This film marks the beginning of the fall and decline of Hollywood which parallels the state of the nation as the result of President Kennedy's tragic death. The country really never recovered from JFK's death and wandered aimlessly into the Vietnam debacle. The Nixon era followed and it seemed to the world that the once steady and straight United States had become a travesty of itself. Only Ronald Reagan was able to pitch the union straight again but by then Hollywood was beyond repair and has been a mess ever since. But it was Mike Nichols with this film who more than anyone nailed the last nail into Hollywood's coffin. This amusing beautifully wrapped package of perversion began a series of similar films with similar themes - Reflections in a Golden Eye, Suddenly Last Summer, and so forth. Glittering silver screen treatments of sordid, depressing and ultimately revolting plots. The true greatness of Hollywood can be seen from the mid-thirties to the mid-fifties. Picture after picture inspired and moved audiences to a higher plane of consciousness. This picture along with others like it simply denigrate the virtues of life and reduce them to fodder for egomaniacs like Nichols who have no moral or ethical view.
Review of The Graduate
