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5 notable films by the late Jonathan Demme
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In this May 31, 1992 file photo, director Jonathan Demme, left, holds his award for best director, actress Jodie Foster holds her award for best actress, and actor Anthony Hopkins holds his award for best actor for their work on "Silence of the Lambs," at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Demme died, Wednesday, April 26, 2017, from complications from esophageal cancer in New York. He was 73. (AP/Reed Saxon)
T
he filmmaker died Wednesday morning of complications from esophageal cancer in his New York apartment, surrounded by his wife, Joanna, and three children, said Demme's publicist, Annalee Paulo.
Demme broke into moviemaking under the B-movie master Roger Corman in the early 1970s, and his prodigious, wide-ranging body of work always kept the agile curiosity of a low-budget independent filmmaker. His career spanned documentaries, screwball comedies and tales of social justice. Yet his most famous films were a pair of Oscar-winners.
Below are five notable works by the late filmmaker.
MELVIN AND HOWARD: Among the most memorable films about Howard Hughes, this 1980 release starred Jason Robards as the mysterious billionaire and Paul le Mat as Melvin Dummar, the struggling everyman who encounters Hughes in the Nevada desert. Mary Steenburgen won an Oscar for playing Lynda, Melvin's first wife.
STOP MAKING SENSE: One of the most acclaimed and innovative rock documentaries, this 1984 film drew upon state of the art digital technology as it drew upon a series of Talking Heads concerts at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. Highlights included classic performances of "Burning Down the House," ''Psycho Killer" and "Take Me to the River," among others.
Read also: Five lesser-known movies from Studio Ghibli
SOMETHING WILD: A joyous screwball comedy from 1986 and another story of strangers bonding. Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels starred in a road adventure featuring shifting identities, unpaid checks and a breakthrough, terrifying performance by a pre-"Goodfellas" Ray Liotta as Griffith's ex-convict husband.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS: Once again, strangers meet and the results are unforgettable. The Oscar-winning adaptation of Thomas Harris' grisly novel stars Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling and, in one of the all-time roles, Anthony Hopkins as the flesh-eating Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The film swept all five major Academy Awards at the 1992 ceremony: film, director, screenplay, actor and actress.
PHILADELPHIA: Released in 1993 and one of the first major productions about AIDS, "Philadelphia" stars Oscar-winner Tom Hanks as a corporate lawyer and closeted gay who becomes fatally ill and contends with the fears and phobias that follow. The soundtrack was almost as notable as the story, featuring Neil Young's Oscar-nominated title song and Bruce Springsteen's brooding, Oscar-winning "Streets of Philadelphia."
