Hands Down Best Movie of ALL time

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2010)

"Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head." – Jack Crawford.
No truer words have been written about the monster, Hannibal Lecter in what I call my FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME: The Silence of the Lambs.
I used to work for AMC Gateway on 59th Avenue and Bell Road in Glendale, AZ way back in 1991. I was 16, and one of the perks, was, if you were able to, watching movies at late night prior to movies being released the following day. So, I would say this was February 13th 1991. They did this to make sure the film ran correctly, audio, picture, etc. But, the employees were invited. And it was like a party: only about 10 or so inhabited their biggest theatre. It was a fantastic experience with my peers, as was the movie.
Jonathan Demme's masterpiece of sound and visuals rests on many factors: acting, screenplay, sound, mood, surprises, pace, dialogue, suspense, originality, opening, middle and end, comedy, character development, believability, music, score, editing and literal bite. Honestly, I could write an entire hardback on all of these aspects and still have enough for a follow-up publication. In short, this movie worked on all angles. No other movie have I ever seen, in the 1000's I have seen, hit the nail on the head on every single right move on how a movie is supposed to be made upon.
In what most people don't know (but it has become more common knowledge in recent years) is the follow-up/sequel to 1986's Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs begins with Clarice Starling (Foster,) a definitive over-achiever FBI trainee. Immediately into the film, she's summoned by her mentor/soon-to-be boss (she hopes,) Crawford (Glenn) to merely interview the imprisoned "Hannibal the Cannibal" (Hopkins.) She suspects it's concerning on-the-loose serial killer "Buffalo Bill" but takes the assignment anyways.
Upon meeting, he doesn't just call her out; he sniffs her previous lotion and dissects her innermost fears. Undeterred, the trainee follows the leads Hannibal presents, while previously bad memories resurface and the status of a Senator's Daughter's life is at stake while in the hands of Buffalo Bill. Frankly, she's juggling a lot.
All the while, Crawford's actually (and surprisingly to him) impressed and Hannibal continues to taunt – whether to teach, learn, relieve boredom or use Starling, all for his own amusement. Despite his previous free existence's knowledge, before being caught as a serial cannibal/murderer, he's giving her all she needs to "advance," or, in turn, catch the killer, Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb.
The movie is only the third (at the time) in history to "Sweep" the Oscars, meaning: it took all five top awards: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and (adapted) Screenplay. (For the record, I've read all the Hannibal Lecter books by Thomas Harris (all but Hannibal Rising) and I'm definitely in agreeance with that last one. No one could've translated the mood, theme or scene-by-scene as well as screenplay writer Ted Tally did.) Despite the 5 Oscars it did win, it deserved more.
Score! Or, the musical background music was amazing and in my top list of all time best scores. Creepy, moody and the perfect sound to match the theme/atmosphere of the film. The soundtrack, or music tracks, such as American Girl by Tom Petty and especially Goodbye Horses by Q. Lazzarus were both not only excellent choices for the film (and scenes) but, personally, they shot to my "best of" movie music lists. Also, it should've won for editing. This movie was beautifully cut and carefully spliced together. In addition, another award for cinematography was justified, as the movie's photography was eerie, colorful – when called for and truly put you in the character's shoes.
You must see this movie. Everything works. It is gory at times, really gory. And I wouldn't like a movie if that's all they gave me. It must contain a story, character depth/growth and true to the story acting. Obviously, I'm going to say this does, and I'd be right.
And finally it truly invented my number one favorite villain, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Sure, Brian Cox already played him in Manhunter and as good as Cox is as an actor, no one could touch Hopkins powerful performance. Apparently he did a lot of the stances, movements, creation of the monster all by himself and it paid off. Thanks to Demme for allowing him to create such an icon. He was scary, smart, deadly and had charisma all in a single breath on screen. This kind of acting job comes but once, generally, to any great actor.
Need more evidence that Hopkins did a role of a lifetime? His screen presence was so powerful, he even tricked the audience into thinking he appeared all throughout the film, yet was only shown for under 25 minutes, or less than a fourth of the film. Not the shortest timeframe for an actor to win Best Actor over Best Supporting Actor, but his impact not only impressed the Academy Award voters and audience, but you will truly feel his presence even when he's not on film.
This is largely due to the fact on how great Jodie Foster was – another role of a lifetime for her. She carried Lecter's spirit with her when she left his asylum, and on screen, that's not easy. In addition, she was vulnerable and strong, smart and slow, determined and deterred.all of these at the same time. As much as everyone, including myself, focused on how great Hopkins was, she deserves equal treatment on how masterfully she played her part.
"I've no plans to call on you, Clarice. The world is more interesting with you in it." – Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Actually, he's the one that made our world a lot more interesting.