The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Revisit ft. Peterson W. Hill
- Thomas Duncan
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Original Episode: #21 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (released July 2, 2020)
New Episode: #306 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Revisit ft. Peterson W. Hill (released April 8, 2026)
Guest:
Peterson W. Hill - Co-Host of the War Starts at Midnight podcast
@petersonwhill on IG, Letterboxd, and Twitter
14x Previous Guest
Cast:
Jonathan Demme, Director
Ted Tally, Writer
Tak Fujimoto, Cinematographer
Howard Shore, Music
Craig McKay, Editing
Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling
Masha Skorobogatov as young Clarice
Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford
Ted Levine as Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb
Anthony Heald as Dr. Frederick Chilton
Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin
Diane Baker as U.S. Senator Ruth Martin
Background:
The Silence of the Lambs was wide-released on February 14, 1991.
On a budget of $19 million, The Silence of the Lambs grossed over $130 million to finish #4 at the worldwide box office for 1991.
The film was widely acclaimed at the time and it was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Sound and Film Editing. It is one of only three films to win the prestigious "Big 5" Oscars for Best Picture, Director (Demme), Actor (Hopkins), Actress (Foster), and Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally).
In 2006, Writers Guild of America West ranked its screenplay 61st in its list of greatest screenplays.
In the same year, at the Key Art Awards, the original poster for The Silence of the Lambs was named best film poster "of the past 35 years".
The Silence of the Lambs placed seventh on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments for Lecter's escape scene.
In 2011, ABC aired Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time, The Silence of the Lambs was selected as the best suspense/thriller and Dr. Hannibal Lecter was selected as the fourth-greatest film character.
In 2024, Far Out Magazine named the role one of the "10 most accurate movie psychopaths according to the FBI", and WhatCulture included the role in top "10 Most Convincing Movie Psychopath Performances".
In 2012, the Motion Picture Editors Guild listed it as the 26th best-edited film of all time based on a survey of its membership.
In 2015, Entertainment Weekly's 25th anniversary year, it included The Silence of the Lambs in its list of the 25 best movies made since the magazine's beginning.
In 2018, Empire ranked it 48th on its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
The film and its characters have appeared in the following AFI "100 Years" lists:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – No. 65
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 5
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
Clarice Starling – No. 6 Hero
Hannibal Lecter – No. 1 Villain
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." – No. 21
The film had multiple sequels including Hannibal (2001), the prequel sequel - Red Dragon (2002), and Hannibal Rising (2007). A tv series starring Mads Mikkelsen was also done between 2013-15.
The Silence of the Lambs was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011.
The Silence of the Lambs placed #22 on the Cinema Legacy Poll in 2025.
The Silence of the Lambs has a 95% among critics on RT, an 86 score on Metacritic, and a 4.3/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: In The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) plays a young FBI trainee assigned to interview a brilliant but dangerous imprisoned killer, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). As Clarice seeks insight to catch another serial murderer, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), she enters a tense psychological game with Lecter, who offers cryptic clues in exchange for personal revelations.
As the investigation deepens, Clarice must confront both the external threat and her own past fears. Lechter's chilling intelligence and manipulation blur the line between helper and predator, building toward a suspenseful and unsettling climax.
Did You Know?:
Jodie Foster claims that during the first meeting between Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, Sir Anthony Hopkins' mocking of her southern accent was improvised on the spot. Foster's horrified reaction was genuine since she felt personally attacked. She later thanked Hopkins for generating such an honest reaction.
After Lecter was moved from Baltimore, the plan was to dress him in a yellow or orange jumpsuit. Sir Anthony Hopkins convinced director Jonathan Demme and costume designer Colleen Atwood that the character would seem more clinical and unsettling if he was dressed in pure white. Hopkins has since said he got the idea from his fear of dentists.
When characters are talking to Starling (Jodie Foster), they often talk directly to the camera. When she is talking to them, she is always looking slightly off-camera. Director Jonathan Demme has explained that this was done so as the audience would directly experience her point-of-view, but not theirs, hence encouraging the audience to more readily identify with her.
One of the inspirations from whom Sir Anthony Hopkins borrowed for his interpretation of Dr. Hannibal Lecter was a friend of his in London who rarely blinked when speaking, which unnerved anyone around him.
When Sir Anthony Hopkins found out that he was cast as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, based on his performance as Dr. Frederick Treves in The Elephant Man (1980), he questioned director Jonathan Demme and said "But Dr. Treves was a good man," to which Demme replied "So is Lecter, he is a good man too. Just trapped in an insane mind."
The Stanley Rubric:
Original Legacy Score: 9
New Legacy Score: 10
Original Impact/Significance Score: 9
New Impact/Significance Score: 9.75
Original Novelty Score: 8.75
New Novelty Score: 9.25
Original Classicness Score: 9.5
New Classicness Score: 10
Original Rewatchability Score: 6.25
New Rewatchability Score: 8.67
Original Audience Score: 9.5 (95% RT)
New Audience Score: 9.3 (91% Google, 95% RT)
Original Total Score: 52 (#35 currently)
New Total Score: 56.97
In Memorium:
Valerie Perrine, 82, American actress (Slaughterhouse-Five, Lenny, Superman),
Dash Crofts, 87, American musician (Seals & Crofts) and songwriter ("Summer Breeze", "Diamond Girl")
Alex Duong, 42, American comedian and actor (Blue Bloods, Dexter, Death Valley)
Mary Beth Hurt, 79, American actress (The World According to Garp, The Age of Innocence, Interiors)
Chip Taylor, 86, American singer and songwriter ("Angel of the Morning", "Wild Thing")
James Tolkan, 94, American actor (Back to the Future, Top Gun, Dick Tracy)
Chuck Norris, 86, American martial artist and actor (Walker, Texas Ranger, Missing in Action, The Way of the Dragon)
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