The Silence of the Lambs was released 30 years ago today

It's a masterpiece.

Good job really. Therapy was going nowhere.

Trans people hated it.

An excellent film. One of the best.

It wasn’t trans people R3, it was gay people. ActUp and other gay groups protested. The trans PERSON living at that time, wasn’t available to protest.

I read the book before the film was released. I still love the book and the film was fantastic. One of the rare times the film and the book are on equal footing.

It’s amazing that the steam lasted a full year for it to sweep the Oscars with a February release.

A dangerous TERF fantasy that has done provable direct harm to the lives of trans people, unlike the transphobic cisf@gs who bitched and bitched and bitched about [italic]Cruising[/italic] with no proof at all that it made people hate you transphobic cisf@gs anymore than you already deserve for not transitioning into the heterosexual women you are.

And they never would have given Jodie the Oscar if she had already come out as a cisd¥ké.

Both lead performances were overrated. Hopkins was hammy and Foster her typical wooden self.

It sucked!

It still holds up. I was genuinely freaked out when I saw it in the theatre back then. Over the years though, both Lecter and Buffalo Bill have seemed more campy. They are both endlessly fun to quote and mimic.

I disliked it. I thought it was well-made and that Foster gave a great performance but it was so relentlessly ugly that it turned my stomach.

I suppose I've sat through much worse in the intervening 30 years, but that one glimpse of the torn-out fingernails embedded in the cistern walls nearly made me walk out.

I hate torture-porn movies like Saw and Hostel as well. Not that those are anywhere near as well-made at SOTL is, but they seem to tap into the same idea that a thriller is simply about tying your guts in a knot.

It's one of those rare films where every detail is executed flawlessly. The acting, the pacing, the imagery, atmosphere--it's all pitch perfect. It's clear why it's cemented as a classic.

I saw it that night. The late show. High as a kite. I liked it. Saw it again a few days later.

I saw it again about a year ago. I suppose it’s aged well but it’s very camp and plays more like a black comedy now.

She’s an American girl!🎶🎶🎶

r13- The score you cant not hear.

Jodi Foster has never spoken to Anthony Hopkins.

Unpopular opinion, I think it’s depraved.

It’s on a par with Psycho and Rosemary’s Baby.

Here you go, r16.

I remember seeing it in March 1991. It had really started to catch on through word of mouth and was becoming a phenomenon by then. Critics couldn't say enough about the film and Foster's and Hopkins's performances. It was amazing that it held enough sway to get its Oscar wins. It also propelled Foster and Hopkins to the A list.

R16 all I took away from that was:

“I was eating a tuna fish sandwich...” - Jodie Foster

My friend insisted we all go see it. I agreed to, since his taste in films was normally good. I sat through it and had a nauseated feeling after getting home. I decided to forget about it and move on. Then when the Oscar nominations came up, there it was. And it won the top awards. This was the best thing they managed to come up with all year? For me that was the death knell of Hollywood. And since then, the Best Picture Oscar has no meaning any more. Look at the films that won it since.

We recently watched it again for the umpteenth time and it still works. Everything just clicked.

R22 who’s this, a Frau or a nauseating bottom?

Wait, so is Jodie Foster like 65 years old now?

My friends and I tried to get in but it was sold out.

So we saw Sleeping with the Enemy instead.

R25, she’s 58.

Jodie wasn't the first choice, ya know. She was like fifth or sixth on the list.

Are you a great big fat person?

It holds up beautifully, doesn't look dated. Fantastic film.

It’s a strange film. I like it I think there’s great acting in it and I’m not usually a fan of this genre. On the other hand there are some genuinely campy moments that I laugh out loud at.

I love when Buffalo Bill realizes that he's caught and drops all the business cards as he raises his hands, smirking the whole time. It's such a small thing but it was really effective. That dude was perfect for the role.

"Spread your legs!"

"Oh wait....was she a great big fat person?"

My friends and I still use this line.

One of the most overrated films of all time. Nothing more than a genre film.

I know a lot of people are fascinated by serial killers. There are so many shows about them on Netflix. I can't documentaries or movies about them anymore.

[quote] I can't documentaries or movies about them anymore.

I watch this movie once every couple years and agree with the others that it's flawless. You notice something new every time. People say it's misogynistic, but the secret ingredient IMO is the relationship between Clarice and Lecter. He is the only man in the movie who sees her true brilliance and treats her with respect and decency. All the others, mostly the FBI men, look down on and patronize her because she's a woman.

Multiple Meigs can still smell Clarice's cunt.

"It had really started to catch on through word of mouth".

Not really,r20, it didn't need word of mouth. The book was really big and the film was highly anticipated.

[quote] Trans people

Who?

[quote] Nothing more than a genre film.

As is [italic]Stagecoach,[/italic] and [italic]The Searchers,[/italic] and [italic]The Maltese Falcon,[/italic] and [italic]Rebecca,[/italic] and....

My memory, r28, is that it was always between Foster and Pfeiffer.

[quote] I think it’s depraved.

It was obscene.

Multiple Miggs and his cumshot was kind of hot.

You know it was a film Jodie would have never let a guy spew on her face.

I also think it's depraved, the violence and gore is monstrous. How did Jonathan Demme go from Something Wild and Married to the Mob to this? Anthony Hopkins reminds me of Charles Busch, especially when he's dressing down Clarice for trying to obscure her white trash origins. Foster was nothing special, it's hardly a stretch for her to play tense and emotionally repressed. They were lucky that their Oscar competition was extremely weak.

