Currently I am "working" at the front desk of the Lon Morris College library. I say "working" because really I'm sitting on my ass watching movies on my portable dvd player with one headphone on. This has been the story for many nights this semester; getting paid to watch movies while I make sure the library doesn't burn down. This evening's double feature involves two films, The Graduate & Cool Hand Luke, each of which has an impeccable reputation of greatness. This however, puzzled me the first time I watched them, especially when it came to The Graduate. So tonight my plan was to view each a second time with the hopes that I would identify whatever it was I missed the first time.
About half way through my second bewildered viewing of The Graduate, I decided to visit Roger Ebert's website to see if he had any insightful words that might better explain to me what I was missing. As I searched for The Graduate, I came across two reviews. One was from December 26, 1967 in which Ebert gave the film 4 stars and heaped the usual praise for the film. The other however was from March 28, 1997 and it told a different story. This review, gave only 3 stars and said these words that helped put everything into perspective for me.
"Great movies remain themselves over the generations; they retain a serene sense of their own identity. Lesser movies are captives of their time. They get dated and lose their original focus and power. ``The Graduate'' (I can see clearly now) is a lesser movie." Ebert, 1997
It was so refreshing to finally find a movie critic that had the courage to stand up and say, upon further review, this movie has not aged well and is no longer worthy of Great Movie status that is being bestowed upon it. Thank you Mr. Ebert, I just wish more critics and historians would show the same back bone and re-evaluate more of the so-called Great Movies.
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