Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Ted Levine in the Jonathan Demme movie ‘The Silence of the Lambs’

A psychological horror movie based on the 1988 Thomas Harris novel The Silence of the Lambs captures our attention today. Released this weekend 32 years ago, we look into the Jonathan Demme directed movie The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

(From left, Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford and Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).

The Silence of the Lambs opens with an introduction to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) trainee Clarice Starling, as portrayed by Jodie Foster, being withdrawn from her Quantico, Virginia training by Jack Crawford of the FBI‘s behavioral analysis unit for a special assignment. Crawford, portrayed by Scott Glenn, assigns Starling to interview former psychiatrist and cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter, in furtherance of the investigation of an ongoing set of serial crimes occurring in the present day.

(From left, Anthony Heald as Dr. Frederick Chilton and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).

The visit to the so-called Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane introduces us through Starling to Lector, as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. It is here that much of the significant groundwork is laid for aiming to gain insight into the Buffalo Bill serial killer, the complex psychology of Lecter, and the unseemly motivations of many attached to the storylines of Lecter, his stay at this hospital, and the underlying criminal behavior in play with Buffalo Bill. It is at this hospital that we are introduced to Dr. Frederick Chilton and orderly Barney Matthews, portrayed respectively by Anthony Heald and Frankie Faison.

(From left, Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin and Ted Levine as Jame Gumb in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).

A further intrigue for The Silence of the Lambs deals with the disappearance of Catherine Martin as portrayed by Brooke Smith. Martin is the daughter of U.S. Senator Ruth Martin of Tennessee, as portrayed by Diane Baker. That there’s a connection to Jame Gumb, as portrayed by Ted Levine, is part of the underlying notion of pulling Lecter and Starling into the notion of conversing in the first place.

(From left, Diane Baker as U.S. Senator Ruth Martin, Kasi Lemmons as Ardelia Mapp and Darla as the dog Precious in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).

The compelling ways that the threads of the characters tie together, along with the emotional weight of the darkness motivating and acting on multiple characters in this narrative, lend strength to the ways the personal stories of this larger narrative work together in delivering strong psychological impact to the stories. The sympathetic roles of Ardelia Mapp, as portrayed by Kasi Lemmons, and Precious further this impact. Darla portrayed Precious, the dog.

(From left, actor Anthony Hopkins, actor Frankie Faison and director Jonathan Demme on location for the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).

The staying power of the underpinning story of The Silence of the Lambs rest largely with the character of Hannibal Lecter. The deviance from societal norms on multiple fronts, with a resonating portrayal of him by Anthony Hopkins, sticks with me many years after my initial encounter with him. The sensibilities of the era the story lives in are captured well, too. I offer The Silence of the Lambs as directed by Jonathan Demme 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, February 11, 2023

Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe and Frances McDormand in the Alan Parker movie ‘Mississippi Burning’

The movie Mississippi Burning (1988) originates its sense of setting with the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael ‘Mickey’ Schwerner. For a historical account of their disappearance and murders near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, you may review this description. Mississippi Burning was woven into a crime thriller with two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents investigating the disappearance of three civil rights workers in fictional Jessup County. The hostility encountered from the town’s residents, local police, and the Ku Klux Klan launches a police procedural that becomes the story.

(From left, Willem Dafoe as FBI agent Alan Ward (based on Joseph Sullivan) and Gene Hackman as FBI agent Rupert Anderson (based on John Proctor) in the Alan Parker movie Mississippi Burning).

The movie begins with an introduction to one black and two Jewish civil rights workers tasked with helping African Americans register for voting. The three disappear, which sufficiently alarms the national organizations supporting the workers to contact the FBI. Agents Alan Ward and Rupert Anderson, as portrayed by Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman, respectively, are dispatched to work in a reluctant local community to get to the truth and bring a sense of justice to a situation bent in a decidedly different direction. The FBI agents have a decidedly different approach for engaging the people in the local community.

(From left, Brad Dourif as Deputy Sheriff Clinton Pell (based on Cecil Price) and Gailard Sartain as Ray Stuckey, Sheriff of Jessup County (based on Lawrence A. Rainey) in the Alan Parker movie Mississippi Burning).

The difficulty engaging the community begins with the fanatical presence of the Ku Klux Klan, which has penetrated the police where the disappearances occurred. The black community is afraid lives in legitimate fear while the white community sees and / or administers the hate and abuse rampant in the town. Jessup County Sheriff Ray Stuckey and Deputy Sheriff Clinton Pell, as portrayed Gailard Sartain and Brad Dourif, respectively, are prominent leaders in this underlying truth.

(Frances McDormand as Mrs. Pell (as based on Conner Price, standing) and Park Overall as Connie (seated) in the Alan Parker movie Mississippi Burning).

