David Lynch says that he had three ideas which formed the basis of "Blue Velvet". The first was Bobby Vinton's song, the second was Jeffrey's voyeuristic night in Dorothy's closet, and the third idea was "the ear in the field, because it would be like finding a ticket to another world - you know, it would change your life?". Little did he think, back in 1986, that the infamous ear would change both his own life and the shape of American culture.
Before the film's release in 1986, Lynch's career had seen its fair share of ups and downs. "Eraserhead" (1977) was a little-seen cult classic while his first studio film, "The Elephant Man" (1980), won him many critical plaudits but only a modest amount of box office receipts. A few years later, his $52 million "Dune" (1984) virtually bankrupted the studio that produced it and threatened to send Lynch out into the Hollywood wilderness.
"Blue Velvet" changed everything. Not only was it a critical success but it was also a commercial smash. If its blend of sexual perversions and offbeat weirdness hadn't been so successful, Lynch's Twin Peaks TV series would never have even reached the pilot stage. And without Twin Peaks, there'd be no , no American Gothic, and quite possibly no either.
The film also had a far-reaching cinematic legacy. Lynch's career has never escaped the shadow of "Blue Velvet" - films like "Wild at Heart", "Lost Highway", and "Mulholland Drive" have just extended and complicated its original themes.
Dennis Hopper's career was resurrected because of his role as Frank (legend has it that he phoned Lynch on reading the script and told him "I've got to play Frank, because I am Frank") and he's been playing psychotic characters ever since. Even films as seemingly far removed as "American Beauty" and "Happiness" owe more than a nod to Lynch's dissection of American suburbia.
More than anything else though, "Blue Velvet" proved that American studio pictures could take risks and still be commercially viable. In 1986, when the competition included films like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "Ruthless People", and "Crocodile Dundee", that was music to many people's ears.