In a recent interview with the New Yorker to promote French Exit, Pfeiffer avowed that she did not regret turning down the role of Clarice because while she loved Demme, she thought the film was evil.

Do I remember correctly that there was a body encased in cement in a bathtub in the basement of Bill's house? It was so fleeting that I often think I misremembered the whole thing.

Oh, for chrissakes, "the film is evil, the film is evil". Blame it on the BOOK!

Its ok. I don't think it's a classic by any means and it's not one of Demme's best movies. And it's supposedly feminist yet it's ultimately Hannibal who solves the crime. Huh?

Pearl clutchers must always weigh in on films that aren’t for them.

It verges on camp now. Also, Anthony Hopkins should not have been nominated as Best Actor. The role is a supporting character.

It’s interesting how 30 years ago it was being protested because it was homophobic and now some hate it because it’s transphobic it. Well, which is it? Personally, I never saw Bill as gay, so never thought it homophobic. And I don’t think he is transgender, so not that either. I think the closest equivalent would be a cross-dresser, so maybe cross dresser phobic?

Fucking pearl clutching prisspots. "Ooohh it's so DARK! It's DEPRESSING!"

Grown adults can watch films about dark and depressing subject matter and appreciate them when they're brilliant like this film is.

"He shed ah kin shmell yer cunt."

[quote] "He shed ah kin shmell yer cunt." —Clarice

Chicka bay aye.

[quote] I also think it's depraved, the violence and gore is monstrous.

I've been desensitized by horror movies so Silence is really tame to me. But if you think Silence is depaved, just watch the sequel.

R22 MARY

The sequel was so disappointing.

This'll bring back Broadway!

There hardly any violence or gore in the movie.

Blame that on Mr. Thomas Harris, r58.

It’s not gorey at all who are these people who have never seen an actually gorey movie?

It’s a tad gory.

All violence happens off-screen. Maybe you people need to watch it again, but it's a testament to how well-made the film is that you remember it as violent and gory when it really isn't.

[quote] Blame that on Mr. Thomas Harris, [R58].

Is that like Mr. Burt Reynolds?

I beg your pardon, r62?

It's a psychological thriller rather than a horror movie. It really started the whole industry of true crime and forensic science entertainment that is such a huge part of our culture today. Insanely influential film.

If you like it, I do recommend the new CBS series "Clarice."

The first episode has the same gritty feel as the movie (and not the over-the-top aesthetic of the TV series "Hannibal"). It's not as well written as the original, but Rebecca Breeds so far is great as Clarice Starling--she even did a better West Virginia accent than Jodie Foster did.

Reviews say it’s just another CBS procedural.

I don't know if it's been brought up, r68, but the movie didn't start out having that gritty feel. They went back and re-shot what they'd filmed when they realized it needed to be darker.

[quote] Reviews say it’s just another CBS procedural.

Whatever. Try the first episode for yourself and see.

At the very end of the book Clarice ends up dating one of the bug doctors. The one played by the cross-eyed guy.

[quote] At the very end of the book Clarice ends up dating one of the bug doctors. The one played by the cross-eyed guy.

On their first date did they go out for cheeseburgers and beer and have the amusing house wine?

If there’s one important lesson that this movie taught us, it’s the importance of moisturizing.

It's a very over the top movie. Preposterous, really. But audiences loved the gore and campy serial killer Jame Gumb and the hammy performance of Anthony Hopkins. I think the movie is pretty silly, especially Jodie Foster's trembly, nervous performance as Clarice Starling. She is nowhere near how Foster plays her in the movie; Foster's Clarice always seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown, whereas the Clarice in the novel is almost always calm, cool and collected. She always makes every effort to be unflappable and in control.

Foster’s best performance since Candleshoe!

I don't like the novel version of Clarice, she seems more like a fembot in some ways. The character is smart, but she's also supposed to be young and inexperienced. Jodie Foster knew that, so of course the film version of Clarice is nervous when speaking to Lecter, terrified going after Buffalo Bill, or trembling when seeing a dead body. In some scenes she's seething below the surface, furious at how she's treated because she's a woman, or she's trying to ignore the men who stare at her. You see the pain in her eyes when she's looking at Fredrica Bimmel's crime scene photos. I think it's Foster's best performance, and the Oscar was well-deserved.

No love for me???

As someone who loves psychological thrillers and horror movies, “The Silence of the Lambs” is really one of a kind. Perfect acting, storyline, lighting, music, timing. Absolute perfection!

I have watched this movie countless times and it’s in my regular rotation of movies that I watch over and over again, and I never get tired of it.

[quote]Do I remember correctly that there was a body encased in cement in a bathtub in the basement of Bill's house? It was so fleeting that I often think I misremembered the whole thing.

I believe it was the decomposed body of Mrs. Lippman and it wasn’t concrete but her liquified/congealed remains.

The movie gave me nightmares for years. The close up scenes between Clarice and Lecter behind bars are absolutely brilliant. Both totally deserved those Oscars.

For the record, there has never been an real life "Hannibal Lector." There have been intelligent serial killers and a few of them have been financially comfortable. But there has never been a highly educated, serial killer of exceptional intelligence and impeccable manners who "functions perfectly" except for the fact that he likes to torture, murder and eat people. Of course there wouldn't be. Serial killers, even the most cunning and intelligent of them, have disordered minds and behave oddly. That's why they're serial killers; they are NOT normal. None of them have ever "functioned perfectly."

^^ *that's been caught

Jodie and Anthony still owe us another film. The saga must be concluded.

