Dustin Hoffman thinks the film industry is in the ''worst'' shape it's ever been in.

The 77-year-old actor - who previously starred in 'The Graduate' and 'Rain Man' - has claimed that while the TV industry is riding the crest of a wave at the moment, the film business has hit an all-time low.

He reflected: ''I think right now television is the best that it's ever been and I think that it's the worst that film has ever been - in the 50 years that I've been doing it, it's the worst.''

In particular, Dustin bemoaned the mindset suggesting that good movies need to cost millions of dollars.

He told the Independent newspaper: ''It's hard to believe you can do good work for the little amount of money these days.

''We did 'The Graduate' and that film still sustains, it had a wonderful script that they spent three years on, and an exceptional director with an exceptional cast and crew, but it was a small movie, four walls and actors, that is all, and yet it was 100 days of shooting.''