The Six Greatest Performances In Mike Nichols’ Films
RIP Mike Nichols. From Dustin Hoffman to Robin Williams, this is where to start your retrospectives.
Dustin Hoffman
The Graduate (1967)
This film not only brought Nichol’s gift for the cinematic to people’s attention (after the riveting but still theatrical Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff (1966)), it also introduced the world to the off kilter energy of then unknown Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman’s malaise stricken Braddock is one step removed from the rest of the film’s cast and proceedings, blurting out big and little pronouncements in his early, sweaty, ill-fit adulthood, and then catching himself in the spotlight stare of their repercussions. This silent scene from the ending says it all.