Decorated filmmaker Jonathan Demme is revered for his outstanding cinematic creations and utter diversity. Having first made his debut with the 1974 women’s prison drama Caged Heat, the director quickly made a name for himself with humanist comedies like Melvin and Howard, Swing Shift and Married to the Mob. He would go on to create a wide range of films, from possibly the greatest concert movie ever made (Stop Making Sense) to one of only three films to sweep the big five Oscars with the psychological horror phenomenon The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.
Demme would go on to find further success with acclaimed films like Philadelphia, The Manchurian Candidate, and Rachel Getting Married, eventually adopting a documentary-style of directing in his later endeavors which combined his work making concert films for Talking Heads, Neil Young, and Justin TImberlake with his compassionate, fly-on-the-wall style. The brilliant and delightfully unique Demme passed away in 2017 at age 73, leaving behind a superb and broad career, with numerous influential contributions to the entertainment industry. These are some of the best Jonathan Demme films.
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9 Beloved
Touchstone Pictures
Based on the Toni Morrison novel of the same name, the 1998 psychological horror drama Beloved features an impressive cast led by Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, and a young Thandiwe Newton and tells the harrowing tale of former slave Sethe as she is visited by a malicious poltergeist and a mysterious young woman who is the reincarnation of her precious, deceased daughter.
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The emotionally-driven picture is a faithful adaption of the Pulitzer Prize-winning work and was lauded by critics and audiences alike for the powerful performances of its gifted leads as well as its haunting and honest depiction of slavery. Despite a lackluster box office performance, Beloved went on to receive numerous nominations including an Oscar and NAACP Image Award.
8 Swing Shift
Warner Bros.
The always charming Goldie Hawn headlined the 1984 romantic war drama Swing Shift, in which she portrays an armaments factory worker who finds herself under the spell of a charismatic musician while her husband is serving as a U.S. Naval seaman during World War II. When her spouse ultimately returns home from war, the resilient and spirited Kay is forced to reflect on what (or whom) her heart truly desires while deciding what she wishes to see in her bright future.
Swing Shift was plagued by onset tensions between director Jonathan Demme and star Hawn, and the drama was eventually renounced by the revered filmmaker due to their continuous disputes; regardless, Demme’s original cut was declared by Sight & Sound as “extraordinary — one of the best movies made by an American in the 80s.”
7 The Manchurian Candidate
Paramount Pictures
A reworking of the Frank Sinatra-led 1962 picture and Richard Condon novel, the 2004 neo-noir psychological political thriller The Manchurian Candidate follows U.S. Army soldier Major Bennett Marco (a great Denzel Washington) as he begins to question whether or not his fellow unit mate and current Congressman Raymond Prentiss Shaw (Liev Schreiber) is as heroic as he is proclaimed to be when he is awarded the Medal of Honor after surviving a deadly mission. When Marco makes the disturbing discovery of a small metallic object implanted in his back, he begins to believe he and his fellow soldiers have been brainwashed for ominous reasons by the FBI.
On remaking the conspiracy classic, Demme stated that he liked the “idea of replacing communism as the great global threat to mankind with what is arguably the biggest threat to humanity today: the multinational corporations who profit from war,” and that he enjoyed fully engaging with the characters and embracing the film as a psychological thriller.
6 Rachel Getting Married
Sony Pictures Classics
Anne Hathaway earned an Oscar nomination for her compelling portrayal of a struggling addict who is released from rehab to attend her sister’s wedding in the 2008 drama Rachel Getting Married, which chronicles the complicated Kym’s efforts to reconnect with her family and friends amid her substance abuse issues. Demme was attracted to the screenplay due to its lack of concern over making its character likable, its disregard to traditional rules of movie formula and its refreshing approach to both honesty, humor and pain.
The compelling picture landed on numerous film critics’ top ten lists of the year, with London Evening Standard writing, “Director Jonathan Demme, who says he wanted to make ’the most beautiful home movie ever made’, didn’t rehearse scenes before filming. He and Hathaway, as much as Lumet, deserve praise for creating a pariah at once close-to-home and unique.”
