Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Benjamin Sure Says "Mrs. Robinson" a Lot in The Graduate

I watched The Graduate for the first time tonight after hearing the commentary on the first few seasons of The Simpsons where the staff constantly checks it as an influence. Very funny movie. I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much. Also, comedy makes more sense to me now. I get jokes.

If you are somehow the only other person besides me on this planet who has never seen it, the film is about a young man named Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) who has an affair with one of his parents' friends. Since she is more than twice his age, he always refers to her as "Mrs. Robinson" which I suppose is meant to lend some sort of Greek tragedy-esque weight to the proceedings in the film. Nevertheless, it is mildly sexy at points, but definitely sticks out and gets a little annoying to hear over and over. Its repetition eventually sparked my curiosity: exactly how many times does Benjamin say "Mrs. Robinson" in this film?

34 times, according to a search through the script.

Now you know something new, and something old which was likely more vital has been pushed out of your knowledge ball.