Director Stephen Soderbergh remarked that casting Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock (who, in the novel “The Graduate” on which the movie was based, was tall, blonde, and athletic) was a decision that changed the way Hollywood defined leading men. All I know is that when I sat through “The Graduate” at least three times during my freshman year at college, I became determined to find a “Benjamin,” a sensitive, vulnerable, and, finally, madly-in-love boy who would run away with me. I even stole a VISTA poster out of the student union that had his picture on it with the quote “What will you do after you graduate? You can put off plastics for a year.” (Full disclosure: I still have it.)

Now, 50-plus years later, I wonder if my love of, not Benjamin, but the movie itself was because of my age (18) when it came out (Christmas of 1967) and my own questioning of a world in which I had been told, “Never trust anyone over 30.” Or, was it because the movie touched the nerves and the sensibilities of a whole country? Apparently, I was not the only one, judging by the title of a July 1968 New Yorker article, “Why We Love The Graduate.” Its author, Jacob Brackman, characterized the film as a “cultural phenomenon,” and predicted that the movie would become the highest grossing picture of all time (which it was until “The Godfather” blew it out of the water in 1972).

Second-time director Mike Nichols took home the Oscar for direction of this tale of a southern California newly minted college graduate who floats, literally and aimlessly, through his summer after graduation trying to avoid taking the next steps into adulthood. Throw in Mrs. Robinson, the quintessential seductress, and a soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel, and you have the movie that America, like me, went back to see two and three times.

Joining us for a post-viewing Q&A for the Saturday show will be Dr. Jon Cavallero, Bates Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies. Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 13 or Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m. for “The Graduate,” our final classic film of this season.

Finally, thanks to all of you who have joined us for this memory-evoking journey through some of the best of 1960s films. We hope to see you next winter as we revisit another group of movies that are just too good not to see one more time.