Blue Velvet' | Critics' Picks | The New York Times

[@beaconmike]

While I love the film, if you ever have wonderful memories of the song 'Blue Velvet' avoid watching this film at all costs. Here is the price you will pay if you do not heed my words. In High School in '66, I had the dream date of my life to the Senior Prom. We were all dressed up. It was about our 2nd date. We slow danced for the first time to Blue Velvet. I was sexually aroused being that close to her. I fell in love. After seeing this film, my memory is now replaced with Frank Booth

[@antihinduismisbased]

beaconmike ouch. That gotta hurt.

[@dexdzll6427]

frank booth’s face is so punchable

[@ObscuredByTime]

LOL!!! That is a great story.

[@duewhit310]

Now thats dark.

[@61dodgelancer]

BEACONMIKE, LOL! THANKS FOR THE HUMOR. BUT I'M WONDERING; DEPENDING ON HOW THINGS WORKED OUT WITH YOUR "DREAM DATE", MAYBE IT'S JUST AS WELL YOUR MEMORY HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED BY FRANK BOOTH. LOL! WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO GO BACK TO '66 AND RELIVE YOUR MEMORY THE EXACT SAME WAY?

[@TheOwlEyes]

"My childhood was elegant homes, tree-lined streets, the milkman, building backyard forts, droning airplanes, blue skies, picket fences, green grass, cherry trees. Middle America as it’s supposed to be. But on the cherry tree there's this pitch oozing out - some black, some yellow, and millions of red ants crawling all over it. I discovered that if one looks a little closer at this beautiful world, there are always red ants underneath. " -David Lynch

[@Guy4755]

I remember seeing this when it was first released, and feeling so tickled when it was over. Seeing Stockwell's Ben lip-synch to Roy Orbison was sheer joy, I was grinning like a maniac through that whole performance. I didn't want it to end.

[@godlyblessedliibaangodisgo4394]

@Guy Budziak 100 % I agree

[@JiveDadson]

It's been 7 years. Are you institutionalized now?

[@infinitejest441]

My favorite scene too

[@attiylanen]

@@JiveDadson Who the fook are U?

[@dfangirl72]

he had said many times his part was the sanest part of the whole movie.i must've already liked dean Stockwell ( as we all know this was before married to the mob or quantum leap) because Everytime I heard in dreams I had to turn it up and dance like him ( if I was alone ) when I recently fast forward through blue velvet for the Ben part I was " disappointed they didn't show him more 😔.

[@samfilmkid]

In dreams...you're mine...all....forever in dreams... sends chills down my spine every time

[@ARIZJOE]

David Lynch wrote a brilliant script. But he had luck also. Lynch had written the song as "Crying." So he got a hold of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits, and heard "In Dreams," a song he was unfamiliar with. Then he got Roy to rerecord all of his songs. And they were made better! In the script, Frank Booth was supposed to inhale helium. Dennis changed it to amyl nitrate or nitrous oxide.

[@DonVal86]

His deliver is unique and powerful.

[@Calum_Chrystal]

RIP Dennis Hopper

[@aslan9334]

what!? this comment is 5yrs ago i didn't know he had passed away! :(

[@zeplova87]

Forgot how similar the vibes are to twin peaks...

[@jackdonohue7893]

zeplova87 well it is the same director

[@caitydid86]

And they both have Kyle MacLachlan.

[@HughCorbyCruick]

Great movie and every time Hopper appeared on the screen a sense of imminent danger appeared with him. A stellar performance.

[@ryanlindborg3634]

HEINEKIN!!!!

[@joshmaxin7188]

"PABST BLUE RIBBON!"

[@ARIZJOE]

@Yes Sir! You have to understand that back in those days, mainstream Americans were just starting to drink imported beer. Heinekin had the largest market share by a lot, and some dopes drank it as an affectation. Pabst Blue Ribbon was a low cost beer favored by blue collar workers

[@eduardo_corrochio]

First time I saw it, when it ended I was near weeping. It was so much to take in, it was such a ride, that I became overcome-- and then, that ending. For me Blue Velvet has always been like Nancy Drew goes to the underworld. It's special. Like a nightmare where evil is nefarious and unpredictable, and good is pure and light. Great film.

[@littlecasino60]

I always thought this film took place sometime in the early '60s. It has that feel with the clothes, furniture and cars, like it could be around the time of the Kennedy assassination.

[@MM-zm9je]

Lottadale S Sandys clothing and hair say otherwise.

[@whoopsie890]

The film definitely does look like it took place in the '60s until the end with the shootout at apartment building everything looks like the '80s

[@morganmeadows8359]

Most of the details look like they're from the early-to-mid '60s, but many of the cars are from the '70s and some of the clothes and hairstyles are typical of the early '80s. Lynch keeps the era deliberately ambiguous: the world he depicts is meant to look familiar while being permeated with an aura of strangeness.

