The Graduate Trivia

1. How does Mrs. Robinson induce Benjamin to go upstairs when they are alone together at her house after the graduation party?

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: She asks him if he wants to see Elaine's portrait.

Mrs. Robinson has to "seduce" Benjamin one small step at a time. They don't sleep together that first night, but she succeeds in letting him know that she is available whenever he is interested. Even after several months of physical intimacy, he still calls her "Mrs. Robinson".

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: Alfa Romeo

Benjamin's car is an Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. Shiny red and new at the film's beginning, by movie's end it looks dirty and battered - probably from being driven over curbs, and up and down the California coast.

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel composed and sang the songs recorded in the movie soundtrack.

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: Braddock

Dustin Hoffman has gone on to be one of the world's most versatile actors, appearing in "Tootsie", "Rain Man", "Papillon", "Midnight Cowboy", "Marathon Man", "Billy Bathgate", "Sphere" and many more.

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: To a strip club, then to a drive-in restaurant

Mrs. Robinson has elicited a promise from Benjamin that he will not date Elaine. But he is coerced into taking her out by his parents. He wants to make sure that Elaine won't want to see him again, so he takes her to a strip club. But she starts crying and he begins to feel sorry for her. So he treats her right after that.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: The Taft Hotel

The Taft Hotel's lobby and bar scenes were filmed at Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel. From its inception in the 1920s and into the 1960s, the hotel served as a gathering spot for some of the elite of Hollywood and U.S. politics. Its Coconut Grove nightclub hosted several early Academy Awards, and every U.S. president from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon stayed there. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was also an Ambassador guest when visiting the U.S. in 1960. Robert Kennedy's June 5, 1968 assassination - he had just finished a speech after winning the California primary when he was gunned down in a kitchen pantry - began the Ambassador's slow demise. The hotel closed to guests in 1989 and was ultimately torn down in 2006. Dozens of well-known films and television shows used parts of the Ambassador in filming, including "Forest Gump", "Apollo 13", "The Mask" and "Pretty Woman".

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: "Not for me!"

Elaine literally screams this in her mother's face, right before she runs off with Ben.

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: Scuba Gear

Benjamin's father was played by William Daniels, who has also appeared in "Reds," "Sunburn," and "The Blue Lagoon."

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: His 21st birthday

Benjamin is persuaded to demonstrate the scuba outfit for the birthday party guests. He is clearly embarrassed, and takes his time coming out to the pool. While they are waiting, Mr. Braddock says, "This better work, or I'm out 200 bucks." He gets a new car - an Alfa Romeo - as a graduation present, not for his birthday.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: Yes. No. No. Yes.

Angry about being pressured by his parents and Mr. Robinson to take Elaine out, Benjamin is deliberately rude to her, ignoring her and driving recklessly. Their conversation as shown in the movie consists of: "You're living at home now. Is that right?" "Yes" "Do you know what you're going to do?" "No." "Are you going to graduate school?" "No." "Do you always drive like this?" "Yes."

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: strip club

Ben takes Elaine there so she will not want to date him anymore. The strip club upsets Elaine and she runs out crying.

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: Half-baked

Benjamin's reply was "Oh no, It's completely baked"!

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: Carl Smith

Carl is blond, handsome, and self-assured. He is a law student, and is known to his fraternity buddies as "The Make-out King". He comes from money, as his father is a doctor.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: This is Benjamin. He's a little worried about his future.

This comes from the first dialogue of the movie. Benjamin is in his bedroom, avoiding the party his parents are throwing for him, and they come upstairs to retrieve him. He tells his father that he wants to be alone; that he's worried about his future, which he wants to be "different". Clearly, he gets his wish!

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: The Sounds of Silence

This song symbolizes Ben's life - his not knowing what to do with his life in the beginning of the movie, his physical but silent relationship with Mrs. Robinson in the middle of the movie, and his happiness at the end, when he is finally with Elaine.

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: Plastics

Mr Maguire, played by Walter Brooke, said plastics were the way of the future.

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: "He certainly is a good walker."

Carl Smith is a sharp contrast to Benjamin. He walks purposefully, and with a lot of confidence. He is smoking a pipe, and is carrying a tweed coat.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: Buck Henry

Buck Henry had been a regular on Steve Allen's 1961 television talk show but ultimately found his biggest successes as a writer and television performer. "The Graduate" was only his second screenplay. He went on to write such movies as "Catch-22", "What's Up Doc?" and "Heaven Can Wait" (which he also directed with the movie's star, Warren Beatty), and was a frequent host of television's "Saturday Night Live" during its first five seasons.

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: The Taft Hotel

All the staff at the Taft Hotel knew Ben's name, which made Elaine very suspicious.

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: Toothbrush

He claimed to the Desk Clerk that he was travelling light!

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: He said that he thought they would make a pretty good team.

Benjamin is amused that Carl would have said something so corny in a proposal. The quotation is supposed to epitomize Carl's mediocrity.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: Richard Dreyfuss

Dreyfuss, who went on to memorable roles in "Jaws" and many other films, including his "Best Actor" role for 1977's "The Goodbye Girl", plays the student who says "I'll get the cops." when Benjamin's landlord investigates a disturbance in Benjamin's apartment. The landlord is of course played by Norman Fell, who was later "Mr. Roper" in television's "Three's Company". Another uncredited actor is Mike Farrell, later to co-star with Alan Alda in television's "M*A*S*H". Farrell plays a bellhop, one of the many Taft Hotel employees to greet Benjamin as "Mr. Gladstone" when he and Elaine go there at the end of their date.

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: Berkeley

Elaine attended Berkeley University. This is said many times in the movie, and Ben even drives to Berkeley to find Elaine!

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: An airport

The scene shows Benjamin riding on the airport travelator (moving sidewalk).

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: The First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara

The Robinsons have pulled Elaine out of school and hastily made the wedding plans before Benjamin can find out what is happening. They are confident they have succeeded, but they don't know Benjamin and how strong his feelings for Elaine really are.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: Benjamin had said that having an affair with Mrs. Robinson was like shaking hands.

Confronted by Mr. Robinson about his affair with Mrs. Robinson, Benjamin tries to diffuse the situation by saying "What happened between Mrs. Robinson and me was nothing. It didn't mean anything. We might just as well have been shaking hands." - not diplomacy at its finest.

From Quiz Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

Answer: monkey house

They were waiting near the monkey house for Elaine's new boyfriend. Elaine did not want Ben to know that they were more than friends.

From Quiz The Graduate

Answer: The Sound Of Silence

"The Sound Of Silence" was written by Simon & Garfunkel some years before the movie.

From Quiz Mike Nichols' "The Graduate"

Answer: He says that he is Dr. Smith's brother and also the minister.

Benjamin finds out that the wedding is in Santa Barbara, but he doesn't know where. He pulls into a gas station and uses the phone to call Dr. Smith's office. He knows that he has to tell a pretty tall tale to persuade the receptionist to reveal the location of the church to a stranger.

From Quiz "The Graduate": Masters' Work

Answer: Mrs. Robinson

When Benjamin tries to have a conversation with Mrs. Robinson, he suggests they talk about art and she's not interested. Later, she reveals that her college major was, in fact, art. Otherwise, the script is vague in many ways about the characters: Ben went to college "back east" but nothing more specific. Mr. Robinson was "a law student," but we don't know if he got a law degree or is a practicing attorney. He and Mr. Braddock are "business partners" but we don't know what they do. Mrs. Robinson is the only character in the film whose undergraduate academic major is mentioned specifically.

This is category 11677

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.