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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 4741
Released: June 4, 2002 |
| Our Price: $6.31 |
| Used Price: $5.63 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
An engaging dark thriller about a young man after discovering a human ear in a field begins an investigation into a subculture of killers addicts and sexual deviants. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/20/2005 Starring: Kyle Maclachlan Dennis Hopper Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R
Description of Blue Velvet (Special Edition):
David Lynch peeks behind the picket fences of small-town America to reveal a corrupt shadow world of malevolence, sadism, and madness. From the opening shots Lynch turns the Technicolor picture postcard images of middle class homes and tree-lined lanes into a dreamy vision on the edge of nightmare. After his father collapses in a preternaturally eerie sequence, college boy Kyle MacLachlan returns home and stumbles across a severed human ear in a vacant lot. With the help of sweetly innocent high school girl (Laura Dern), he turns junior detective and uncovers a frightening yet darkly compelling world of voyeurism and sex. Drawn deeper into the brutal world of drug dealer and blackmailer Frank, played with raving mania by an obscenity-shouting Dennis Hopper in a career-reviving performance, he loses his innocence and his moral bearings when confronted with pure, unexplainable evil. Isabella Rossellini is terrifyingly desperate as Hopper's sexual slave who becomes MacLachlan's illicit lover, and Dean Stockwell purrs through his role as Hopper's oh-so-suave buddy. Lynch strips his surreally mundane sets to a ghostly austerity, which composer Angelo Badalamenti encourages with the smooth, spooky strains of a lush score. Blue Velvet is a disturbing film that delves into the darkest reaches of psycho-sexual brutality and simply isn't for everyone. But for a viewer who wants to see the cinematic world rocked off its foundations, David Lynch delivers a nightmarish masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker
Blue Velvet (Special Edition) Reviews:
A film that will change your senses.... 
2009-11-17 - Many people praise films becuase of the impact it has had on their emotions. Many also praise films because of the true meaning that underlies the imagery. Blue Velvet has made a busy man like myself sit and take the time to write a review. This film will open your eyes, change your perspective, and re-evaluate the things you take for granted everyday. I bought this David Lynch tour-de-force on a whim - I had been a fan of Eraserhead for a very long time and this masterpiece completely devoured me from the opening score. The imagery will literally rip your eyes open as the darkly melodic themes float around your visual shock.
First off, kudos to Dennis Hopper on portraying one of the most mind-blowing villians that I have had the pleasure of viewing- Frank Booth. From his shock-inspiring first appearance to his final demise he portrays what truely evil people fight with the most-themselves. His self-doubt is evident throughout the film and his choice of cover is a ruthlessness not seen since my first viewing of Max Cady in Cape Fear. From the way his face contorts when inhaling though his mask to his unstable, rage-driven personality, it is a performance like no other i have ever seen.
Speaking of great performances in this film, I cannot help but include my favorite seven minutes of the entire movie, led by none other than the great Dean Stockwell. His portrayal of "Suave Ben", Frank's pansexual partner in crime, will haunt your mind for days. I could not believe how disturbing his character was. The man that i had watched in so many Quantum Leap episodes literally blew me away with such a bizarre and terrific semi-cameo appearance. Watch how him and Frank interact in that short sequence- it is blatantly obvious that Frank looks up to Ben and we are only left with our ideas as to what kind of person Frank would admire. Chilling, indeed.
In closing, Blue Velvet will give you an entirely different feeling the next time you listen to Bobby Vinton's song of the same name.
PS- As I had mentioned Eraserhead before, watch for Jack Nance's fiendish little role as Paul, one of Frank's thugs.
One To Own
2009-09-11 - The finest and most famous of David Lynch's films often requires repeated viewings for one to appreciate it. It's quite accessible - far more so than his particularly cryptic projects - but its earnest celebration of small-town innocence, lurid depravity and oddly deadpan performances are likely to challenge the most weathered sensibilities of those few remaining uninitiated cinephiles. By forcing audiences to accept what might seem hokey or facetious at face value by contrasting the movie's Americana idyll with a vicious coexisting criminality, Lynch breathed new life into an increasingly stagnant American market. Ironically, a mainstream breakthrough enabled him to fill a void left in the wake of perished New Hollywood by way of retro stylization. This homage to Hitchcock imbues the trappings of a formal mystery with surrealist flourishes and surprisingly complex characters.