That’s when my husband proposed to me. He pulled a ring box out of the back of his sweatpants and asked me to marry him. Cheers was on the TV and it was pouring rain.

"It puts the lotion on it's skin, or else it gets the hose again!"

Did the rancher make you perform fellatio? Did he sodomize you?

This movie holds up better than 99% of movies made in the 90s. The cinematography is very modern. In fact I like early 90s films better than late 90s films. That period from 95-98 was just insane. It produced so many huge bloated blockbusters that have aged poorly.

Foster's performance is appropriately low key but hardly Oscar material and Hopkins dominates in what is basically a supporting role. It remains a compelling and scary thriller, well-directed and effectively restrained. Some of it especially Lecter's escape is far-fetched but it's mostly persuasive and the ending pointing the way towards a sequel is merely satisfactory.

Jodie and Anthony were great but let's not forget Ted Levine and Brooke Smith, absolutely excellent in supporting roles and they both should have been nominated. Levine remains very underrated. Ten years later, he would terrify audiences again as the voice of "Candy Cane" in the thriller, Joy Ride. And Smith was great, too, not playing the standard damsel-in-distress. She was a woman who talked back. One of my favourite scenes is when Clarice finds Catherine, and Catherine is screaming and swearing at Clarice.

And why wasn't Howard Shore NOT nominated for his brilliant score for Silence of the Lambs? It's iconic and one of the film's biggest strengths, and one of the reasons why the film is so scary.

Sorry, Levine voiced "Rusty Nail" in Joy Ride.

[quote]And Smith was great, too, not playing the standard damsel-in-distress. She was a woman who talked back. One of my favourite scenes is when Clarice finds Catherine, and Catherine is screaming and swearing at Clarice.

This is extremely common behavior among people who are being held captive. When their rescuers arrive, they scream and swear at them to get them out ASAP. Thomas Harris is a former police reporter and knew this.

I remember back in 1991, I read the book before seeing the film. I LOVED the book. It was fast-paced and extremely suspenseful. I was initially disappointed with the film because it seemed so over-the-top and almost operatic. But I have grown to love it.

It was very different from Demme's earlier, quirkier work, yet it had many "Demme-isms" like the characters talking to the camera, which was used effectively in Married to the Mob.

"Oh and Senator, LOVE your suit!"

"there is no correlation in the literature between transsexualism and violence, transsexuals are very passive"

it sure holds up well!

All that was missing from the film was a lesbian makeout scene between Clarice and Ardelia Mapp. There were some homoerotic vibes going on between those two, no way they wanted to date those geeks from the Smithsonian.

[quote] Pfeiffer avowed that she did not regret turning down the role of Clarice because while she loved Demme, she thought the film was evil.

Bitch, please! Your breakout role was playing a coked-out whore in a film that, among other obscenities, featured a graphic murder by way of chainsaw to the skull.

Thank you, r90!

They didn't waste a damn minute in this film. It flows beautifully, not any wasted or superfluous scenes.

Nothing about Silence comes across as a black comedy, even today. Has society really become that cynical? It's a near perfect film.

Take this monster baaack to Bahl-tiMORE.

[quote]For the record, there has never been a real life "Hannibal Lector." There have been intelligent serial killers, and a few of them have been financially comfortable.

Yet, Thomas Harris based him on a real-life killer.

[quote]Working as a journalist for Argosy in the 1960s, Thomas Harris interviewed mental patient Dykes Askew Simmons. Simmons was on death row in Nuevo León State Prison, Monterrey, for killing three people. Simmons had been shot by a prison guard and treated by a skilled prison doctor whom Harris referred to as "Dr. Salazar." When Harris interviewed Salazar, Salazar questioned Harris about Simmons's victims and disfigurement and the nature of torment. Harris described him as a "small, lithe man with dark red hair" who "stood very still" with "a certain elegance about him." The prison guard later told Harris that Salazar was a murderer who could "package his victim in a surprisingly small box". Salazar inspired Harris to create a character with a "peculiar understanding of the criminal mind."

[quote]Salazar is believed to be Alfredo Ballí Treviño, the last criminal condemned to Mexico's death sentence in 1959. Ballí was a physician from an upper-class Monterrey family who murdered his friend and lover Jesus Castillo Rangel and mutilated his body. He was also suspected of killing and dismembering several hitchhikers in the countryside during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He also borrowed from other killers; the cooking skills were Harris' own. He lives quietly in S FL and supposedly gives fabulous dinner parties; Harris is openly gay among friends. There's a picture of Salazar/Ballí Treviño in the Wiki article.

[quote] Take this monster baaack to Bahl-tiMORE.

It's "take this thing back to Baltimore."

Each time I watch the film I notice a detail I missed before.

Great story telling.

Diane Baker was also fabulous in this.

[quote] Diane Baker was also fabulous in this.

As were her tough nipples.

It was soooo fucking cold that night and we were lined up outside the Waverly for over 45 minutes to get in. We snacked on Valentine’s Day cookies I made for work to help keep warm.

[quote] Diane Baker was also fabulous in this.

Agree, but totally unconvincing that she'd be a Senator from Tennessee. Marsha Blackburn, a home ec grad with a hick accent, is more their speed.

[quote] but totally unconvincing that she'd be a Senator from Tennessee

Al Gore was a senator from Tennessee when the film came out. Politics have changed since then.

