In The Graduate, Mr. McGuire recommends “plastics” to Benjamin Braddock.
The brief conversation takes place at a party celebrating Benjamin’s graduation. While Benjamin is uncertain about his future, the older Mr. McGuire offers a confident one-word career suggestion: plastics. The exchange became a symbol of the pressure placed on young people to pursue commercially promising careers.
The word is sometimes remembered as advice from Benjamin’s father, but it is Mr. McGuire who says it. The scene also helps establish Benjamin’s alienation: the adults around him offer conventional success rather than meaningful guidance.
The Graduate was released in 1967 and directed by Mike Nichols. Dustin Hoffman played Benjamin, while Walter Brooke played Mr. McGuire. The film was adapted from Charles Webb’s 1963 novel and won Nichols the Academy Award for Best Director.