MPAA Rated – R
It’s 2:00 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
| Blue Velvet Movie Stats & Links |
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| Starring: | Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Isabella Rosselllini |
| MPAA Rated: | R |
| Released By: | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment |
| Release Date: | November 8, 2011 |
| Kiddie Movie: | For the love of all things great and small, put them to bed before popping in the Blu-ray. |
| Date Movie: | Only if she likes twistedness. |
| Gratuitous Sex: | Dennis Hopper is a sadist, and Isabella Rossellini gets naked. It’s gratuitous and disturbing. |
| Gratuitous Violence: | Um, duh. |
| Action: | No real action. |
| Laughs: | Nope. |
| Memorable Scene: | Every time you see Dennis Hopper take a hit of Amyl nitrate you know bad things are coming. |
| Memorable Quote: | Too many sick quotes from Dennis Hopper’s Frank. |
| Directed By: | David Lynch |
| Cool Things About the Blu-ray?: | You get tons of bonus/lost footage, and a great documentary. And, a few outtakes. |
“Blue Velvet” attempts to answer the proverbial question: “What would you do if you found a human ear in a field?” Okay, it doesn’t really try to answer that question, but it is the starting point for one of the most twisted, entertaining, and masterpieces of movie-making ever.
It’s been probably 20+ years since I’ve seen “Blue Velvet” and I have to say that I forgot how twisted of a character Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) is. It was only after seeing that initial scene of young Jeffrey being trapped in Dorothy’s room and Frank, inhaling Amyl nitrate, while terrorizing Dorothy, that it started to come rushing back to me.
The story basically goes like this: It’s the smallish town of Lumberton, and Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) comes across a human ear in a field. Okay, sure, this is after his dad ends up in the hospital, but who’s really keeping track? Anyway, what to do? Well, he takes it to the police. It is there he is put in the world of Detective Williams and his lovely daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern). As Jeffrey begins his own investigation into the ear, thanks to some help from Sandy, he finds himself breaking into the apartment of Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini), a messed-up, nightclub singer, and it is there that the disturbingness of Frank is truly witnessed. Now Jeffrey is getting wrapped into twisted feelings and trying to help Dorothy, he wants to get to the truth around Frank, and suddenly we find Jeffrey being pretty much kidnapped by Frank on a wild night on the town in Lumberton. Frank is a maniacal drug/prostitute guy, and Jeffrey is doing his darndest to put all of the pieces together, including corrupt policemen and conflicting feelings for both Sandy and Dorothy, to put Frank away and get him away from Dorothy. All of the mystery, intrigue, and twistedness of Frank continues until the fantastic end.
Yup, I forgot how twisted the movie is, as well as how much I liked it, and if you want the best of the best of Dennis Hopper being a crazy man, forget that “Speed” movie grabage, in “Blue Velvet” he takes twisted to an entirely different level.
So, all of the forgetting aside, I can’t help but give “Blue Velvet” 4 ½ stars out of 5. It holds up 25 years later.
As far as the movie on Blu-ray, let me simply say this – The movie looks fantastic. The press release says David Lynch supervised the transfer and color correction, and it shows as this is one movie where the color contrasts just pop. And as far as the other things on Blu-ray, for all of you uber “Blue Velvet” fans, it’s got nearly an hour of lost footage, some goofy outtakes, and the part I found most fascinating, the “Mysteries of Love Documentary” giving tons of insight into how this movie came to be, including why there was an ear in the field.
A great, twisted movie, it looks great on Blu-ray, and for a change it’s a release that has great, extra content without going overboard. Ah, screw it – 5 stars out of 5!
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!