The Graduate

The Graduate

“I just want to say one word to you, just one word. Plastics.”

Mr. McGuire

When The Graduate came out, I was twelve and well under the height and weight restrictions to get in. I was too young to do a lot of things, and seeing racy movies was one of them.

But in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary, The Graduate was re-released in 1997, and I got my chance to see it with some friends, who likely hadn’t seen it on the first go-round either.

The movie is pretty challenging to watch. Benjamin Braddock, the main character, makes some really bad choices that only he and the audience know about. It felt a bit like a Twilight Zone episode without Rod Serling.

Still, there was one bright shining moment that blessed the spirits of the theatergoers that night, and I look back on it with a smile.

Benjamin has just graduated college, and his parents, trying to cheer him up, throw a party in celebration of his achievement. He’s clearly not into it.

His mother, undaunted, calls to him in his room, “The Carlsons are here. They came all the way from Tarzana!”

And our movie theater audience erupted into cheers and laughter.

Because we actually were in Tarzana, also my hometown, and the place of many of my own adventures, and misadventures too.

-Hank