A.O. Scott on "The Graduate" in NYT's Critic's Picks

New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott, in the paper's online "Critic's Picks" video series, offers a perspective this week on the landmark 1967 film "The Graduate" (a favorite of the MediaLog). Scott doesn't really make any new observations about the film, but he does reiterate well three of the biggest reasons for the film's historical importance: (1) the ways in which Dustin Hoffman's performance (and appearance) helped rewrite the rules of being a movie star; (2) the ways in which the film exploited the new permissiveness in movies that was then emerging; and (3) the film's groundbreaking use of popular music. All of these helped contribute to the film's massive popularity among young people, another measure of the film's importance which Scott also mentions.