At the end of the novel Clarice Starling is not screaming into a phone "DR. LECTER! DR. LECTER! DR. LECTER!" She's spending a vacation in a big house on the Chesapeake Bay with the cross-eyed bug expert with the improbable name "Noble Pilcher." In the movie she has a brief encounter with him; with his wandering eye he looks beyond creepy. In the novel he's described as tall, with black hair and "a long, friendly face, but his black eyes were a little witchy and too close together, and one of them had a slight cast that made it catch the light independently." He immediately falls in love with Starling and asks her out but she's too busy trying to catch Buffalo Bill to take him up on his offer. After she vanquishes Jame Grumb he invites her to he and his sister's big house on the bay; the novel ends with her "sleeping deeply, sweetly, in the silence of the lamb" with lumps under the covers that might be some of the numerous dogs on the property or maybe "Noble Pilcher; it's impossible to determine in the ambient light." So Starling might be sleeping with the cross eyes bug expert? Actually after reading SOTL and the awful "Hannibal" it seems to me that Clarice Starling had very little interest in men. The only men in her life who seemed to interest her were her father, Jack Crawford and of course Hannibal Lecter. I can't see her as ever having had a boyfriend. She seemed very emotionally closed off.

[quote]Agree, but totally unconvincing that she'd be a Senator from Tennessee.

What the hell are you talking about? She was great in her small role. You could buy her as a Senator.

Hannibal was a good book on its own, if you read it as a stand-alone book and try to forget about SOTL it has its merits.

I haven't seen this in quite some time, but I remember being confused by the last ten minutes when it wasn't clear exactly where Clarice was.

R7, attention spans were probably longer back then.

I couldn't figure out why Claire went to the house ALONE.

Did she not watch or read Nancy Drew while growing up?

R113, thats what I mean. You need multiple viewings of this film.My favorites scene is when the FBI chief implies Clarice isn't man enough to sit in a viewing of the remains of one victim and the big burly cops in the room turn as one and look down at Clarice with contempt.

I had an odd psychic experience: Early 1991, I'd recently seen Manhunter, the 80s original and the guy who played Francis Dollarhyde was almost an albino, very tall, gangly. Even though L.A. was full of ads and buzz, I had no intention of seeing Silence, but that blond actor kept popping into my mind and I would get a very dark, heavy feeling. It continued and I couldn't imagine why I kept thinking of those two movies all the time, without wanting to.

Once Dahmer was caught that summer, those thoughts never came back.

Brooke Smith’s scenes while captured is some of the best acting ever, hands down. How her voice cracks, how she goes from beaten down to energized and back again. The tone of her screams—everything. Just incredible.

And when I watched the sequel with Julianne Moore, I was so disappointed. Garbage film.

Jodie seemed more a Hardy Boys type to me, r114.

Again, r118, blame the book. I believe Harris just said fuck it and went as far as he could go with the grotesque. There was no way *not* to make a garbage film of it.

HL dressing Clarice in the designer label clothing in the sequel enraged me, r119.

It is dumb. Rah Liotta open brain feed also irritated.

No where near as smart and interesting as SOTL.

Wow, 30 years. I read the book in high school and the movie came out when I was a freshman in college. I was so excited to see it, I skipped my last classes on Friday and went to a matinee. I took a squeamish friend of mine who was mildly traumatized. It really is one of the best book to film adaptations. Very close to the book.

"Yet, Thomas Harris based him on a real-life killer."

BASED him on a real killer. Hannibal Lecter was a figment of the imagination of a writer who wanted to his books to sell. There was never a "real" Hannibal Lecter. How the hell could there be? Real life isn't like it is in the movies and pulpy bestsellers.

By the way, Thomas Harris based Jame Gumb on Gary Heidnik, a serial killer who kept victims in a pit in his basement, with a little Ed Gein thrown in. Gein killed two women but was more infamous for digging up female corpses and using their body parts to create wearable items and other objects from their body parts. Having a fetish about his mother he supposedly wanted to "create a "woman suit" so that "he could become his mother—to literally crawl into her skin." Thomas Harris obviously wanted to throw a lot of serial killer behavior together to make his repulsive characters seem more plausible.

r123, he based Buffalo Bill on others as well. The whioe trick of pretending his arm was injured so he could then attack a woman helping him with his arm in a fake cast was something Harris gave Gumb from Ted Bundy, for example.

I prefer Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal.

[quote] I couldn't figure out why Claire went to the house ALONE.

Claire who? Claire Huxtable?

In the book Buffalo Bill kills his grandparents when he's 12, that's based on Ed Kemper who killed his grandparents at 15.

[quote]Gein killed two women but was more infamous for digging up female corpses and using their body parts to create wearable items and other objects from their body parts.

"So Ed, what do you do in your free time?"

What about CBS' new series, "Clarice", based on this film?

[quote] What about CBS' new series, "Clarice", based on this film?

I'm giving serious thought to eating your wife.

Although her appearance is not described in any detail the Clarice Starling in the novel is a stunning beauty. After she shoots him Jame Gumb's last words are to her and they are "How...does...it feel...to be...so beautiful?" Jodie Foster was definitely not the right physical type to play her. I thought it was actually a cheap device of Harris's, to make his heroic heroine a heart stopping babe. I thought Starling should have been attractive but not movie star beautiful, as she seems to be in the book.

The Atlantic finds "Clarice" problematic...

A perfect film. Like clockwork. Great script with no fat. The music could not be better, well placed, and a little sad. The performances are not too big and have just enough edge to fully bring forth the characters. Those close ups of Foster and Hopkins are incredible. I can't think of any other actors that could even come close to their effectiveness. Well photographed, expertly cut. Just watch the deleted scenes on the disc version and you'll get an education on the importance of proper editing and storytelling. All the scenes were good, just non essential and would have detracted from the tight narrative. It's unusual to have so many things go right in one film. A classic.