If ever a movie deserved a good treatment on DVD, it's this one. "Blue Velvet" was beautifully and precisely shot with Lynch's usual eye for minute detail. For years, fans whose access to the film was limited to television airings and VHS editions suffered through a horrendous, washed-out pan-and-scan butchery of this picture's sprawling 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The film's anamorphic format was repaired to MGM's first DVD release, but this second "Special Edition" finally restores the full luster of its vibrant, gritty Technicolor. As a result, the visuals are gorgeous, presented exactly as Lynch intended. The audio quality of this disc's Dolby 5.1 English track is also quite fine, even though some of the midrange dialogue sounds faintly tinny in a few scenes. Background and peripheral audio is rendered with outstanding clarity. If the disc contained only the film, it would be well worth its retail price, but there's plenty more here that warrants further exploration.
The main menu is impressive in itself: the elegant title hovers above the menu's options, below which a strip of four frames exhibit a montage selection of the movie's many iconic scenes. I needn't mention what the backdrop for this screen is. This is scored by the second half of "Night Streets," a reworking of Angelo Badalamenti's main title theme - a sly, romantic synthesis of Bernard Herrman and Shostakovich which actually quotes from the latter's fifteenth symphony.
The dubbed French dialogue track is very good in terms of both fidelity and vocalization. While the Spanish track is reasonably well-voiced, it's also burdened by a terrible mix of which the volume of all voices is fixed while the rest of the soundtrack is nearly inaudible. The English, Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles are all clearly presented in the same white, sans-serif font, and the translations of the Romance language subs are as reliably faithful to the dialogue as the English text.
All of the special features are worth watching. The average featurette is usually so dull that I feel an urgent need for coffee when I decide to suffer through one, but the documentary on this disc, "Mysteries of Love," is a significant cut above most extras of its sort. Ably produced and edited, it draws its narrative from numerous probing interviews conducted for the documentary with MacLachlan, Rossellini, Hopper, Dern, Badalamenti, producer Fred Caruso, DP Fred Elmes and editor Duwayne Dunham; these are interspersed with footage shot on-set during production, as well as scenes from the film itself. The program also draws on interviews with Lynch and the film's sound designer, the late Alan Splet, which were conducted and shot shortly after the release of "Blue Velvet." Quite a few amusing and agonizing stories are related by the cast and crew, as are some penetrating insights - the three leads exhibit a distinctly astute understanding of their characters, and while the picture's themes and symbolism are fairly easy to comprehend, only Lynch can explain it all as he perceives it.
Those who are looking for deleted scenes will only be treated to visual impressions of them. A while after Lynch halved the four-hour running time of his rough cut in order to complete the finished two-hour cut that he was contractually obligated to deliver, the cut footage was lost and has never been recovered. All we're left with is a montage culled from publicity stills of these scenes, which are fully detailed in Lynch's screenplay. From these, it's safe to say that most of what Lynch cut consisted of filler and a few exciting sequences, all of which are interesting but probably in no way crucial.
For those who can bear to watch it, a brief clip from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's show "At the Movies" is included, in which the famed film critics discuss their opposing views of Lynch's masterwork. Anyone who's familiar with these two won't be surprised to find that Siskel appreciates the movie for the right reasons, while Ebert, after acknowledging Lynch's talent, whines like a menstruating woman (or in this instance, a typically self-righteous papist) because the brutalization of Rossellini's character hurt his feelings. Of course, it's all about him and how he FEELS. The result is the kind of disorienting conflict of opinion that could often be seen on this show, generated primarily by the disparity between the two hosts' intelligence; Siskel was surely smarter than Ebert by at least 30 IQ points.
The disc's three photo galleries contain surprisingly pleasant material. Titled "Lumberton, USA," the first of these consists of an array of photos that depict Lynch's interaction with his cast and crew. "International Posters" presents the movie's American, British, Italian and French theatrical posters. A third gallery draws from a series of photos shot by documentarian Peter Braatz that convey a unique perspective of the movie's production.
As expected, the enigmatic theatrical trailer is included, as are two shorter, cruder TV spots that are sure to arouse '80s nostalgia in anyone who's capable of it.
If you want to find this DVD's easter eggs on your own, please don't read any further. I've uncovered three, though there may be more. In the main menu, navigate below the second tier of menu options; the cursor will transform into a picket fence icon. Selection of this icon will trigger an alternate main menu, the montage frames of which display a different set of scenes. From here, one can again navigate below the menu selections to find that the cursor becomes a robin icon. When selected, this plays a short outtake from the "Mysteries of Love" documentary in which Fred Elmes explains the odd set of circumstances surrounding the conspicuously artificial robin featured in the film's final sequence.
In the Special Features menu, select the "Special" of the screen's title. It runs an even shorter video in which Lynch provides his opinion of McDonald's.
I'm often satisfied to own torrented video files and VHS editions, and don't often feel a strong desire to own a DVD based on the quality of its content, presentation and extras, but this really is an exceptional disc. Whether you're a fan of Lynch, the movie itself or great film making in general, this is a first-rate disc that's actually worth buying.
Pabst Blue Ribbon!
