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Blue Velvet (1986)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
19 September 1986 (USA) moreTagline:
The Most Talked About Film of the Decade (US Laserdisc release) morePlot:
After finding a severed human ear in a field, a young man soon discovers a sinister underworld lying just beneath his idyllic suburban home town. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 17 wins & 10 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(70 articles)
The Colour of Fear is Orange (From HeyUGuys. 30 October 2009, 10:13 PM, PDT)
Dennis Hopper Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer
(From Atomic Popcorn. 30 October 2009, 7:02 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Strange, Beautiful American Classic more (545 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Isabella Rossellini | ... | Dorothy Vallens | |
| Kyle MacLachlan | ... | Jeffrey Beaumont (as Kyle Maclachlan) | |
| Dennis Hopper | ... | Frank Booth | |
| Laura Dern | ... | Sandy Williams | |
| Hope Lange | ... | Mrs. Williams | |
| Dean Stockwell | ... | Ben | |
| George Dickerson | ... | Detective Williams | |
| Priscilla Pointer | ... | Mrs. Beaumont | |
| Frances Bay | ... | Aunt Barbara | |
| Jack Harvey | ... | Mr. Beaumont | |
| Ken Stovitz | ... | Mike | |
| Brad Dourif | ... | Raymond | |
| Jack Nance | ... | Paul | |
| J. Michael Hunter | ... | Hunter | |
| Dick Green | ... | Don Vallens |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
120 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
DolbyCertification:
New Zealand:R18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 (1999) | Finland:K-18 (1987) | Israel:18 | Brazil:16 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (1999) | Argentina:18 (video premiere) | Mexico:D (cut) | Norway:15 (re-rating) (2007) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Greece:K-17 (tv rating) | Switzerland:18 (canton of the Grisons) | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:R(A) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Iceland:16Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Dean Stockwell held a worklight in the "In Dreams" sequence only after director David Lynch saw him holding one during a lighting session. He was originally supposed to hold a microphone. moreGoofs:
Continuity: After Frank and Ben received their glasses there's some froth topping Frank's beer, but not Ben's. However, in the close-up of Ben there's clearly a thin layer of froth. Back to both in frame, and again Ben's beer has no froth. moreQuotes:
[first lines]Radio announcer: It's a sunny, woodsy day in Lumberton, so get those chainsaws out. This is the mighty W.O.O.D., the musical voice of Lumberton. At the sound of the falling tree, it's 9:30. There's a whole lotta wood waitin' out there, so let's get goin'.
Nurse Cindy: Mr. Beaumont? Your son Jeffrey's here to see you.
more
Soundtrack:
Blue Star moreFAQ
How much sex, violence and profanity are in this movie?Was the man in the yellow suit dead?
Is there a significance to the ear and the bugs?
more
more (545 total)
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In the early moments of "Blue Velvet" we see idealized small town images - blooming red roses and immaculate white picket fences - accompanied by the sounds of the gentle Bobby Vinton pop tune that gives the film its title. If you sense something unsettling about this perfection, that's only appropriate. "Blue Velvet" is a David Lynch film, you see, and it won't be long at all before a clean-cut college student comes across a rotting ear in an open field.
Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) is the boy who finds the ear, and Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) is the blonde policeman's daughter who assists Jeffrey when he decides to investigate the truth about his disturbing discovery. Sandy and Jeffrey link the ear to night club singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and later, a deranged man named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper).
"I don't know if you're a detective or a pervert," Sandy tells Jeffrey when he decides to sneak into Dorothy's apartment. As Jeffrey becomes sexually entangled with Dorothy, we can only cast similar doubt.
It's true that "Blue Velvet"'s dark mysteries have the power to repulse. Voyeurism, rape, torture, and murder are all key to the plot. Yet the film is also spellbinding in its beauty. Vibrant colors and ominous shadows offer gorgeous contrast - call it Technicolor noir - and the film is rife with unforgettable imagery. Moments big and small, from MacLachlan playing with a child's birthday hat to Dean Stockwell's show-stopping lip-synch of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", are as haunting as anything you will see at the movies anywhere.
The acting is top-notch. MacLachlan is just right as the lost innocent Jeffrey, and Hopper shreds the screen as his depraved counterpoint Frank. Rossellini's performance as Dorothy is devastating and extremely courageous: this is her defining moment as an actress.
"Blue Velvet" is perhaps the quintesstential David Lynch film. His strange humor and painterly gift for creating stunning images are prominently on display, and the film illustrates Lynch's contradictory impulses toward unbridled nastiness and aw-shucks sweetness like no other has. After all these years, "Blue Velvet" is still a shocker, and deciding how one feels about it is still a challenge. It is a film to be considered and then reconsidered, visited and revisited, the kind of film that will never fade away. For serious cinephiles, then, "Blue Velvet" is a film to be cherished.