearly $ 105 million. That is, the fees were 35 (!) times higher than the costs.

In 1968, Nichols' film received 7 Golden Globe nominations, of which it won 7, including the most important: Best Film (Musical or Comedy), Best Director. The film also received 7 Oscar nominations, of which it won one, but the most important - Best Director. In the Best Film nomination, "The Graduate" lost to the film "In the Heat of the Night".

In 1969 "The Graduate" received 7 nominations for the British BAFTA award, of which it won five, including the most important: Best Picture and Best Director.

Curiously, but very successful Mike Nichols' film did not participate in any other European and Asian film forums. Russian film critic Yevgeny Nefyodov, in his review, expressed his assumption about the reasons for this collision: "There is a suspicion that the rebellious youth of Western Europe "The Graduate" seemed half-hearted, or even frankly conformist (and not even particularly juicy against the background of frivolous Italian and French melodramas), in socialist countries, the "problems" and "searches" for the son of wealthy parents would have left his peers deeply indifferent. It was necessary to thoroughly know the nuances of the American way of life, first of all, the representatives of the wealthiest part of the "middle class", so that the plot was perceived in a special (allegorically) key and so that the subtext, intuitively caught by the compatriots of filmmakers, acquired a stinging tone."

The film was not shown in the USSR.

Immediately upon the release of the film, Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4 possible and wrote: "The Graduate," the funniest American comedy of the year, is inspired by the free spirit which the young British directors have brought into their movies. It is funny, not because of sight gags and punch lines and other tired rubbish, but because it has a point of view. That is to say, it is against something."

30 years later, Ebert took away one star and wrote: "The Graduate", released in 1967, contains no flower children, no hippies, no dope, no rock music, no political manifestos and no danger. It is a movie about a tiresome bore and his well-meaning parents. The only character in the movie who is alive--who can see through situations, understand motives, and dare to seek her own happiness--is Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Seen today, "The Graduate'' is a movie about a young man of limited interest, who gets a chance to sleep with the ranking babe in his neighborhood, and throws it away in order to marry her dorky daughter. Is "The Graduate'' a bad movie? Not at all. It is a good topical movie whose time has passed, leaving it stranded in an earlier age. I give it three stars out of delight for the material it contains; to watch it today is like opening a time capsule. To know that the movie once spoke strongly to a generation is to understand how deep the generation gap ran during that extraordinary time in the late 1960s. There were true rebels in movies of the period (see "Easy Rider"), but Benjamin Braddock was not one of them."

However, "The Graduate" came to taste not only to moviegoers of the 60s of the last century. Modern moviegoers have highly appreciated this film. 69% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users around the world gave this film an 8 to 10 rating.

With that said, FilmGourmand rated The Graduate at 9.487, placing it 87th in the Golden Thousand.

In addition to the film "The Graduate", the following films were included in the "ten" best films of the world cinema of 1967 according to FilmGourmand:

- Bonnie and Clyde. Director Arthur Penn, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,679; 253rd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика (Kidnapping Caucassian Style, or Shurik's New Adventures). Director Leonid Gayday, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,455; 339th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Комиссар (The Commissar). Director Aleksandr Askoldov, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,401; 361st Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- In Cold Blood. Director Richard Brooks, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,368; 382nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu 上意討ち 拝領妻始末 (Samurai Rebellion). Director Masaki Kobayashi, Japan. Movie's Rating - 8,340; 389th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Хроника пикирующего бомбардировщика (Chronicle of a dive bomber). Director Naum Birman, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,127; 556th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Три тополя на Плющихе (Three Poplars at Plyuschikha Street). Director Tatyana Lioznova, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,102; 579th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Cool Hand Luke. Director Stuart Rosenberg, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,076; 612th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- In the Heat of the Night . Director Norman Jewison, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,069; 620th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

10 most "cinegenic"*, in our opinion, events of 1967:

- “Six-day War”. In response to armed provocations and clashes by some Arab countries that have continued for a number of years, Israel invaded Syria and Egypt. So-called “Six-day” or Third Arab-Israeli war began, which resulted in Israeli occupation of the part of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights in Syria, etc.
- Dictatorship of "Black colonels". In Greece, under the pretext of preventing a "communo-anarchist danger", a military coup occurred, as a result of which a so-called military dictatorship of "Black colonels" was established for several years.
- The Red Guards against the USSR. 70 Chinese students in Moscow blocked the Mausoleum. In response to their deportation to China, the Red Guards began an assault on the Soviet embassy in Beijing, and then blocked Soviet aircraft with Soviet specialists and broke into the USSR Trade Representation. The Chinese government announced that it could not guarantee the safety of Soviet diplomats outside the Soviet embassy building.
- The tragedy of Apollo-1. In the US, during the testing of the Apollo-1 spacecraft, three astronauts were killed.
- The murder of Che Guevara. In Bolivia, a CIA (USA) agent shot dead, captured wounded Ernesto Che Guevara, one of the leaders of the Cuban revolution. Che Guevara at that moment was in a helpless state.
- The death of cosmonaut Komarov. In the USSR, Vladimir Komarov, who was returning from space flight, died during landing.
- First heart transplant. The first in the history of mankind heart transplantation was made by South African professor Christian Barnard.
- The trial of Wilhelm Harster. In Munich, the trial of Wilhelm Harster, accused of murdering 82,856 Jews (including Anne Frank), took place when he led the German security police during the German occupation of the Netherlands. As a result, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but two years later he was released early.
- Flight of Svetlana Alliluyeva. Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, while in the Indian capital New Delhi, applied to the US Embassy for political asylum. After that, Alliluyeva was immediately transported to the United States through Rome and Geneva.
- Antiwar demonstrations in the United States. About 70,000 anti-Vietnam war protesters rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; Another 50,000 people went to the Pentagon, where they carried out a symbolic action of expelling evil from the building. President Lyndon B. Johnson held a secret meeting with a group of the country's most prestigious leaders ("wise men") and asked them to suggest ways to unite the American people to support the war. The Council of the Wise advised giving the American people more optimistic reports on the course of the war.

In addition Nicole Kidman was born. Vivien Leigh died

* -With "cinematic" in the present context, we mean events that either have already found their reflection in world cinema, or deserve to become the basis of the plot of a future film.