Robert Redford wanted to play the kid.

Really, Red wanted the part of young, naive Benjamin Braddock. Nichols rejected him, explaining that he didn't have the underdog qualities the part needed. Redford wanted a better answer. "Well, let's put it this way," said Nichols, "Have you ever struck out with a girl?" "What do you mean?" asked Redford. "That's precisely my point," said Nichols.

So in stepped young, suitably awkward Dustin Hoffman, in his breakthrough role -- even though he wasn't as young as Benjamin's 21. In fact, with him at 29 and the glorious Anne Bancroft (playing the mid-40s Mrs Robinson) at just 35, the six-year difference seems ludicrously small.

Not that we could tell. Or that it made any difference to just how well this film seduced us. A drama about a clueless lad just out of college, The Graduate explores young Braddock's refusal to conform and his fumbling social nature while showing us his strong-mindedness and eventual, well, drive.

And in the middle of everything, large as life and thrice as sexy, sits his dad's partner's wife, Mrs Robinson -- who changes his life in every way.

Nichols, embracing deeper issues at every bend, goes at the Charles Webb novel with gusto, crafting a sensationally funny yet poignant coming-of-age story that turns into more universal a drama than anyone could expect from a story this outlandish.

It is a film tremendously ahead of its time, with Nichols not only using Simon & Garfunkel's legendary soundtrack with scintillatingly stingy economy -- this is all that plays of Mrs Robinson, for example -- but also, aided by lensman Robert Surtees, making a very modern film in terms of look and feel, angles and edits. Techniques from The Graduate are ripped-off on a pretty frequent basis, even over 40 years later.

The film is an obvious classic, and here's a section that should very justifiably be hailed as among the finest montage sequences of all time -- do watch out for the bit where the director masterfully blurs the line between Braddock's parents house and his regular hotel room.

Click here for video. Wow.

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