R117 yes, and she delivered some of the best lines in the movie, and they are unexpectedly hilarious at the same time considering the scenes.

Clarice Starling: Catherine Martin?

Catherine Martin: Yes?

Clarice Starling: FBI! You're safe!

Catherine Martin: Safe? Shit! Get me outta here!

Clarice Starling: You're all right, Catherine. Now, where is he?

Catherine Martin: How THE FUCK should I know? Just get me outta here!

Clarice Starling: Catherine, you've gotta be quiet! Now, shut that dog up!

Catherine Martin: Just get me outta here!

Clarice Starling: Catherine, I'm gonna get you outta there, but right now you listen to me. I've gotta leave this room, I'll be right back.

Catherine Martin: NO! DON'T YOU LEAVE ME HERE YOU FUCKIN' BITCH, NO! Don't you leave me here, this guy is fucking crazy!

And after the victim is rescued she is clutching that poodle as a life raft

I tried, but I thought the premiere was boring. Maybe I’ll give it another chance.

R117 I agree.

Picture it: Seoul, South Korea, late 1990. An English AP teacher at a DOD high school discusses the book, The Silence of the Lambs, with her students. She inspires them so much to read it, they organize a way to pass the book between them so all can read. It becomes a class discussion... not all like the book, but all appreciate it.

The film is released early in the next year, but being overseas, the military base theaters don’t show it until the nascent Springtime. I went with my entire English class and we were all horrified when Meigs threw his jizz in Clarice’s face. “If they showed THAT, what other horrors will they show?!?” we asked each other.

As I type this, I realize it was a pretty singular instance of the loss of my innocence, but not necessarily sacrificing my innocence, but rather showing me how adults behave, and what they appreciate. (No, not murdering, I just mean the titilating fiction)

5e book was graphic, yet creative. There was a lot of violent, but a weird soft intimacy, too. The writing had an agenda that never really showed itself until the third act. That a movie captured 75 percent of the book so completely was quite a singular feat, and perhaps one not repeated until Peter Jackson came along.

No matter what, it will always be a fond memory, and strong impression upon this Eldergay.

DL Classic Cinema at it's finest.

I was 15 at the time and snuck into the theater with some friends. We were all too young to be admitted to an R rated movie but we just HAD to see it. We weren't disappointed, we all loved it.

What I think we forget about today is that SOTL was such an original film at the time. Forensic-type shows and movies and serial killers etc. are such a staple of pop culture now, but back then you never saw anything like this in the mainstream. That's why it was such a phenomenon, as well as being just a beautifully crafted film. It was something completely new and fresh at the time.

Watched it and Hannibal in honor of the anniversary.

I thought Foster deserved her Oscar. Someone upthread said there was no competition that year. Foster was up against Davis and Sarandon in "Thelma and Louise", Dern in "Rambling Rose" and Midler in "For The Boys". Midler was the only weak nominee in the group. Each of the other nominees could have won in any other year.

Now the year Jess Lange won for "Blue Sky", sheesh. Talk about a shit year with terrible competition.

Awwww r138 you’re adorable.

The first teaser trailer was pretty unique back then, and still holds up perfectly,

Precious

Such a mind fuck of a movie and could never be made today because of woke politics.

a MASTERPIECE

It's cringey now based on its treatment of LGBTQ.

We can do better now.

The vast majority of serial killers are heterosexual men. And the vast majority of serial killers on film are depicted as heterosexual men. So...

The justification for offense at Jame Gumb thirty years ago was that transsexuals were otherwise invisible, so having him serve as an example was an unfair misrepresentation. I wouldn’t call them invisible today. So time has been kind to the film.

It's a masterpiece. One of the best films of the 1990s. Far better than that POS [italic]Philadelphia[/italic].

"And when I watched the sequel with Julianne Moore, I was so disappointed. Garbage film."

At least they didn't include the scene from the book where Starling pulls out her breast so Lecter can suck on it. And that's just ONE of the insane things that happen in that godawful piece of shit novel.

The Shilencsh of the Lambsh!

I loved the gritty look of the movie during the funeral home scene & the final scene when Clarice goes to Jame's home. The filmmaker really captured that bleak Appalachian look of the place. Even though now everyone would have cellphones, the movie has aged very well.

Thank you, R143!

But wasn’t Gumb’s basement much bigger than his house? It went on forever, with lot’s of rooms. Who has a basement like that?

[quote]Reviews say it’s just another CBS procedural.

On a plot level, yes. The character work is solid. The pilot had a scene where Catherine, who's become anorexic since being rescued, has a desperate phone call with Clarice that was fantastic.

They also manage to match the cinematography. The color palate is exactly the same and there are flashbacks to Buffalo Bill that I'm still not sure are clips from the movie.

Serial killers, r156.

Perfect movie. I won the entire oscar pool at work because I was the only one who chose it to win Best Picture.

R148 I can’t understand all the rabid praise for this mediocre film. Foster and Hopkins were fine in their roles, if not wooden (Foster) and campy (Hopkins). I agree with the post upthread that Ted Levine and Brooke Smith distinguished themselves in their respective roles (Smith’s scene scored the American Girl was excellent). Levine “went for it” in several scenes.

In college, our classmate won a talent show by performing Buffalo Bill’s dance to “Goodbye Horses”, and that was horrifying but awesome.