[@spinsandneedles]

Well, it started with the song Blue Velvet and the old fire engine so I think most viewers began with that thinking it was meant to portray a different time. You get engrossed in the story and sort of forget about the cars. Outside the high school the girls were wearing dresses so again it had that 50s or 60s look. The radio announcement also was a throwback, plus the diner and the nightclub. The film is great in its timelessness.

[@sergeikhripun]

I remember when I saw the opening scene of the suburban paradise and then the old man is having a heart attack and then the camera zooms and goes through the grass to portray all the nasty bugs running around one on top of another and I started to smile to realize it wasn't a PG-13 movie. That opening scene always cracks me up. As they say, quiet waters run deep.

[@TheSaltyLibrarian]

Dennis Hopper is so great in this.

[@underbightdog23]

This film was very powerful for me, saw it when I was only 14, it launched me into a film obesession

[@user-dc5kc4gl5p]

nice!

[@sanddab]

Once I heard the song "Mysteries of Love", I was hooked.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Blue Velvet is a classic thriller.

[@David-sp9vd]

Can't mention Lynch without mentioning the Uncanny.

[@KeyserSoze1234]

The sensations that the end of this film gives you.

[@davidrowe9402]

A unique experience, helped by no prior knowledge after Platoon was sold out the same night. I can’t stop laughing at some scenes, but I have to laugh to control how unsettling it is.

[@farenheit2456]

The costume design in the film is great. I never hear anyone mention that.

[@Chris-cf2kp]

This film exists for me in the same dream-nightmare realm as clockwork orange

[@ARIZJOE]

I was Jeffrey Beaumont. The people in my town talked like Frank Booth. I loved the movie. "Candy colored clown."

[@blastedquinn56]

One of my favorite David Lynch movies.

[@nichande]

Yes I loved those 80s (?) outfits. The gang really stands out with all the 50's Americana. Maybe there something intentional with that?

[@bobbysands6923]

I came from a town like that, and knew people like Frank Booth. So when I saw this movie for the 1st time I was spooked like I was never spooked before. It took me hours to calm down from it--it was too real.

[@underbightdog23]

@Johnlindsey289 I like Dune for the visuals really, like I said he creates new worlds. I really really really really like Elephant Man, but it isn't my kind of Lynch. I like that all of his surreal movies are really left up to interpertation, which make them more memorable and fun to talk about. Make 4 people watch Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, and Eraserhead and you'll get 4 diffrent perspectives. But, I would say Blue Velvet is my faveroite.

[@russellhamner4898]

HEINEKEN?!!

[@nicholasleon5584]

“Chaotic Evil” Does A.O. Scott play D&D?

[@canorhan2903]

Well, he looks like he does

[@legelfm]

I think, the two mysterious black clerks at Beaumont`s Hardware Store are a paraphrase to Stanley Kubrick's mysterious twins in "The Shining". Take a note at the ax in the second scene with the clerks at around 51 minutes. It corresponds to the scene at "The Shining", where Danny has the vision of the slaughtered twins, where the ax is lying next to the twins. Also the staircase scenes have an Alfred Hitchcock touch in my eyes.

[@sumedhvaidya3019]

wow it could be. Stanley Kubrick showed David Lynch's Eraserhead to The Shining Cast becasue so this might be true

[@idicula1979]

The eighties was a legendary decade for movies.

[@CashelOConnolly]

God I love this film😍

[@movie-mandan]

Dennis Hopper’s finest hour? I know he was great in Red Rock West and Apocalypse Now and Easy Rider, but this may be his best performance

[@mjp96]

Dennis Hopper was truly an original. RIP.

[@swtirisalexopoulos1138]

SAW--BLUE VELVET--WHEN I WAS--15years old!!!!IN DREAMS!!!!

[@jayjay1184]

@tamerswan Why would you hate to admit it? It's a classic!

[@dfangirl72]

I watched mesmerized by dean Stockwell ( Ben ) loved in dreams ( if I was alone I'd dance like him ) his character is the Best part of blue velvet .the movie itself is odd but that's David Lynch .

[@muddeer5383]

Blue Velvet is a good movie, but it is not a classic like Mulholland Drive. Still it is definitely worth watching, and the Dean Stockwell scene by itself worth your 2 hours.

[@KeyserSoze1234]

Both are classics obviously.

