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) |
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 ... Written by Huggo
The Silence of the Lambs, having accomplished the rare feat of winning all five of the major Academy Award categories, is a remarkable achievement in filmmaking. Gruesome, pulpish material was transformed by dedicated participants on all levels of production, and a film that would have failed in the hands of many others wound up becoming a modern masterpiece. Taut direction and a superb screenplay might be the best arguments for the film's power, but the flashiest are certainly delivered in the bravura performances of Hopkins and Foster. Their interplay -- and remember, they only share a handful of scenes together -- is nothing short of riveting.