Slipping into my asbestos suit here, but the film is wildly overrated. I admired Demme, by he doesn’t have the stature of Kubrick. No, no. (Sorry).

That said, Brooke Smith’s character where she snares Precious with the bucket and a chicken bone was very effective , and Levine’s growl “You don’t know what pain is!” in Buffalo Bill’s real voice was a clever touch.

r136 seems like a cherished friend to have

The scene where Lecter and Starling first meet is chilling.

He is waiting for her with an unsettling intensity.

[quote]In college, our classmate won a talent show by performing Buffalo Bill’s dance to “Goodbye Horses”, and that was horrifying but awesome.

That is hilarious!

Dr Lectre walked so Armie Hammer could run.

[quote] I can’t understand all the rabid praise for this mediocre film.

Mediocre? Please. It's a taut thriller with a perfect pace and sequence of scenes. There is no "filler" whatsoever.

What are you about a size 14?

I just watched the first episode of Clarice and I think I’m going to enjoy it.

I still don't understand what Harris was thinking when he wrote the sequel. So ridiculous. Silence of the Lambs was so good.

R160 Slipping into my asbestos suit....

Is it a large suit, big through the hips, roomy?

One think I appreciate about The Silence Of the Lambs is that, thank god, they didn't include a romance subplot or a love interest. They just stuck to the main story and didn't really get into the characters' personal lives in any detail (except of course Clarice's childhood memories, which were essential to the plot) and it did a world of good. Too many movies were derailed by adding romance/a love interest that took away from the main story.

As a young gayling, I remember renting the VHS and jerking off to Buffalo Bill's "Goodbye Horses" scene.

Family Guy did it.

Interesting that Demme actually used Goodbye Horses first in Married to the Mob (It's played in the background when Matthew Modine is giving Michelle Pfeiffer a foot massage). But used even more effectively in Silence of the Lambs.

Demme always had amazing soundtracks.

This movie forever ruined the song Goodbye Horses for me (but in a good way). Every time I hear it all I can think of is BB's creepy dick tuck dance.

Totally effective choice for that scene.

R77 has it right. Foster conveyed well that while Clarice is smart and gutsy, she is also very young and inexperienced and still dealing with the trauma of her childhood. She gets thrown to the wolves and just barely makes it out.

There is a running theme in the Harris' Lecter books that while Jack Crawford is beloved and admired by his agents, he is also too callous with their lives and well being. Interesting that he was based on John Douglas, who pioneered criminal profiling and whose legacy is often debated as to whether he’s done more harm than good.

R175, I didn't know John Douglas' legacy was debated. What kind of harm is he thought to have done?

There's been some pushback on the whole concept of profiling, both questioning how reliable/legitimate it is, and criticizing overreliance on it in favor of basic investigative techniques.

Douglas was also disliked for courting the press. He seemed to be more interested in getting his face on camera than doing the dirty work.

The success of true crime and forensic investigative shows creates a really distorted picture--law enforcement has a TERRIBLE track record of catching serial killers and other highly violent criminals. They are more likely caught as a result of fucking up or police/FBI catching a break than as a result of some brilliant investigative techniques.

Douglas has no background in psychology or psychiatry or even criminology. His "work" is inherently biased, because it's based exclusively on interviewing people, and by definition, that means only people who were caught.

No criminal profile has ever actually helped catch a serial killer. Read some of the profiles of the Unibomber sometime. It's hilarious how much they got wrong.

Profiling is just one tool. It can be helpful to shed light on commonalities.

"Silence of the Lambs" is implausible for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that the FBI would NEVER let a trainee be involved in a search for a high profile serial killer. It just wouldn't happen.

^That is rather slippery of you Agent Starling.

R183, The movie makes it perfectly clear they use her in the initial visit for her inexperience. And she is forced to stay on because Lector takes a shine to her after it and she becomes the only way to keep him engaged. Maybe you were too busy looking for things to be implausible to pay attention to stupid details.

R182*^

Yes R170. Too many films stray from the original script trying to add romance. One of the reasons Shawshank Redemption holds up so well.

[quote]Profiling is just one tool. It can be helpful to shed light on commonalities.

How many killers has it caught?

Brilliant. One of the greatest films ever made

I often use a lot of phrases from SOTL--"Looks like town", "Fava beans and a nice chianti", "they'll say we're in love", "oh wait, was she a great big fat person?"--and many, many more.

"Freddie was so happy for me when I got this job at the bank. Toaster giveaways and Barry Manilow on the speakers all day. She thought it was such hot shit."

^^That is one of my favorite lines from any movie, ever.

"Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp?"

R187 I don't have exact numbers, but for the sake of a few clicks, lets say at least five.

Love the film and have lost count of how many times I have seen it.

I saw it three times during it's first cinema release and then again at the cinema when it was briefly re-released after winning all those Oscars.

Numerous times since on VHS, DVD and Blu Ray - the recent Criterion edition is a must own for any fans.

The only fault I have with the film is that Clarice leaves those nudie photos she finds in the music box on the dresser where the father of the victim would find them rather than either taking them with her or putting them back where she found them.

Otherwise the film is flawless.

R192, that list is laughably inaccurate. Ted Bundy and Joseph Paul Franklin were not caught as a result of some kind of psychological profile, they were both picked up on a traffic stops and then became suspects because of evidence in their cars. Andrew Cunanan wasn't even caught, he committed suicide, and was the only suspect in his murders because he was directly connected to him--there was no "profile." Wayne Williams has not even been connected to the Atlanta child murders--one of the biggest criticisms of Atlanta police and the FBI is their total failure to make the case even though they insist he fits their profile. George Metesky is covered in the article at R177--the profile turned out to be more inaccurate than accurate, and he was caught when a ConEd worker linked details from the crimes to threatening letters he had written to the company.

