The Graduate 🎓

Happy Thursday! This is the 100th edition of the Smash Cut newsletter!! Thank you to the almost one-thousand of you for your support. I love movies and sharing them with you has been a joy for the last 99 editions. If you know anyone that might be interested, please share the newsletter with them:

In honor, today’s recommendation is the movie that got me into this obsession, Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967), streaming on Hulu.

Here’s what it’s about: Shortly after graduating from college, Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) feels aimless and unsure of what to do with his future. Instead, he avoids it by striking up an affair with an older married woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), that becomes complicated when he becomes involved with her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). [Trailer // 129 mins]

Why you should watch it: Every shot, every line of dialogue, every cut, every song cue in The Graduate has meaning and intention—and Nichols is mercifully transparent with his intentions. Every directori…