TW: Sexual violence and assault; kidnapping
THRILL SCALE 1-10
7
HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?
Yes, but it was roughly 15 years ago
BEST SEQUENCE
Candy-coloured clown they call the sandman
NSFW
BEST LINE
"HEINEKEN?! Fuck that shit! PABST BLUE RIBBON!" - This is a fun thing to yell at people you see drinking Heineken, and it's even more fun if you happen to be drinking PBR at the time. Guaranteed to make you a big hit at parties
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE
94%
ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS
"If audiences walk away from this subversive, surreal shocker not fully understanding the story, they might also walk away with a deeper perception of the potential of film storytelling."
IMDB SYNOPSIS
"The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child."
THOUGHTS
- The chilling, disturbing nature of this movie is entirely contributed by Dennis Hopper's performance as the villain Frank Booth. He is a brutal, sadistic psychopath who seems to act entirely on impulse. One gets the sense that Frank Booth himself doesn't really plan his actions any further than five seconds into the future, and that unpredictability makes him a terrifying wildcard
- The interesting thing about this performance is that Hopper is playing it straight, but if you pitch it slightly differently, or you take certain scenes, lines or mannerisms out of the context of the full movie, you could be forgiven for thinking it's supposed to be comical. His excessive vulgarity, especially, approaches absurdity; he swears in nearly every single line of dialogue he has
- His introductory scene, however, in which he physically and sexually assaults Isabella Rossellini, is so bleak and so starkly violent, that it colours the entire performance for the rest of the film. We see what kind of a person he is right away, and it's impossible to forget, even if the character's crassness may be played for laughs in a very different kind of movie
- While he also played a mass-murdering psychopath in Speed, Blue Velvet is certainly a darker movie and a darker performance, partly because of how much more raw and graphic it is. Funny that two of Hopper's best-known villains appear so close together on this list of 100 movies, and I believe this may be the last we see of Dennis Hopper on the AFI's list, unless Waterworld or Super Mario Bros. make a surprise appearance
- Isabella Rossellini, as Dorothy Vallens, is also extremely effective as the woman being terrorized and sexually blackmailed by Frank. She projects such desperation and vulnerability
- Kyle MacLachlan plays our protagonist, and he's good, especially when you can tell he's scared out of his wits by his interactions with Frank. Kyle's budding romance with Laura Dern was fine, didn't do much for me, but it was kind of nice to have a little bit of optimism in a movie like this
- I haven't seen much David Lynch, but I do feel like I have a good sense of his style. By all accounts this is one of his more plot-focused movies, but there are some very bizarre parts to it, including the scene highlighted above. Certainly, this is way more coherent than something like Eraserhead
- Finally, Kyle MacLachlan's urbane college student, Jeffrey, sure does love Heineken. "Man, I like Heineken! You like Heineken?" he says to Laura Dern at the start of one of their dates. I'm sure this trait is intended to say something about his character, but I prefer to think of it as very ill-advised product placement, especially considering Frank's vociferous critique of Heineken when compared to a nice, cold PBR
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