Blue Velvet (film)
Blue Velvet is a 1986 American neo-noir, mystery and thriller film written and directed by David Lynch. The film features Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern. The title Blue Velvet is taken from the Bobby Vinton song of the same name.
Set in the small town of Lumberton, North Carolina, the film tells a story of college student Jeffrey Beamount, who discovers a severed human ear in a grass field behind a neighbourhood. Jeffrey decides to investigate the case himself, with the assistance of Sandy Williams, a high school student and daughter of Lieutenant John Williams, town sheriff. Sandy provides Jeffrey with information she overheard from her father's office which aid them in their investigation of the ear. Jeffrey is eventually drawn into an underworld, home to Frank Booth, a sociopathic criminal, and leader of a gang involved in murder, rape and drug addiction.
Blue Velvet opened
to widespread critical acclaim and moderate box office success, considering its
limited release in theatres across the US. The film earned director David Lynch
an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. The film became a cult classic.
Lynch
worked with well-known music composer Angelo Badalamenti for the first time in
this film and asked him to write a score that had to be “like Shostakovich,
be very Russian, but make it the most beautiful thing but make it dark and a little
bit scary.”Badalamenti would later go on to contribute to all of Lynch's
future Track listing
"Main Title" 1:27
"Night Streets/Sandy
and Jeffrey" 3:42
"Frank" 3:34
"Jeffrey's Dark Side"
1:48
"Mysteries of Love" 2:10
"Frank Returns" 4:39
"Mysteries of Love" [instrumental] 4:41
"Blue Velvet/Blue
Star" 3:14
"Lumberton U.S.A./Going Down to Lincoln" 2:13
"Akron
Meets the Blues" 2:40
Bill Doggett - "Honky Tonk, Pt. 1" 3:09
Roy Orbison - "In Dreams" 2:48
Ketty Lester - "Love Letters"
2:36
Julee Cruise - "Mysteries of Love" 4:22
Tagline
: The Most Talked About Film of the Decade
Cast
Isabella Rossellini - Dorothy Vallens
Kyle MacLachlan - Jeffrey Beaumont
Dennis Hopper - Frank Booth
Laura Dern - Sandy Williams
Hope Lange - Mrs. Williams
Dean Stockwell - Ben
George Dickerson - Det. John Williams
Priscilla
Pointer - Mrs. Beaumont
Frances Bay - Aunt Barbara
Jack Harvey - Mr.
Tom Beaumont
Ken Stovitz - Mike
Brad Dourif - Raymond
Jack Nance - Paul
J. Michael Hunter - Hunter
Dick Green - Don Vallens
Plot
Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) returns home from college after his father (Jack Harvey) suffers a near fatal stroke. While walking home from the hospital, he cuts through a vacant lot and happens upon a severed ear and puts it in a paper bag. Jeffrey takes the ear to local investigator Detective John Williams (George Dickerson). When he returns to the Williams house later to discuss the incident further, Jeffrey meets the detective’s daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern). She tells him details about the ear case and a suspicious woman, Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini). Increasingly curious, Jeffrey devises a plan to sneak into Dorothy’s apartment that involves posing as a maintenance man. Dorothy becomes distracted when a man dressed in a yellow suit (played by Fred Pickler) knocks at her door, and Jeffrey steals Dorothy's spare key.
Jeffrey and Sandy attend Dorothy's nightclub show at the Slow Club. While Dorothy performs at the nightclub, Jeffrey sneaks into her apartment to snoop. He hurriedly hides in a closet when she returns home. However, Dorothy, wielding a knife, finds him hiding and threatens to hurt him. When she realizes he is merely a curious boy, she assumes his intentions are sexual in nature, and is turned on by his voyeurism. She makes him undress at knifepoint, then fellates him. Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) interrupts their encounter with a knock on the door. Dorothy urges Jeffrey to return to the closet and witnesses Frank's bizarre sexual proclivities, which include erotic asphyxiation, dry humping, and sadomasochistic tendencies. Frank is an extremely foul-mouthed, violent sociopath whose orgasmic climax is a fit of both pleasure and rage. When Frank leaves, a saddened and desperate Dorothy tries to seduce Jeffrey again. She demands that he hit her but when he refuses she demands to be left alone. Jeffrey again observes Dorothy's nightclub show at the Slow Club, where she performs Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton. Frank is also present at the nightclub. Later, in the car park, Jeffrey watches Frank and his cohorts drive away before going to Dorothy's apartment again.