It's a perfect example of how "profiling" has been given more weight than it deserves. We're so conditioned to accept it as science that we'll even retrofit profiles of murderers that were done AFTER they were caught to claim that the profile led to their capture in the first place.

Wow. Someone has a profile problem. Next time you dance naked in the mirror take a look at everything you hate about yourself...

You see a lot, R195. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? Why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see?

Or maybe you're afraid to.

Your problem is that you need to get more fun out of life.

[quote] The only fault I have with the film is that Clarice leaves those nudie photos she finds in the music box on the dresser where the father of the victim would find them rather than either taking them with her or putting them back where she found them.

Yes. That bothers me, too. That and Gumb’s enormous basement.

Are wells in basements a thing?

The well in the basement is from real life serial killer Gary Heidnick of Pennsylvania. He kidnapped teenage girls and at one point kept three in a deep pit in his basement that was filled waist deep with water. He would torture them with electric shocks for weeks (you can imagine how filthy the water became) and killed them one by one. He ground up the bodies, mixed it with dog food, and fed it to the remaining girls. So, in a way, the book and film are actually not quite as horrifying as some of the real killers they used for reference.

R199 Only in Pennsylvania would this happen.

As a former resident, I can say this.

[quote]Wow. Someone has a profile problem. Next time you dance naked in the mirror take a look at everything you hate about yourself...

Frankly, that sounds like something Miggs would say.

Not anymore.

I always thought Ted Levine deserved some kind of award for his performance.

[quote]r107 It was soooo fucking cold that night and we were lined up outside the Waverly for over 45 minutes to get in. We snacked on Valentine’s Day cookies I made for work to help keep warm.

I was at the matinee!

Ah, what might have been - -

[quote] Who has a basement like that?

LOL

Oh Ted...

I am a gay man and I found Jodie very sexy and attractive in Silence. I thought she looked striking with the dark hair and blue eyes.

My aunt had a basement with a living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. I think it was intended to be rental space.

She was on Kimmel last night and looked great with her natural light brown hair and fresh, low key makeup. They played a clip from her new movie and she looked much older in that with grey hair and harsh red lipstick. She's got a few lines but at least she isn't a plastic surgery nightmare. Good for her.

Bright and charming.

Jodie Foster is a great example of how to navigate fame and Hollywood without losing your fucking mind.

The way she was written in the book seemed to describe someone like Michelle Pfieffer with so much emphasis on her beauty. I think it still works with Jodie in that's she not a knockout like Pfieffer but she's reasonably attractive especially in the world she inhabits. Grace Kelley doesn't necessarily really go out for the F - B - I.

"Hannibal" was basically just a money grab. SOTL was such an immense hit, any story that featured Hannibal Lecter was a sure-fire success, no matter how bad the story was.

"Goodbye Horses" - Q Lazzarus

This is the original music video, released in 1987.

In the book, Bill's basement is described as being even bigger than it was in the movie. In addition to the corpse in the bathtub (I think they imply that's Mrs. Lippman), there are other, more distant rooms where he kept other bodies.

I think one of the more remarkable parts of the movie is that it streamlines the book's plot (in the book, the head in the storage space belongs to one of Benjamin Raspail's lovers, who Bill had killed and skinned, while Hannibal had killed Raspail, for example) without losing any of the story beats. The only other movie I can think of that manages the same thing is LA Confidential.

R215 In the film Lecter explicitly states he didn't kill Raspail, he "merely tucked him away as he had found him".

I associate Silence of the Lambs and The X-Files very closely. I know they came out around the same time, but they seemed related in how they were filmed and in their tone.

[quote][R215] In the film Lecter explicitly states he didn't kill Raspail, he "merely tucked him away as he had found him".

Right. In the book, Lecter kills him because he's being annoying in one of his sessions. And then serves his pancreas at a dinner party.

Best thing for him, really.

The head in the jar is a sailor named Klaus, for whom Raspail had dumped Bill. Bill tracks them down (I think in an RV at the Russian River), kills Klaus and then greets Raspail wearing an apron made from Klaus' skin. The reason Book Lecter knows that Jame Gumb is Bill is because of what Raspail had told him during his therapy.

Yes, one element that's weaker in the film than the book is Lecter's connection to Jame Gumb--in the book it's very clear Lecter actually met Gumb and knew a lot about him from Raspail; that's why he knows precisely who the killer is. In the movie their connection is little more amorphous--it's not revealed *how* Lecter knows who decapitated his patient. It's a little too close to that awful movie trope of the villain who is all-seeing, all-knowing and who can practically read the hero's mind.

Given that Raspail was a mincing prisspot who none-the-less was obsessed with rough trade, I can only imagine he would have posted here if he had made it into the 21st century.

It places the lotion in the basket or it gets the hose.

[quote] The reason Book Lecter knows that Jame Gumb is Bill is because of what Raspail had told him during his therapy.

Which is one of the weakest bits of plotting in the whole book. What are the statistical chances a serial killer living several states away would have dated someone, and told him about murdering someone, who would be seeing another serial killer as his psychiatrist and confess the boyfriend's murder to him?

Fredrica Bimmel had such a pretty face.

I might be misremembering but wasn't it suggested in the book that Jame took those photos of Fredrica?

