The Graduate : Where did Benjamin go to college?
Re: Where did Benjamin go to college?
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From what I gather, the novel on which the movie was based had him graduating from some unnamed eastern college. They make reference to him having won the "Helperham" award, but this appears to be a fictitious thing.
The novel is apparently somewhat autobiographical. The author, Charles Webb, attended Williams College - a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. So that might be the sort of college that Benjamin recently graduated from. But no college is specifically named in the movie.
Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.
The novel is apparently somewhat autobiographical. The author, Charles Webb, attended Williams College - a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. So that might be the sort of college that Benjamin recently graduated from. But no college is specifically named in the movie.
Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.
Re: Where did Benjamin go to college?
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On another board, someone did a post about best film openings and this was one of his top-10. He had a link to a youtube clip of Benjamin sitting in the plane as it descended into LAX. In the opening scene, the pilot is announcing that the plane should make its scheduled flight time of four hours and eighteen minutes. With a little google, most airlines fly from Chicago within five minutes of that time.
Wikipedia claims that Benjamin also went to Williams college, but gave no evidence of that. However, Massachusetts is about six hours from LAX. OTOH, from Williams to LAX probably means ALB-ORD-LAX.
OTOH, the film may have captured the audio of any LAX-bound flight without regard to its authenticity.
Wikipedia claims that Benjamin also went to Williams college, but gave no evidence of that. However, Massachusetts is about six hours from LAX. OTOH, from Williams to LAX probably means ALB-ORD-LAX.
OTOH, the film may have captured the audio of any LAX-bound flight without regard to its authenticity.
Re: Where did Benjamin go to college?
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Yes, it would make sense that he could simply have made a connecting flight to Chicago, which leaves the question of where he connected from entirely open.
It just seems to me that since the author has claimed the story idea was in large part autobiographical, that he intended it to be that Benjamin had recently graduated from some eastern college - maybe not Williams specifically, but something of that caliber.
What's important is that Benjamin came from a conservative, fairly well-to-do family, and had just completed college at what was apparently a private - and probably conservative - college back east, where he had also excelled as a student. So it adds some extra punch to his eventual transformation as the story unfolds. He goes from this uptight conservative "high achiever" background to a nonconformist and a drop-out.
Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.
It just seems to me that since the author has claimed the story idea was in large part autobiographical, that he intended it to be that Benjamin had recently graduated from some eastern college - maybe not Williams specifically, but something of that caliber.
What's important is that Benjamin came from a conservative, fairly well-to-do family, and had just completed college at what was apparently a private - and probably conservative - college back east, where he had also excelled as a student. So it adds some extra punch to his eventual transformation as the story unfolds. He goes from this uptight conservative "high achiever" background to a nonconformist and a drop-out.
Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.
Nonstop flights BOS to LAX were not common in 1967
They had the DC8 and the 707 back then and many routes did connections via ORD. Nonstop transatlantic flights existed, but were not as common as connecting flights.
Mean people suck.
Mean people suck.
Re: Where did Benjamin go to college?
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For reasons that are known only to my subconscious, I've always assumed that it was one of the blue-chip, but smallish, schools like . . . .
Swarthmore College
Amherst College
. . . . but definitely not any of the Ivies.
Swarthmore College
Amherst College
. . . . but definitely not any of the Ivies.
Re: Where did Benjamin go to college?
Those two colleges were my first guesses, too. Amherst, especially; also, the still at the time (I believe) all-male Wesleyan and Williamss.
Single gender colleges were still fairly common back in the day, including some of the most elite in the country (the gals had Wellesley, Smith, Vassar and a few others. Sometimes there were religious reasons that a college was all female, harking back to an earlier time, different moral standards, etc.)
Single gender colleges were still fairly common back in the day, including some of the most elite in the country (the gals had Wellesley, Smith, Vassar and a few others. Sometimes there were religious reasons that a college was all female, harking back to an earlier time, different moral standards, etc.)
Where did Benjamin go to college?