Frank catches Dorothy and Jeffrey together, and forces them both to accompany him to the typically Lynchian house of Ben (Dean Stockwell), a suave dandy and partner in crime. In a bizarre scene Ben mimes the singing of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", sending Frank into maudlin sadness, then rage. He takes Jeffrey to a milling yard and savagely beats him to the overture of "In Dreams". Jeffrey wakes the next day and goes home, where he is overcome with guilt and despair. He decides to go to the police. At the police station, Jeffrey notices that Sandy's father's partner is Gordon — the Yellow Man. Later at Sandy's home, her father is amazed by Jeffrey's story, but warns Jeffrey of the danger of the situation. Jeffrey and Sandy go to a dance party together, profess their newfound love and embrace. When they're tailed on their way home, Jeffrey is relieved to discover that it's only Sandy’s football-playing ex-boyfriend. A confrontation is avoided when they see a naked and distressed Dorothy waiting on Jeffrey’s front lawn.
From the hospital, Jeffrey tells Sandy that he must return to Dorothy's apartment and tells Sandy to send her father there immediately. When he arrives back at Dorothy’s apartment, he finds the dead bodies of The Yellow Man and Dorothy’s husband, who is missing an ear. When he tries to leave, he sees The Well Dressed Man coming up the steps and recognizes him as Frank. Jeffrey talks to Det. Williams over the police radio but lies about his location inside the apartment. Frank enters the apartment and brags about hearing Jeffrey's location over his own police radio. When Frank fails to find Jeffrey in the bedroom, he returns to the lounge. Jeffrey shoots Frank with the Yellow Man's gun. Det. Williams arrives with Sandy in tow. Days later, we see Jeffrey and Sandy together, with their lives back to normal, and before the credits, Dorothy and her son playing happily in the park together.
number of films have referenced Blue Velvet:
In Haute Tension, a French
slasher film, there is a shot-for-shot homage to the scene in Blue Velvet that
introduces Frank's character.
In The Squid and the Whale, set in 1986, a group
of friends decide to view Blue Velvet in the cinema, over Short Circuit, another
1986 film.
Blue Velvet is referenced in an episode of the television series
Arrested Development. Wayne Jarvis comments on Gob's puppet Franklin, asking (in
an imitation of Kyle MacLachlan), "Why do there have to be puppets like Frank?"
In the Capcom video game Resident Evil 4, a recurring treasure is named Velvet
Blue.
In the video game Conker's Bad Fur Day, the famous "Do you want
to go for a ride?" scene is mimicked at the end of the game.
On June
14, 2007, the Village Voice printed a story about a devoted fan of the film, artist
Christian Tomaszewski. Tomaszewski re-built most of the film’s set pieces,
and re-created several of the film’s most important moments. He claimed,
"So much a part of our language is the movie - so much a part of our behavior."[37]
Rollins Band released a lengthy 'jam' song called "JoyRiding with Frank."
The live version starts with Henry quoting Frank: "This Is IT!"
The
beginning of the Fear Factory song "Concrete" from their album of the
same title features a sample of Frank screaming "Next!" after Jeffrey
punches him in the face.
Benediction wrote "Dark Is the Season,"
a song about Blue Velvet having lyrics directly referencing the movie. It is recorded
on the Dark is the Season EP. The lyrics sheet further states, "See the film
Blue Velvet by David Lynch, freak out & blow your mind!!!"
Iowa metalcore
band A Well Dressed Man took their name from the disguise worn by Frank Booth,
referred to by Jeffrey as "the well-dressed man disguise."
Mr. Bungle's
self-titled album featured samples of dialog from Blue Velvet in the songs "Squeeze
Me Macaroni," "Stubb (A Dub)," and "My Ass Is on Fire."
The San Diego band Deadbolt recorded the song "E Frank" with lyrics
inspired by some of Frank Booth's lines in the film. The song, recorded live,
appears on the B-side of a single issued by Trademark Records.
The band Anthrax
wrote "Now It's Dark", a song about Blue Velvet on their State of Euphoria
album. Many of the lyrics reference the movie, including the infamous "Don't
you fucking look at me!"
The Pittsburgh d-beat band Drought has a song
entitled "Don't You Fucking Look at Me!", named for Frank's line in
the film.
A soundbite of Frank Booth screaming "Heineken? Fuck that shit!"
is heard in the middle of the Green Day cover of "My Generation."
The
Norwegian band Combichrist used "Fuck that shit" in the chorus to a
song titled the same.
The CD accompanying Arthur Kroker's book "Spasm"
contains a track that begins by repeating the line, "Stay alive baby. Do
it for Van Gogh."
On the radio show Loveline, a quote from Frank Booth
is often played when a caller admits to having an abusive home life, involving
males.
In the television series Greg the Bunny, the entire plot of the film,
as well as its most recognized scenes, are parodied.
In Bio Dome, while inhaling
nitrous oxide from a tank with a mask, Pauly Shore's character says, "Dennis
Hopper, Blue Velvet: 'Oh I'm slutty!, Oh I'm slutty!'" referencing Dennis
Hopper's character's crude sexual nature and the scene while Frank Booth gets
high using a mask to inhale nitrous oxide.
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