A fair portion of the investigative portion of the movie offers insight into the differing approaches for learning the fate of the civil rights workers. The older FBI agent Rupert Anderson and the more senior FBI agent Alan Ward have distinctly different styles, wherein the more by-the-book approach reigns supreme from the start of the movie. This really ruffles the elder field agent, and the exposition for how this works out really offers credit to the storytelling, if not the historical accuracy, of the movie. While the absence of significant focus on the black population in the storytelling is a problem for some, the incorporation of Mrs. Pell and Connie, as portrayed by Frances McDormand and Park Overall, has it merits.

(From left, Darius McCrary as Aaron Williams and Lou Walker as Vertis Williams in the Alan Parker movie Mississippi Burning).

The break that ends the law enforcement tension above happens with a cost. Aaron and Vertis Williams, as portrayed by Darius McCrary and Lou Walker, respectively, suffer at a key point that brings about a swift transition in approach that may or may not be decisive. That this shift occurs is emotionally satisfying, whether Ward and Anderson actually come to appreciate each other afterward or not.

(From left, R. Lee Ermey as Mayor Tilman, Stephen Tobolowsky as Clayton Townley (based on Samuel Bowers) and Michael Rooker as Frank Bailey (based on Alton Wayne Roberts) in the Alan Parker movie Mississippi Burning).

Zeroing in on the community dedication to participating in or tacitly approving of it, outside the local police, included businessman Clayton Townley, Mayor Tilman and believer Frank Bailey. Stephen Tobolowsky, R. Lee Ermey and Michael Rooker portrayed Townley, Tilman and Bailey, respectively. That an attempt to connect the dots with these three, plus Lester Cowens (based on Jimmy Snowden), was an appreciated touch in the portrayed story. Pruitt Taylor Vince portrayed Lester Cowens.

(Actor Gene Hackman and director Alan Parker on location for the Alan Parker movie Mississippi Burning).

There is so many interesting choices made in the movie that we receive with Mississippi Burning. The choices in what to include and exclude thematically, both from the historical sense and then from the emotional sense of helping folks feel the importance of the story were solid. The decision not to take the perspective of the aggrieved parties themselves further, or the aggrieved class of people further, is interesting as a limitation; my sense is that the movie still works despite not going further. Additionally, the depth of the cast that told the story included additionally needs to be called out as a recommendation for this movie. I grant Mississippi as directed by Alan Parker 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, February 26, 2022

Top 20 Movie “Do the Right Thing”

Top 20 Movie Do The Right Thing (1989) ranks 7th in Matt Lynn Digital’s Top 20 Movies in ranked order listing. This critical look at race relations, political issues, urban crime and violence brought film producer, director, writer, and actor Spike Lee an Academy Award nomination for the best writing category for screenplay written directly for the screen.

The film stands as a testament to acknowledging racial tension in a way that speaks with sympathy to the perspectives of many sides. As the Roger Ebert review of Do The Right Thing says

“[Spike Lee] didn’t draw lines or take sides but simply looked with sadness at one racial flashpoint that stood for many others.”

(Spike Lee as Mookie in Do The Right Thing)

Do the Right Thing tells the story of a day in the life of one Brooklyn street. We meet the neighbors and the neighborhood, seeing in small steps how a heated, hot day in the life of a neighborhood looks and feels like. We see the humanity and the frustration as a neighborhood living in bigotry boils over into violence, and the setting of a revenge fire in the face of an unprovoked murder at the hands of the police.

 (Love and Hate for Radio Raheem as played by Bill Nunn in Do the Right Thing)

It is the loud music of Radio Raheem’s boom box, in concert with the demands of Buggin Out (played by Giancarlo Esposito) to see African American faces on the wall of Sal’s Pizzeria that ostensibly leads to the film’s resolution. Sal (played by Danny Aiello) takes a bite of hate out of the booming sound of Radio Raheem’s boom box, symbolically answering one form of disrespect (the loudness) with another (property destruction). The pizzeria is destroyed while Raheem loses his life; the inequality of this exchange given that insurance can rebuild a pizzeria is the testimony that speaks loudest.

As Rosie Perez, who played Tina in the film, is quoted as saying in the 20th anniversary DVD for Do the Right Thing:

“I saw the magic of the filmmaking…There’s a science to it. And it’s science, plus love, plus art, plus talent. And that occurred, and that’s why I think this movie is an American classic. I really do. I really do. Hands down. Hands down. Hands down.”

Do the Right Thing is our eighth (8th) ranked film. Twenty-eight years after the initial release, the message of this film still stands up today.

Matt – Saturday, December 9, 2017