Blue Velvet

Theatrical Release Date: 1986 09 19 (USA)

UPC: 883904238874

Studio: MGM

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Profanity, Substance Abuse]

Summary: Director David Lynch crafted this hallucinogenic mystery-thriller that probes beneath the cheerful surface of suburban America to discover sadomasochistic violence, corruption, drug abuse, crime and perversion. Kyle Maclachlan stars as Jeffrey Beaumont, a square-jawed young man who returns to his picture-perfect small town when his father suffers a stroke. Walking through a field near his home, Jeff discovers a severed human ear, which he immediately brings to the police. Their disinterest sparks Jeff's curiosity, and he is soon drawn into a dangerous drama that's being played out by a lounge singer, Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and the ether-addicted Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). The sociopathic Booth has kidnapped Dorothy's young son and is using the child as a bargaining chip to repeatedly beat, humiliate and rape Dorothy. Though he's drawn to the virginal, wholesome Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), Jeff is also aroused by Dorothy and in trying to aid her, he discovers his dark side. As the film nears its conclusion, our hero learns that many more indivduals are tacitly involved with Frank, including a suave, lip-synching singer, Ben (Dean Stockwell), who is minding the kidnapped boy. Director Lynch explored many similar themes of the "disease" lying just under the surface of the small town, all-American fa?ade in his later television series Twin Peaks (1990-91). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Category: Mystery

Awards: Best Screenplay – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – null Best Director – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Independent Spirit Awards Best Director – Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actor – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actress – Independent Spirit Awards Best Cinematography – Independent Spirit Awards Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture – National Society of Film Critics Best Director – National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor – Montréal World Film Festival Best Supporting Actor – National Society of Film Critics

Features: Newly discovered lost footage
Mysteries of Love documentary
Original Siskel & Ebert review
Vignettes
Trailer / TV spots
A few outtakes

Blue Velvet

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 11/08/2011

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DHMA null, DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 120 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: French,Spanish

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Michael Hastings

David Lynch's map of the terrain between wet dream and nightmare, Blue Velvet reaffirmed the director's status as one of the most vital talents in American filmmaking, and achieved a mood and tone which would indelibly influence popular culture for the remainder of the 20th century. Though much of the film revolves around a compelling, lurid mystery -- executed in a tense, economical manner that might have made Alfred Hitchcock proud -- Blue Velvet is more interested in the mysteries of desire and the horrors of unchecked deviance. Lynch uses the form, style, and mood of a film noir to challenge and ultimately subvert notions of innocence, sexuality, and love. Even the casting reflects the director's agenda: Lynch's fresh young heroes, as played by Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern, are like leads in a 1950s hygiene film; he pits them against two icons of a lost Hollywood, Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Hopper, the latter turning in a jolting, career-resuscitating performance. Though it specifies no particular time, Blue Velvet's "golly gee" milieu of Lumberton, replete with soda fountains, convertibles, and hardware stores, is a Reagan-era idyll, an exaggeration of the 1980s concept of the American Dream. But from the moment Lynch's camera delves underground (in a surreal, Bu?uel-like moment) to take in a thriving community of ants, it's clear that the director is more interested in the Reagan of Kings Row (1941), and in the grotesque despair that lurks beneath the surface of placid middle-American life. The film was a breakthrough for Lynch in the way it melded the dream worlds of Eraserhead (1977) and Dune (1984) with the more literal, narrative approach of The Elephant Man (1980): its densely saturated, red-white-and-blue color scheme was stunningly photographed by Fredrick Elmes; the haunting, expressionistic soundscape was designed by frequent Lynch collaborator Alan Splet. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Cast and Crew: J. Michael Hunter  Actor 
Selden Smith  Actor 
Peter Carew  Actor 
Jean Pierre Viale  Actor 
Philip Markert  Actor 
Moses Gibson  Actor 
Fred Pickler  Actor 
Angelo Badalamenti  Actor 
Jon Jon Snipes  Actor 
A. Michelle Depland  Actor 
Leonard Watkins  Actor 
Kate Reid  Actor 
Donald Moore  Actor 
Dick Green  Actor 
Michelle Sasser  Actor 
Angelo Badalamenti  Composer (Music Score) 
Fred Caruso  Producer 
David Lynch  Director 
David Lynch  Screenwriter 
Richard A. Roth  Executive Producer 
Edward Reyes  Composer (Music Score) 
Kyle MacLachlan  Actor 
Isabella Rossellini  Actor 
Dennis Hopper  Actor 
Laura Dern  Actor 
Hope Lange  Actor 
Dean Stockwell  Actor 
Brad Dourif  Actor 
Jack Nance  Actor 
Frances Bay  Actor 
George Dickerson  Actor 
Jack Harvey  Actor 
Priscilla Pointer  Actor 
Ken Stovitz  Actor 

Country: USA