Brattle Presents Old and New Classics

The Brattle Theatre serves up a Sunday Mike Nichols duo, "The Graduate" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" along with Wednesday's "Slacker" rival, "Dazed and Confused."

"The Graduate" stars Dustin Hoffman as the young recent college graduate who has an affair with the older, seductive Mrs. Robinson played by Anne Bancroft. This is a brilliant coming-of-age comedy about the changes sex can have for a morally upstanding, soon-to-be-guided-into-the-corporate-world-by-his- father young man. Plastics are not where he wants to be. He'd rather be wrapped in the arms of his mother's best friend who seduces him during his mother's wake. Torn between two lovers, the other being Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine, Hoffman's character is stuck.

This film succeeds because, like all good literature, it tells the truth. Despite the fact the film is 27 years old, it accurately portrays the anxiety and revelation of young love and post-graduate life. Unlike 1967, though, we no longer wear thin ties and (except at Harvard) very few wait until after college graduation to lose their virginity.

Hoffman shows the immense amount of talent we would later see come to full bloom during '60;s classics like "Midnight Cowboy." This is a must-see for young viewers who are approaching the "adult" world after college. And any of fans of Simon and Garfunkel should not miss the their then-young music which makes up the soundtrack.

Nichols' other film, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? deals with much heavier issues than "The Graduate." Nichols burst onto the cinematic scene when "Who's Afraid" won two Oscars. It's not bad for a first-timer.

Elizabeth Taylor is riveting as the mad housewife who toys with her husband played by Richard Burton. Both won Oscars for their roles, mesmerizing and frightening audiences with their twisted psychological antics. Taylor is here at her best, too old to play the young vixen, not old enough to be middle-aged.

Adapted from Edward Albee's play, the film continues along the vein of Arthur Miller, showing the bizarre mind games people in love play with each other. The film beckons you into the lives of these people as you, like the young couple, played by Sandy Dennis and George Segal, witness the manipulation and power plays of the older, "wiser' husband and wife.

We are eavesdropping on the incomprehensible, the sick and the maligned. It's simultaneously terrifying and entrancing.

The wonderful thing about the Brattle is that two nights later the tone is completely different. One of Wednesday night's selection's, "Dazed and Confused" became an instant hit when it arrived at cinemas last year. By the same director as the documentary, "Slacker," these films share the same setting, Austin, Texas.

But in "Dazed and Confused" we do not see the down and out of the 1990's generation, but the pranks and antics of a generation before. It's the last day of school 1976 and the rising high school seniors are out to haze some rising freshman tail.

There are all sorts of groovy things that go on. The rising senior men chase all the junior high boys with wooden paddles to give them their licks before their "summer of maturity" begins. The girls capture the "freshman bitches " coming out of school and would grab them to become a part of the "in" crowd.

The girl's undergo hilarious initiation rituals. In one scene, in the middle of a parking lot, the junior high girls lay on the asphalt while the seniors douse them with mustard, ketchup and flour. They have to mockingly propose to some of the geeky senior men and suck on pacifiers while they're being tortured. With lines like "fry like bacon you freshman piggies," "since you little prick-teases can't follow instructions..." and the command of "AIR RAID!!!!!" the film's hilarity will become a part of your everyday conversation. I guess that's the biggest compliment to a film, if you remember it well enough to repeat it's lines later.

This film will be one that defines my, and I know, many other people's, college life. Many a night have I hung out watching this soon-to-be cult classic in some altered state and laughed till my sides hurt. I mean, as the movie poster suggests, "See it with a bud"...

"The Graduate" plays Sunday August 14 at 2:30 and 7 p.m.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" will be screened on Sunday, August 14 at 4:30 and 9 p.m.

"Dazed and Confused" shows Wednesday August 17 at 6 and 10 p.m.