I don't think there were photos of Fredrica in the book. Clarice did find some when she was searching Catherine's apartment (and some LSD), which Senator Martin catches her at.

However, after she kills Jame, there is mention of love letters that Fredrica had sent to him...including one written while she was in the pit in the basement.

Big dummy.

[quote]Fredrica Bimmel had such a pretty face.

My immediate thought is that by 2021 standards, she isn't even all that big.

Would everyone still think this was a cinematic masterpiece if Lector was Jeffrey Dahmer, Buffalo Bill only tortured/killed/skinned gay men and Clarice was a young, gay recruit?

Why is femicide a media genre at all? Why does Netflix have 5 thousands fucking shows and shitty movies all about men killing women?

R223, I've often wondered who played Fredrica. She's not "in" the movie but there are many photos of her, she's important to the plot, but I can't find out who played her.

R227 Serial killers are, by far, largely heterosexual men that kill women. That's a statistical fact. Now, I can smell your cunt, so maybe you should fly away, Agent Fartling. Fly, fly, fly. Fly, fly fly.

Don't worry sweetie R227, we kill each other here with cutting remarks and killer shade.

I have a strong interest in true crime, but no interest in this movie. Saw it once and didn't enjoy it. Am I the only one who thinks Jodi Foster is overrated as an actress? I can see her trying to "act" and it's very distracting. Movie is too dark and disturbing. Pass.

[quote] Fredrica Bimmel had such a pretty face.

And even lovelier skin.

No r231, she’s one of the most inexpressive actresses I’ve ever seen. Like a plank of wood.

Jodie Foster is extremely intelligent, but she's a limited actress (she never received enough acting training to fully rid herself of the bag of tricks she learned as a child actress--a common problem with actors who have genuine innate talent but started acting as children like Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood, etc.). But this was the part of the decade as far as heroic women characters go, and it was such a well made film that she got the Oscar for it.

I watched this over the weekend, being inspired by the DL thread. I enjoyed it as much as the first time I watched it. And the lead performances stand up, 30 years later. Their respective Oscars were well-deserved.

"They don't have a word for what he is."

Jodie Foster may be a more limited actress but I'd rather watch her on screen than the overrated bore Meryl Streep or that tedious and affected Jessica Lange.

She gives a great refined performance. One example is the scene right after Miggs throws his cum in her face, and she runs outside. The shot shows her humiliated, furious and defeated while trying to regain her composure. It's all there. Sorry the pic needs to be clicked, it wouldn't show a preview. No wonder so many actresses would not consider the film. So many disturbing scenes, and the subject matter itself. She was brave to tackle this as she did.

I love Michelle Pfeiffer, but she wasn't the right type for this film. Meg Ryan, of course, would've been a disaster.

Jodie Foster was perfect as Clarice.

Foster did a great job showing how much Clarice swallows her anger. There's a line from the book I wished they had carried over to the film: after one of their meetings, Lecter asks her to come back and tell him how she manages her rage.

Nobody seems to know, r228. Not even IMDb, and they usually know everything. IMDb will tell you who played the "Head in a Jar", and even Precious the dog, but no Fredrica Bimmel.

[quote] I read the book before the film was released. I still love the book and the film was fantastic. One of the rare times the film and the book are on equal footing.

What was the book about? What made it so good?

[quote] Ayyyyyyden Fonzarelli-Dudegash

You bitches don’t recognize a parody post when you see one?

Ted Levine and Brooke Smith are about to be reunited on screen after 30 years because he's joined the cast of Big Sky. Which is a crap show, but still... I'll be having a little lotion moment.

Thomas Harris is gay?

No. Given some of the content of Hannibal (the book, not the series), I actually assumed he was pretty homophobic.

[quote]I thought she looked striking with the dark hair and blue eyes.

Do you visualize scenarios, exchanges, fucking her?

[quote] I couldn't figure out why Claire went to the house ALONE.Did she not watch or read Nancy Drew while growing up?

She was interviewing people for background. She didn’t know she was so close to the killer.

Jodi Foster's performance notwithstanding, I enjoy it more as a campy psychological thriller along the lines of, say, "Dressed To Kill" than a genuinely dark and disturbing movie. Hopkins' performance always makes me want to howl with laughter. An unpopular opinion here, I'm sure, but here it is: I actually prefer "Manhunter" (1986) and Brian Cox makes a much darker and less campy villain than Anthony Hopkins.

R91 has never met a surgeon. Most of them are technically serial killers. The ridiculous part of the book was the FBI having a plane and flying cartloads of staff around the country hunting one perp. Government would not spend money like that on Buffalo Bill.

[quote]Although her appearance is not described in any detail the Clarice Starling in the novel is a stunning beauty. After she shoots him Jame Gumb's last words are to her and they are "How...does...it feel...to be...so beautiful?" Jodie Foster was definitely not the right physical type to play her. I thought it was actually a cheap device of Harris's, to make his heroic heroine a heart stopping babe. I thought Starling should have been attractive but not movie star beautiful, as she seems to be in the book.

I could be wrong, but wasn't Gumb talking to a moth, r131?

No R251 he's addressing Clarice when he says this before dying. The book makes more of a point that he's fascinated by her beauty and especially her hair, which they don't really bring out in the movie (except possibly when he reaches out to almost touch her hair before taking aim to shoot).

It lost all credibility when they had Foster say UVA was not a charm schooll.

Did I mention I was there opening night? High as a kite?

See, SOTL has made a permanent place in American society.

[quote]Great script with no fat.

But it is big through the hips. Roomy.

Ta.