The Silence of the Lambs (film)

The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jonathan Demme
Screenplay by	Ted Tally
Based on	The Silence of the Lambs; by Thomas Harris
Produced by	Kenneth Utt; Edward Saxon; Ron Bozman;
Starring	Jodie Foster; Anthony Hopkins; Scott Glenn; Ted Levine;
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Edited by	Craig McKay
Music by	Howard Shore
Production; company	Strong Heart Productions
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release dates	January 30, 1991 (New York City); February 14, 1991 (United States);
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$19 million
Box office	$272.7 million

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Kasi Lemmons.^[3]

The Silence of the Lambs was released on February 14, 1991, and grossed $272.7 million worldwide on a $19 million budget, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1991 worldwide. It premiered at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Bear, while Demme received the Silver Bear for Best Director. It became the third and most recent film (the other two being 1934's It Happened One Night and 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) to win Academy Awards in all the major five categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was the first (and to date only) horror film to win Best Picture.

The Silence of the Lambs is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences as one of the greatest and most influential films. In 2018, Empire ranked it 48th on their list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.^[4] The American Film Institute ranked it the fifth-greatest and most influential thriller film, while Starling and Lecter were ranked among the greatest film heroines and villains. The film is considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011.^[5] A sequel, Hannibal, was released in 2001, followed by two prequel films, Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007).

^ "The Silence of the Lambs". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "The Silence of the Lambs (1991)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
^ "The Silence of the Lambs". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
^ "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time – #400–301". Empire Online. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
^ "Silence of the Lambs added to U.S. film archive". bbc.co.uk. London, England: BBC. December 28, 2011. Archived from the original on December 28, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2011.