One of the great filmmakers has left us. Jonathan Demme, the director of The Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, Philadelphia and Melvin and Howard, died today at the age 0f 73.
Jonathan Demme’s career was impressive and varied, and went through a variety of unlikely phases. Like many of his contemporaries – including Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola – he got his start making exploitation flicks for independent producer Roger Corman before transitioning to more “respectable” motion pictures. Demme spent the majority of the 1980s making acclaimed comedies, then spent the 1990s making challenging prestige pictures, then spent the early 2000s remaking classic Hollywood thrillers, before finally settling into a late career shift to intimate character studies.
All throughout his career, Jonathan Demme also directed a variety of documentaries, including one of the most celebrated concert films ever produced, Stop Making Sense, which captured The Talking Heads’ 1983 tour to stunning effect.
Although he worked in a variety of genres, Jonathan Demme’s films were all united by the great care the filmmaker took to enliven his stories with complex characters and confrontational themes. Even his “lighter” motion pictures contained rich moments of introspection and unexpected stylistic flourish. He put great effort into every film he ever made, and he was talented enough to transform many of those films into all-time classics.
Join us in celebrating the career of Jonathan Demme with a look back at his most prominent motion pictures. Rest in peace, Jonathan Demme. You were one of the greats!
The Many Incredible Films of Jonathan Demme:
Top Photo: J. Countess/Getty Images
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
The Incredible Films of Jonathan Demme
-
Caged Heat (1974)
Like many of the best filmmakers of the second half of the 20th century, Jonathan Demme got his start working for Roger Corman, making exploitation flicks. Demme made his directorial debut with Caged Heat, one of the most notorious "women in prison" flicks ever made.
Photo: New World Pictures
-
Melvin and Howard (1980)
After toiling in Roger Cormna's sleaze mines for many years, Jonathan Demme made his breakout film, Melvin and Howard, an Oscar-winning drama about an average guy who, much to his own surprise, wound up one of the beneficiaries of millionaire recluse Howard Hughes's will.
Photo: Universal Pictures
-
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Jonathan Demme directed many music documentaries over the course of his career, but Stop Making Sense isn't just the best, it's one of the greatest music movies ever produced. The Talking Heads present a rollicking high-concept performance that evolves so subtly from one man with a boombox to one of the biggest rock shows you've ever seen, you'll hardly even notice.
Photo: Palm Pictures
-
Something Wild (1986)
Jonathan Demme spent most of the 1980s directing acclaimed comedies with more character and ambition than their contemporaries. Something Wild, starring Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith, starts out as a wacky road trip love story and evolves into such an unexpected crime tale that the film has become a classic, earning its own Criterion Collection release.
Photo: Orion Pictures
-
Married to the Mob (1988)
Michelle Pfeiffer is married to mobster Alec Baldwin, but when he's bumped off by Academy Award-nominee Dean Stockwell, she's still trapped in the world of organized crime. Jonathan Demme's hit comedy was one of the most celebrated farces of its time.
Photo: Orion Pictures
-
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Jonathan Demme may not have been the most obvious choice to direct the disturbing serial killer drama The Silence of the Lambs, but his expert direction guided this celebrated Thomas Harris adaptation to five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. Many consider The Silence of the Lambs to be one of the greatest motion pictures ever produced, and with good cause.
Photo: Orion Pictures
-
Philadelphia (1993)
Tom Hanks won his first Academy Award for his revelatory performance in Philadelphia, Jonathan Demme's sensitive and suspenseful tale of a gay lawyer who is fired for being HIV positive, and the controversial lawsuit that follows. Philadelphia was one of the first Hollywood films to foreground homophobia and the ongoing AIDS crisis.
Photo: TriStar Pictures
-
Beloved (1998)
In what may be Jonathan Demme's most ambitious work, he adapted Toni Morrison's daring and celebrated novel Beloved to the big screen, in a handsome, nearly three-hour motion picture starring Oprah Winfrey and Thandie Newton.
Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
-
The Truth About Charlie (2002)
Jonathan Demme transitioned to more populist fare in the 2000s, remaking the iconic Audrey Hepburn thriller Charade into a spritely ode to the French New Wave called The Truth About Charlie. This spry and romantic thriller may be Jonathan Demme's most underrated motion picture.
Photo: Universal Pictures
-
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Demme went on to remake John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, to somewhat more mixed success. But this political conspiracy thriller is now a well-respected entry in Jonathan Demme's oeuvre, even though it arguably doesn't hold up to the original.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
-
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Over the last ten years Jonathan Demme made yet another career transition, making intimate character dramas like Rachel Getting Married, which earned Anne Hathaway her first Oscar nomination for her performance as a woman fresh out of rehab, who makes quite a scene at her sister's nuptials.
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics
-
A Master Builder (2013)
Wallace Shawn adapted Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder and starred in Jonathan Demme's adaptation, a bittersweet tale of an acrophobic architect and a woman who unexpectedly enters (re-enters?) his life.
Photo: The Criterion Collection
-
Ricki and the Flash (2015)
Jonathan Demme's last narrative feature stars Meryl Streep as a rock singer who never got famous, but left her family to pursue music anyway. Ricki and the Flash looks like a conventional film but that feel-good flash hides serious and impressive performances by Streep, Kevin Kline and - in a scene-stealing role - Rick Springfield.
Photo: TriStar Pictures
-
Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016)
Jonathan Demme's final film was another concert experience, adding Justin Timberlake to his many documentary subjects, including Neil Young, The Talking Heads and Enzo Avitabile.
Photo: Netflix
