"swaggerer"

 

        In the movie The Graduate, the main character, Benjamin Braddock (portrayed by Dustin Hoffman) has an Alfa Romeo "Spider" - an Italian sports car, that his dad gave him for his college graduation present.

(Nice, right?)

       Saw this movie a few times over the years, but there's a line in it near the beginning that I never noticed before this week.  The guy says it kind of fast, and there's party chatter in the background.

"That your car out front?  That little red wop job?"

        

        Whoa!  Way to slide a racial epithet into the conversation in a smooth, genial way.  Really, every time I've seen that movie, and I never noticed that before.

  I Googled it, just to make sure it's still a word that exists because I've never heard anyone say it except Archie Bunker on "All In The Family" and the party guest in The Graduate.  It comes up when you Google:  it says 'wop' is an "ethnic slur."

(They say ethnic slur; I say racial epithet.

Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.)

------------------------  [Internet] ----------- "Wop" is an offensive ethnic slur used against people of Italian birth or descent.  It can also refer to the popular 2011 hip-hop dance song by J. Dash....

+  Ethnic Slur:  Used in the United States since the early 20th Century to insult Italian-Americans.

+  Etymology:  Derived from the Neapolitan dialect word guappo (meaning a swaggerer, brawler, or tough guy), which came from the Spanish guapo.

...

+  Military Abbreviation:  Historically used in World War II records to designate a wireless operator.-------------------- [end / Internet excerpt]

        Great, now we have to Google "wireless"...it's some kind of radio, right?

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a little worried

 

The poster for the 1967 movie The Graduate said, "This is Benjamin.  He's a little worried about his future."

It's an invitation to wonder how "Benjamin" will work this out. ...

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are you here for an affair, sir?

 In The Graduate, when Benjamin Braddock takes Mrs. Robinson up on her offer to see him if he wants to call her, they meet at the Taft Hotel in Los Angeles.

        The clerk behind the counter asks Benjamin, "Are you here for an affair, sir?"

Benjamin (astounded) - What??!

        Of course, the clerk meant "affair" as in an event, like a wedding reception or whatever.

----------------------------- Benjamin is very nervous and shy and awkward and out of his element - (his "element" being school and his parents' house....)

As he and Mrs. Robinson sit at a table in the bar, he tries to order her a drink when a waiter walks by - putting up his hand with two fingers extended, to catch the waiter's attention, but he doesn't say anything and the waiter doesn't see his signal, and keeps walking.

Benjamin (apologetically, to Mrs. R.) - "He didn't see me."

Mrs. Robinson (calmly, firmly commanding) - "Waiter." (waiter turns around and comes over, attending to her) - "I will have a martini."

Yes.  Yes, indeed she will.  And there will be no two ways about it.  (lol)

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days of August

 

4 things that happened and live murkily in my memory - two of them during the month of August:

December, 1967 -- the feature film, The Graduate appeared in theaters.

August 26 - 29, 1968 -- the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, accompanied by massive anti-war protests.

August 15 - 18, 1969 -- Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace and Music in upstate New York.

September 24, 1969 -- the trial of the Chicago 7 began.

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police riot

 

Jerry Rubin

Abbie Hoffman

Tom Hayden

Bobby Seale

Judge Julius Hoffman

        The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is on Netflix.

        Recommended.

                It could be good to watch this back-to-back with Best Of Enemies - that debate documentary with Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, also on Netflix.

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"a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair"

 

Simon and Garfunkel wrote - and sang - all the songs for the movie, The Graduate.

On You Tube, a video titled:

Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel- Lyrics

channel / uploader:  @Tina05vs1

The song plays with scenes from the movie.

Enjoy.

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reason will always fall short

 
Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate

When the movie The Graduate came out, I was nine or 10 years old, and I remember seeing an advertisement in the newspaper for it.

        When I was seventeen or eighteen years old, the History teacher in high school told our class about The Graduate.

        I think he kind of went through the whole movie, and was very enthusiastic and exuberant about the ending scene.  He was laughing and smiling and was just so into it. ...

        And - my memory is uncertain, but I believe he mentioned to us that the music in the movie was written and performed by Simon & Garfunkel.

A few years later, while I was living in Boston, I went to see The Graduate at a second-run movie theater.

Then several decades went by wherein I didn't watch The Graduate.  And now, in recent years, I see it every time it comes onto Amazon Prime Video.

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On You Tube, there are a bunch of videos analyzing The Graduate. 

A viewer comment under one of them says:

----------------- Reason will always fall short when grappling with the level of beauty and mystery emanating from sublime works of art.  "The Graduate" is no exception.  It remains, and always will remain elusive.  In the finest sense of the word. -----------------------------------

The film's director, Mike Nichols, said "It's the great American danger we're all in.  That we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it."

_________________________________________

-  "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.

    Aren't you?"

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