December 20, 1967: The Graduate premieres, directed by Mike Nichols. It might have been the first movie not for teenagers that had rock and roll performers do the soundtrack: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
But despite this, and its year of release -- that of the Summer of Love, with the Vietnam War ramping up ever higher -- with a few Hays Code-minded edits in mind, it could have been made in the 1950s.
Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock, newly graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, who returns to the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California, not sure of what he wants to do with the rest of his life. His parents (William Daniels and Elizabeth Wilson) are worried.
During his graduation party, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of his father's law partner, asks him to drive her home. Once there, she tries to seduce him. At first he resists her advances but later changes his mind. He ends up chastely dating her daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross), while maintaining his affair with the mother. Elaine finds out, dumps Benjamin, and returns to the University of California in Berkeley.
Benjamin follows her there, and finds out she's dating a medical student, Carl Smith (Brian Avery). Elaine is conflicted about her feelings for both men. Her father (Murray Hamilton) shows up, says he and Mrs. Robinson are getting a divorce, and threatens Benjamin with jail if he sees Elaine again. Mr. Robinson forces Elaine to leave college to marry Carl.
On the day of the wedding, Benjamin runs to the church, arriving just as the ceremony is ending: He's too late. His desperate appearance in the glass church gallery 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 barricade the church doors, trapping everyone inside. Benjamin and Elaine escape aboard a 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 neutral expressions as they begin to ponder their uncertain future together. After all, she's still married to Carl.
For the record, Dustin Hoffman was already 30 years old – only 6 years younger than Anne Bancroft. Who was married to Mel Brooks. Well, at least now, we know she had a type.
Richard Dreyfuss and Mike Farrell each had uncredited roles in the film.
Murray Hamilton, who played Mr. Robinson, but is better remembered as Mayor Larry Vaughn in Jaws, died in 1986, shortly after playing Blanche's father, Curtis "Big Daddy" Hollingsworth, on The Golden Girls. That same year, Walter Brooke, who famously told Benjamin that the future was one word, "Plastics," died. Anne Bancroft died in 2005, Mike Nichols in 2014, Elizabeth Wilson in 2015. As of December 20, 2022, Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross are still alive.
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December 20, 1967 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 138-131 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Willis Reed scored 33 points. The Lakers moved into the brand-new Forum in Inglewood 10 days later.
* The Boston Celtics beat the expansion San Diego Rockets, 126-116 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).
* The San Francisco Warriors beat the Detroit Pistons, 113-109 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California.
* And the Philadelphia 76ers beat the expansion Seattle SuperSonics, 160-122 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. An opportunity for Wilt Chamberlain to feast, and he scored 53 points and grabbed 38 rebounds.
There were 3 games in the brand-new American Basketball Association:
* The Minnesota Muskies beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 100-93 at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, technically a home game for the Bucs.
* The Houston Mavericks beat the Kentucky Colonels, 99-98 at the Sam Houston Coliseum.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Anaheim Amigos, 144-142 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
And there were 4 games in the newly-expanded NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-0 at the old Madison Square Garden. The Rangers moved into the new Garden 53 days later.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-0 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 6-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Oakland Seals, 2-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Minnesota North Stars and the Los Angeles Kings were not scheduled,
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