Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #7 The Silence Of The Lambs

Box Office: $130.7 Million Dollars

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Jonathan Demme), Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound

Oscar Wins: Best Picture, Best Director (Jonathan Demme), Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Adapted Screenplay

MovieRankings.Net: 95/100

Available To Stream: Tubi, Pluto TV, Roku Channel

The Silence of the Lambs is probably best known for Anthony Hopkins' amazing work as Hannibal Lecter. It's one of the greatest villains ever put on a screen. But, you can make a real case that Jodie Foster is even better as Clarice Starling.

The last movie to sweep the major category awards of the Oscars is such a bizarre Best Picture winner. It came out in February of 1991 and movies that come out that early almost never win (Everything, Everywhere, All At Once is the exception to that rule). It's also a horror/thriller which academy voters typically turn their noses up at.

I love what director Jonathan Demme did with this so much. It's such a unique and clear vision. He was just coming off Something Wild and Married To The Mob. Both could be called dark comedies but each also had an underlying feeling of dread (especially any scene in Something Wild with Ray Liotta) You can see hints of Silence Of The Lambs in those movies.

Demme is so efficient. Take the early scene when Jodie Foster gets into an elevator with a bunch of male FBI agents. She's a short woman being towered over by these huge guys. We don't need a lecture about how it's hard to get by in a man's world. That shot says enough. He trusts that Jodie Foster can show that feeling and tries her best to fit in by putting on a tough exterior. When Clarice is explaining her childhood to Lecter, that exterior falls away. Because nothing beforehand was heavy handed, it's so much more effective.

Where do you rank Hannibal Lecter among great bad guys? Is he a better villain than Darth Vader? Hans Landa? The Joker? He's right there with those top tier guys. It's not just his brilliance that sets him apart but also Hopkins' charm. Now, Demme is wise enough to never have the audience want him to succeed over Jodie Foster. But we don't care about anyone else in the movie that Lecter is on screen with. We are all rooting for a mastermind serial killer to literally get away with murder. We're not rooting for Darth Vader. That has to be a point in Hannibal's favor.

There are so many brilliant scenes that have you holding your breath in terror. When Catherine gets kidnapped by Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine giving the most unnerving performance...ever?). The night vision scene when you have no idea what is around each corner in that basement from Hell. Hannibal Lecter attacking two guards and literally ripping the face off of one. But this is more than just horror. Imagine if Demme was an action director instead? The suspense he builds (and delivers on) when the FBI agents all go after the wrong house and we find Clarice all by herself.

It's interesting to look at the careers of the people involved with this. Jodie Foster never hit these heights again but was already an Oscar winner a few years earlier for The Accused (middling movie that she's fantastic in). She seemed the least likely to be typecast or have to "live up to" the success of Silence Of The Lambs. Almost any actor would have been typecast as Hannibal Lecter but of course, Hopkins is one of the greatest actors ever so he wound up getting nominated for an Oscar FIVE times after this and even won one.

Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally weren't as lucky. Demme followed Silence of the Lambs with Philadelphia, which had the feel of a made-for-tv movie with great performances. Other than Rachel Getting Married, nothing Demme did afterwards really moved the needle. His genius of the late 80's/early 90's was gone. As for Tally, his most notable work after this was probably the middling sequel Red Dragon. But this movie is so fantastic that it is legacy enough.

Many movies afterwards (including the two sequels) tried to capture what this movie does so well. They all failed on various levels. It's not just that the concept of a supervillain helping the police find a bad guy. It's that dread that Demme does so well. It's how much you believe in and want Clarice to succeed. It's the brilliance of Tally's script that never talks down to you and instead almost talks up to you. Silence of the Lambs doesn't need to overload you with exposition. It literally has everything else going for it.

7. The Silence Of The Lambs

8. Office Space

9. The Sixth Sense

10. Boogie Nights

11. Jurassic Park

12. Jackie Brown

13. A Few Good Men

14. The Fugitive

15. The Truman Show

16. Fargo

17. Swingers

18. Reservoir Dogs

19. There's Something About Mary

20. Sleepers

21. Schindler's List

22. Rushmore

23. Fight Club

24. Saving Private Ryan

25. True Romance

26. Dumb & Dumber

27. Kingpin

28. Donnie Brasco

29. Heat 

30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

31. Rounders

32. Unforgiven

33. Trainspotting

34. The Game

35. Out Of Sight

36. Carlito's Way

37. Seven

38. L.A. Confidential

39. Speed

40. Gattaca

41. Misery

42. Tombstone

43. Ransom

44. Wayne's World

45. The Insider

46. Back To The Future Part III

47. A Bronx Tale

48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt

49. Eyes Wide Shut

50. The Sandlot

51. Happy Gilmore

52. Contact

53. The Green Mile

54. Man On The Moon

55. Boyz N The Hood

56. Grosse Pointe Blank

57. Independence Day

58. The Rainmaker

59. Go

60. The Firm

61. Magnolia

62. The Talented Mr. Ripley

63. Tommy Boy

64. The Usual Suspects

65. In The Line Of Fire

66. My Cousin Vinny

67. Awakenings

68. JFK

69. Toy Story

70. Home Alone

71. Jerry Maguire

72. Titanic

73. Billy Madison

74. Apollo 13

75. Braveheart

76. Edward Scissorhands

77. Cape Fear

78. The River Wild

79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

80. 12 Monkeys

81. Stir Of Echoes

82. Mission: Impossible

83. Total Recall

84. Quiz Show

85. For Love Of The Game

86. Being John Malkovich

87. Men In Black

88. Scream

89. Alive

90. Three Kings

91. Glengarry Glen Ross

92. Die Hard With A Vengeance

93. The Blair Witch Project

94. Twister

95. Dirty Work

96. Election

97. Tremors

98. Any Given Sunday

99. The Wedding Singer

100. Clerks