4. Blue Velvet - Frank Booth
Jeffrey finds a severed ear and gives it to John Williams - a policeman. He gets to know the policeman's daughter Sandy who tells him about a possible connection to the crime - a mysterious woman named Dorothy. Jeffrey poses as an exterminator to investigate Dorothy's home. She is a night club singer and Jeffrey and Sandy go to see her in action and leave early so Jeffrey can go to Dorothy's place and spy on her. A knife wielding Dorothy finds him out and is actually turned on by his act of voyeurism. She makes him strip at knife point and begins to give him a blow job when there is a knock at the door. Jeffrey goes back in the closet and witnesses a very bizarre scene involving Frank Booth, some sort of gas, sadomasochism and dry humping. A foul mouthed degenerate sociopath, Booth has abducted Dorothy's son and husband. When Frank goes, Dorothy tries to seduce Jeffrey again but he refuses. A few days later, Jeffrey is back in the apartment with Dorothy who says she fancies him. He goes again to watch Dorothy in the night club. She sings Blue Velvet and Jeffrey can spot Frank in the audience looking excited whilst rubbing a piece of Blue Velvet. Back to Dorothy's apartment and Jeffrey finally beds her but is a bit perturbed when she asks him to slap her, but he does it anyway. Dorothy is ecstatic. Frank catches them at it and is not pleased. Both he and Dorothy are whisked off to Ben's (Franks ally) apartment where Ben lip synchs Roy Orbinson's In Dreams. Frank gets sentimental then suddenly switches to fury. Frank molests Dorothy and Jeffrey attacks him. Frank then has Jeffrey beaten. He wakes up and goes to see Sandy and they both confess feelings for each other. Dorothy is found naked and beaten In front of Jeffrey's house. She calls him 'my lover' and Sandy slaps him in the face. But they reconcile later. The rest of the film involves the discovery of Dorothy's dead husband. Frank performing a lobotomy on an associate. There's a bit of hide and seek between Jeffrey and Frank - with Jeffrey emerging as the victor. Dorothy is reunited with her son and Jeffrey and Sandy walk away, hand in hand, into the sunset. Blue Velvet is an absorbing movie to watch in spite or maybe because of its kinkiness. Dennis Potter's portrayal of sociopathic, degenerate, foul mouthed criminal Frank Booth is the stuff of cinematic legends. He is a very complex villain. He kidnaps Dorothy's husband and son to make her perform sadomasochistic sex acts on him - acting as both 'Daddy' - the sadist - and 'Baby' - who wants to be gagged and bound. Frank has a mercurial temper - whenever Ben is lip synching to Roy Orbinson, Frank gets very maudlin and then in a split second flies into a rage. He is also addicted to an unidentified gas. It is difficult to picture anyone but Dennis Hopper in the role of Frank Booth. He gives a staggering portrayal of unrepentant and irredeemable evil. His taste for depravity is truly shocking.