The Graduate opens in New York; makes Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider famous
On this day in 1967 the film The Graduate opens at two theaters in New York the Coronet on Third Avenue and the Lincoln Art Theater on Broadway.The film based on a 1963 novel by Charles Webb had a simple premise As its screenwriter explained it this kid graduates college has an affair with his parents best friend and then falls in love with the friends daughter.(It was he added the best pitch I ever heard.) In other words The Graduate was an uneasy exploration of what it meant to be young and adrift at a time of extraordinary confusion and upheaval.
The film was a hit The New Yorker called it the biggest success in the history of movies while The Saturday Review said it was not merely a success it has become a phenomenon.It earned 35 million in the first six months it was onscreen (by contrast it cost just 3 million to make) and became the highest-grossing movie of 1968.The movie also made a star out of Benjamin Braddocks graduation present a bright-red Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider.Alfa Romeo had been making racecars for decadeseven Enzo Ferrari drove an Alfa before he began building his own racersbut had never sold very many in the United States.
(American customers preferred larger cars and when they did buy smaller sports cars they tended to buy them from British manufacturers like MG and Triumph.) But the 1967 Duetto Spider a two-seat convertible roadster was a real beauty It had a sharp nose and a rounded tapered rear end glass-covered headlights and what designers called a classic scallop running down the side.It handled well could go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 10 seconds and got 23 miles per gallon of gas.Though the Duetto Spider was a great car and a pop-culture icon Americans still werent interested in buying it.The modelwith new names like the Spider Veloce the Quadrifoglio and even the Graduatestayed on the market until 1994 without much sales success.
In 2007 the companys CEO announced that he might reintroduce the Duetto for Alfa Romeos 100th anniversary in 2010.