5 Married to the Mob
Orion Pictures
In the 1988 crime comedy Married to the Mob, Michelle Pfeiffer appears as Angela de Marco, the widow of a Long Island gangster who desperately wants to escape the criminal underworld and start a new life with her son. Her noble plan becomes complicated when an FBI agent is assigned to investigate her, leading to the pair becoming romantically involved.
The exciting film was a success at the box office and with critics, with director Jonathan Demme garnering immense praise for his idiosyncrasy; The New York Times called Demme “American cinema’s king of amusing artifacts: blinding bric-a-brac, the junkiest of jewelry, costumes so frightening they take your breath away.”
4 Something Wild
Jonathan Demme helmed the delightful 1986 screwball action rom-com Something Wild, which centers on the carefree Lulu (Melanie Griffith) as she brings along a handsome, uptight banker for a fun weekend fling. They find their exciting rendezvous cut short when her violent, ex-convict husband shows up on a mission to win her back.
Featuring an absolutely wonderful Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta, the quirky flick showcased Demme’s unique point-of-view and offbeat approach to storytelling, with the Chicago Tribune expressing, “It’s not every day that someone goes Alfred Hitchcock one better, but in Something Wild, Jonathan Demme has done it.” Demme’s seemingly effortless blending of humor and thrills helped establish the rom-com as a knockout in the director’s superb body of work, an ’80s cult classic with phenomenal music (a typical feature for Demme).
3 Philadelphia
TriStar Pictures
Demme enlisted Hollywood heavy hitters Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington to create one of the first major films to discuss the AIDS crisis with the 1993 legal drama Philadelphia, telling the poignant story of a successful lawyer who is fired from his prestigious position after his firm discovers his homosexuality and HIV status, ultimately leading to the man suing for discrimination.
After having trouble finding someone willing to take on his case, Andrew Beckett (Hanks, who now regrets playing the gay character, wishing that the role went to a gay man) is approached by the homophobic, small-time attorney Joe Miller (Washington), who agrees to represent him. Both Beckett and Miller go on a life-altering journey throughout the thought-provoking picture and develop a profound bond, and the latter eventually sheds his prejudiced ways.
Philadelphia was revered for its enlightening perspective and message and knockout performances, and Hanks went on to nab the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Beckett. On his decision to direct a drama about the then-taboo topic, Demme told Rolling Stone that he wanted to address the stigma surrounding the AIDS Crisis, “We wanted to reach people who don’t know people with AIDS, who look down on people with AIDS […] There was a desire to just, like, stick AIDS in your face and say, ‘Look at it, you scumbags.”
2 Melvin and Howard
Universal Pictures
Based on the life of Utah man Melvin Dummar and his claims that he saved the life of business tycoon Howard Hughes, the 1980 dramedy Melvin and Howard stars Paul Le Mat as the down-on-his-luck service station owner who allegedly saved the life of Hughes in the Nevada desert in 1967. pon the notorious recluse’s death nearly a decade later, Dummar is shocked when a will appears and names him as the recipient of $156 million.
He finds himself at the heart of a grueling court battle and media frenzy as he fights for the life-changing funds, with the will eventually being declared a forgery despite Dummar’s claims of innocence. Melvin and Howard won Demme the Best Director award at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and has been revered as one of the filmmaker’s finest pictures.
1 The Silence of the Lambs
Touted as one of the greatest and most influential films of all time, the 1991 psychological horror movie The Silence of the Lambs famously follows young FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) as she relentlessly attempts to hunt down a disturbing serial killer targeting females across the country and skinning them. After hitting a wall in her investigation, Clarice enlists the help of the once esteemed psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a now imprisoned cannibalistic serial killer who both helps and manipulates the trainee on her quest.
Jonathan Demme directed the celebrated horror masterpiece, which became the only film of the horror genre to win Best Picture; it also became the third and most recent movie to win all the major five categories including Best Director for Demme. Adapted from the Thomas Harris novel, the ’90s staple remains a triumphant cinematic classic that features one of the greatest film villains and heroines of all time.