[@latenightlogic]

For the first viewing I simply saw the movie for its basic elements and on that level it’s ok. Hopper is a psycho and detective like set up is decent. But having not felt the so called brilliance of the movie I decided to look up a KZbin clip to help me understand it better. Mmm, very interesting I thought. Dream-like quality. Symbolism. Atmosphere. Watched it again with this new understanding. Nope. Still didn’t feel it, still felt the same as when I first watched it, which is somewhere around a 6 out of ten. Can anybody help here? When you watch it, what is the feeling you get? I love Barton Fink and that movie is all atmosphere, so I definitely feel I could still get into Blue Velvet.

[@gouthambhat1622]

Barton fink and Blue velvet are two different things. Blue velvet solely relies on power of imagery and blocking. It doesn't have anything to say through it's images. Lynch just throws these wonderful images and leaves the audience to freely feed off the vibes and feelings these images emit. So that works wonders for many of us but might not work for everybody. So I don't think you could get into Blue velvet anytime soon.

[@theurbanegentleman4550]

Drink some PBR and rewatch the scene with Stockwell and Hopper

[@sumedhvaidya3019]

same with me. i really didn't get the meaning of blue velvet even though i have seen david lynch films. this film didn't have an effect on me like eraserhead or lost highway or mulholland dr did

[@vladinstein]

@@gouthambhat1622 you described it perfectly. I have similar feelings about Kar Wai. One of my friends asked me to explain what was so great about Chunking Express. And I feel that I cannot explain this, because there are some aspects of the movie that create for certain people this depth that other people don't feel. Lynch, Kar Wai are those types of directors.

[@BigDaddyZakk420]

Very well articulated ! I agree one hundred percent, sir.

[@FromTheAbsurd]

best film of 80's

[@halfclapproductions2190]

I agree

[@phototristan]

When I get married I want to walk down the aisle to this song. Note, still single.

[@165Dash]

Louis Bunuel meets Alfred Hitchcock.

[@djd620]

Love the Bunuel shout out but it's Luis not Louis

[@sortuno850]

Bizarre, is the most bizarre movie I’ve watched.

[@mjp96]

and it never gets old

[@doyoumind9356]

There'a a scene where Jeffrey punches Frank in the face. Why did Jeffrey survive while the yellow suit got killed ?

[@Ichiboy900]

Notice at 1:46, where the mic shadow is cast on her back, it almost looks like an upside down pentagram. Maybe it was Intentional?

[@RIP_Greedo]

Blue Velvet = Theory Twin Peaks = Practice

[@greenpanther1990]

@Beale64 that is until you do a 8 page film analysis of it

[@jackpavlik563]

PABST BLUE RIBBON

[@TheLiquidcure]

I don't think the movie is a celebration of the "real america" at all. It's an incisive criticism of how naive middle america is.

[@jamessullivan4391]

This is the movie that helped me stop drinking Heineken.

[@scottfallon1]

Dale Cooper, before the academy.

[@Mrhasbarafree]

Wheres my bourbon?

[@strandwolf]

@mindstormsabrewin Don't forget John Waters. He messed with Link Wray in Pink Flamingoes! Arggghhh!

[@Guy4755]

@DuckingNDiving What a hilarious thing to say.

[@jayjay1184]

@tamerswan Haha yeah I get what you're saying.

[@underbightdog23]

@Johnlindsey289 I can't say that one lynch movie is really better than the other, they all create a unique world and are basically the equivelent to brain candy.

[@bens5974]

can someone explain how naked dorothy showed up at jeffery's house?

[@JiveDadson]

He's a good film critic, but he's no Joel K. Rosenthal.

[@betitoChat]

is very fun

[@JeffAyars]

you're both wrong. it's neither good nor bad. it's just pizza.

[@hbkratedrguy217]

sometimes things need to be obscure ya mook

[@DonVal86]

Mook? What’s mook? You can’t call me mook!

[@Mrster]

@beaconmike Hahahah man that sucks.

[@chalandemago]

nice irony from american culture

[@magistrumartium]

In my humble opinion, the film is putrid in spite of the beautiful colors and splendid performances. It's a gold-plated bucket of vomit.

[@sortuno850]

Mark T. I agree!

[@ARIZJOE]

That's the way life is.

[@KingCobrAIJFS]

I would say that's what Lynch intended with this film

[@robotpanda77]

I think if you took out the sex scenes the film would never have achieved the same level of notoriety and thus respect it got later on. The same is true of a Clockwork Orange. Regardless of how well made they are, the sex made them famous. So if you want to make a legendary film, make sure you include some graphic nudity.

[@robotpanda77]

***** I'm not saying the sex made it good, I'm saying the sex made it famous. This is the nature of people. Most don't even notice camera work or editing but they all notice sex and violence.

[@glibglob8755]

You have no idea what you’re talking about.

[@3prettyvacant]

I was 17 when this came out, and forget that Dean Stockwell and Dennis Hopper were in this....I went to see it for Isabella Rosselini , and Kyle MacLachlan, who were both so sexy together...