3. The Pool - The Graduate (1967)
Mike Nichols' 1967 black comedy The Graduate stars Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate. Benjamin, disillusioned and unsure about his future, is re-acquainted with an old family friend at his graduation party, Mrs. Robinson. Most people know where the film goes from there, but for those not in the know, our hero and the elder seductress Mrs. Robinson begin an affair. For his graduation, Benjamin is inexplicably given scuba gear. At the prodding of his parents, Benjamin dons the wet suit and jumps into the pool. Trying to resurface, his father pushes him back in. Benjamin sits at the bottom of the pool in the absurd extravagance of the scuba gear, contemplates on the uncertainties of his future adult life, and decides to take Mrs. Robinson up on her offer. This scene was replicated in the college comedy Old School. Will Ferrell, with a dart sticking from his neck and animal tranquilizer coursing through his veins, falls to the bottom of a pool as Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence plays.