2009-07-17 - Heineken! [....] Pabst Blue Ribbon! Even psychos can make sense. Best movie of the 1980s? Don't know, there were some good ones. David Lynch's best film? Don't know about that either. In his...top three surely. Lynch's most entertaining movie? Hell yeah.
I'm just doing a little customer review because I LOVE this movie. What to say, what to say. *Why* do I love this movie? Because of the performances. Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, Isabella Rossellini, and of course Dennis Hopper are terrific. And I love film noir and surreal, atmospheric films so it is kind of up my alley. The story unfolds at a good pace, the dialog holds your attention. At times it is very funny and very creepy. I am fascinated by explorations and depictions of the underbelly of society, the flip-side to the so-called American Dream. Stuff -art, music, social criticism, historical analysis, novels, films, etc.- that mock or at least question if the American Dream is just a crock in the first place, a delusion, a lie. Criminals and transgression are inherently interesting to most people, to some degree or other, and do make a perfect subject for the movies. We can watch safely in our homes or theater and satisfy our curiosities and get a little thrill like when riding a roller coaster or haunted house ride at an amusement park. The often analyzed/discussed beginning of "Blue Velvet" is absolutely brilliant. As is often the case with films, the opening scene shows you exactly what the story is about.
Necessary Lynch
2009-07-16 - This is quintessential Lynch. The characters are spellbinding. The story is captivating. It lacks the circular motif that appears so strongly in later works. The film is unmistakably Lynch, but is likely to be appreciated by non-Lynch fans as well.
Kyle MacLachlan is his usual self. I find him to be consistently and dependably good.
Anthony Hopkins delivers what I consider to be his most memorable performance. His character achieves proportions that have been burned an impression in my mind that only deepens as I get older.
This is a keeper.
A Masterpiece of American Film Making
2009-04-19 - Now that my initial stupor upon seeing this film is gone (along with that impulse review I made of this), it's high time for me to write a review on one of my favorite movies of all time.
I don't care about Citizen Kane, the detractors, Rogert Ebert, or whatever have you. For me, Blue Velvet is simply one of the best movies ever. It's perveise, yes, and for some people, the shock value of this alone makes this film talked about. Rather, I think it's because I can make such a link to this film, the themes of this film are so evident to me, that the fact that there is such a film makes me feel great.
What link? For one, I have both sides to me, although I induldge in the darker side of me, something Jeffrey oppresses. The setting is beautiful, almost reminded me of a place I dreamed pleasant dreams about. When they profess their love for each other, the music reflects the emotion, and FEEL of what it's like to fall in love, and especially at a nostalgic, fond-teenager memory event such as a dance. It's incredible. Frank is funnier than other makes him out to be. He's not really scary, and his insults are hilarious and comical (all in a good way, of course). He just loves to swear, because I know the virtues of swearing as well. I don't even get into the sexual themes, that's a bit too personal for me to share with a bunch of other people. Simply put, the personal thoughts and feelings attatched to this film will make me more passionate and loving of it, the way I do with my music.
Of course, Blue Velvet is thrilling, beautiful, and yes, acted out great.
One common complaint is how supposedly wooden Kyle MChalgau (ahhh!) acting is. Oh sure, he's normal, calm, and collective most of the time, but I think that's the whole point. He doesn't show much, but his character is very believable. SOrry, I do not see him as wooden. And as the fake bird, I never even could tell how fake it was until someone pointed it out. I didn't pay attention, so what do I care? And for the plot holes, what plot holes? Everything makes sense. The only problem with the acting is the crying. None of the characters have tears in their eyes. Unless all the characters have Familia dysautonomia, I find the lack of tears a bit unrealistic.
And for some of the people who are a bit perplexed about the ending, well, of course order is going to be restored! The downfall of Frank means the downfall of the whole criminal underworld. Without Frank, the empire that he builds would fall! The Yellow Man is dead, and Frank is dead, these are the two people that are involved in most of the killings. And that Ben guy? All he does is run prostitution. Suave Ben, you really think he's going to kill a little child. Maybe he would, but then again, with all the child kidnappings, there have been plenty of children who were rescused unharmed. ANd you can live happily ever after. Even with the dark side of us, it's possible to live a life that Jeffrey is living at the end. How? Look at me. I plan on doing this myself, so it's possible. It's the kind of life I can live despite my love of darkness. I have experienced something like the end, so therefore, it's valid.
Words can't really express, so you think, choppy, poorly written, ramblins will do any better? Hardly, but I see this movie being held close to my heart for a long while. Blue Velvet is a must see. I have to make sure I watch more of his movies, or movies that have the same kind of themes (i'm sure there are movies that are even more heavy than this). Hey, this movie sparked my interest further into more potentially heavy just like Jeffrey's curiosity led him into the seedy!
A
