The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writers:

Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay)

Stars:

Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney

Top Rated Movies #23 | Won 5 Oscars. Another 63 wins & 51 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jodie Foster	...	Clarice Starling
Lawrence A. Bonney	...	FBI Instructor
Kasi Lemmons	...	Ardelia Mapp
Lawrence T. Wrentz	...	Agent Burroughs
Scott Glenn	...	Jack Crawford
Anthony Heald	...	Dr. Frederick Chilton
Frankie Faison	...	Barney
Don Brockett	...	Friendly Psychopath
Frank Seals Jr.	...	Brooding Psychopath
Stuart Rudin	...	Miggs
Anthony Hopkins	...	Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Maria Skorobogatov	...	Young Clarice (as Masha Skorobogatov)
Jeffrie Lane	...	Clarice's Father
Leib Lensky	...	Mr. Lang
George 'Red' Schwartz	...	Mr. Lang's Driver (as Red Schwartz)

Storyline

F.B.I. trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) works hard to advance her career, while trying to hide or put behind her West Virginia roots, of which if some knew, would automatically classify her as being backward or white trash. After graduation, she aspires to work in the agency's Behavioral Science Unit under the leadership of Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn). While she is still a trainee, Crawford asks her to question Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins), a psychiatrist imprisoned, thus far, for eight years in maximum security isolation for being a serial killer who cannibalized his victims. Clarice is able to figure out the assignment is to pick Lecter's brains to help them solve another serial murder case, that of someone coined by the media as "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who has so far killed five victims, all located in the eastern U.S., all young women, who are slightly overweight (especially around the hips), all who were drowned in natural bodies of water, and all who ...

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Plot Keywords:

serial killer | psycho thriller | bad guy wins | stuck in a well | psychopath | 

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Taglines:

From the terrifying best seller

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter is rated as the number one villain on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains list.

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Goofs

During the discussion Clarice has with Hannibal in the cage, she says "Now, please listen to me. We've only got five..." and Hannibal is supposed to interrupt her but it there is a brief pause before Hannibal speaks. It is clear that she stopped talking without being interrupted.

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Quotes

[first lines]
FBI instructor: Starling! Starling! Crawford wants to see you in his office.
Clarice Starling: Thank you, sir.

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Crazy Credits

The ending scene continues throughout the entire credits

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Alternate Versions

This film was originally released by the now-defunct Orion Pictures Corporation. After Orion went bankrupt, all their films, as well as many sequel rights, were acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which produced the sequel, Hannibal, and prequel, Red Dragon. When The Silence of the Lambs was re-issued on video in 1999, and on DVD in 2001, it was released by MGM home video. As a result, their corporate logo now precedes the Orion Pictures logo.

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Connections

Referenced in Castle: Dead Red (2016)

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Soundtracks

Goldberg Variations
(1741)
Performed by Jerry Zimmerman
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach (as J.S. Bach)

User Reviews

Dr.Lecter, I'd like to see you again...

The Silence of the Lambs runs two hours.Anthony Hopkins appears for little more than sixteen minutes, yet during those minutes he hasn't bored you for a second, not even after the tenth or eleventh viewing. Such is the power of his performance, it's absolutely impossible to forget him.His character, Dr.Hannibal"The Cannibal" Lecter, is a brutal killer with revolting methods and habits, but he's also very intelligent, charismatic and with good taste(you can interpret that as you like).A clichè by now, but who cares? He still is one of the key elements in this wonderful thriller, which sees Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling asking for Lecter's help to catch another killer.The result is a dangerous yet fascinating relationship between the young, unexperienced FBI-agent and the convicted,but basically omnipotent, psychiatrist.He's a step ahead of everyone all the time, and makes sure everyone notices, with his witty, unforgettable one-liners.If there had to be only one reason to worship this movie, then it would have to be the chemistry between the two leading actors.Never before has a non-sexual man/woman connection been more thrilling.Never before has a film's ending been more unsettling and brilliant and left us asking for more.

Best watched with a nice Chianti...

P.S. dear film-buffs, have the lambs stopped screaming?

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

14 February 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Silence of the Lambs

Filming Locations:

Clay County, West Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,766,814, 18 February 1991

Gross USA:

$130,742,922

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$272,753,884

Company Credits

Production Co:

Strong Heart/Demme Production, Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min 138 min (original cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1