I love the ambiguity of the ending of The Graduate: Dustin Hoffman stops Katherine Ross's wedding, "rescues" her and they escape on a bus. But instead of unbridled joy and the prospect of a "happily ever after," once the bus takes off and they are on their way Hoffman and Ross exchange nervous glances and laughter, and unspoken but clearly running through both of their heads is, "What the hell did I just do?"
Now Hoffman is making a commercial for Europe parodying that fateful scene:
- In the final scenes of "The Graduate," Hoffman's breakthrough film, his character, Benjamin Braddock, pulls Katharine Ross' character, Elaine Robinson, from the church as she's getting married. They fight off parents and guests before riding away in a bus.
In the car commercial, directed by Michael Bay ("Pearl Harbor"), Hoffman again rescues the bride [his daughter], but this time returns to a 2005 Audi. [AP]
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
I remember Katherine Ross and Sam Elliot marrying about 100 years ago. They co-starred in an 80s horror film together called "The Legacy," I think. After that she sort of fell off the screen, so to say. I thought they were still married and living happily ever after.....
Now I'm going off the top of my head, but I thought I remembered reading that they were remaking "The Stepford Wives," and Katherine Ross was to have a small role.
2 - Chris Kent
Ok, I'm up early this morning so did a search on Mrs. Ross. "The Legacy" was made in 1978 and was the first teaming of Elliott and Ross. They have since starred in about five films together, almost all of them made-for-TV westerns. They are still married. One of her last films was the 1986 "Red Headed Stranger," co-starring Willie Nelson, a mediocre film version of his classic album. Since then, she's only been in about six films, including "Donnie Darko," the quirky, if not excellent, film from 2001.
Ross has starred with an unusally large number of icons in her career, including John Wayne, James Stewart, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, Paul Newman and, as mentioned, Dustin Hoffman - all of these films were from the 1960s and 1970s.
3 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Chris, I guess she went from consort of icons to "actress" somewhere in the '70s.
4 - Silver
Katharine Ross did meet Sam Elliot in the movie "Butch Cassidy..in 1969. However she was married to Conrad Hall until 1975. She did date several others while in California, (including myself) and we lost contact until her marriage to Sam Elliot in 1984.