Jonathan Demme dead of cancer at 73

RIP

Oscar-Winning Director Jonathan Demme Dies at 73

 

That's terrible news. I'll be watching Stop Making Sense again tonight in his honor.

 

R.I.P.

 

Not surprised- he had been sick. I didn't know him as a friend, but saw him regularly in Nyack where we lived until recently. He was always friendly, down to earth, with a quick smile and a kind word. Sorry to hear that he passed.

 

Just picked up
Black Mama White Mama the other day.

RIP!!!

 

Reunited with Ted.

 

Great director. He'll be missed

 

How do you know that?

 

Damn, that's a shame.... Silence of the Lambs is one of the great movies of the 90's. RIP

 

Two years ago he missed the premier of Ricki And The Flash because of his cancer treatment.

 

Just heard.
I took a movie class in college that compared Demme to Martin Scorsese..
Demme did some great movies......The biggest loss is Swing Shift with Goldie Hawn....
But Stop making Sense, Melvin and Howard, Silence of the Lamb are all great films
The Neil Young concert film is great too

 

RIP! Going to watch Something Wild tonight.

 

Sad news. Some of my favorite movies of the 80's and 90's were directed by him.
I actually followed his career after going to see "Something Wild" while staying with a friend over Thanksgiving break '86 . We were looking for something to do, and that's what was playing at the one cinema in his small town. We hadn't even heard of it, but recognized Demme's name from "Stop Making Sense". For having no expectations going in, we both felt very rewarded coming out. How the tone of that movie changes in an instant still impresses me. RIP, Mr. Demme.

 

How did I know he was sick? It was pretty well known in the community, and we had some mutual friends. We used to see him regularly at a local sushi bar- we'd chat about food, movies, whatever--never got into any discussion of who he was- he just "was." He was very gracious in acting as an M.C. for a benefit concert at the Turning Point in Piermont to raise money after Hurricane Sandy. Like I said, I wasn't "friends" with him, but everybody knew him, and he always seemed to be very nice to everybody.

 

Did you actually get to meet him? Or was he just friends with the mutual friends?

 

Sounds like he was sick for quite some time.

 

RIP

 

Many times-- the neighborhood was a favorite of the arts and literary crowd, going back to the beginning of the 20th century. Lot's of well known people lived there full time or had country houses there. Quite a few folks I would run into simply being in the 'hood. The reason why we liked it (and probably why the more celebrated characters did too) was that it was very low key--what I used to call the "anti-Greenwich." Very little bling, the big old houses were a little shabby chic, rather than manicured and curated to perfection and folks did their own shopping- I used to see quite a few pretty well known actors at the local gourmet market. It was a great place to live if you needed to be in proximity to Manhattan.

 

That's wicked cool.

 

I remember getting the Criterion DVD of Silence of the Lambs for Christmas many years ago. I was so excited. It will always be a prized part of my collection.

 

Between his films, the soundtracks to his films, his documentaries about Neil Young, and above all Stop Making Sense, Mr. Demme played a huge role in my musical education and enjoyment for the last 30+ years or so. Even lesser films like Rikki And The Flash had strong musical elements informed and enriched the work.
He will be greatly missed.

 

Very sad.

Citizen's Band, Melvin and Howard, Something Wild are all favorites, all great films. Stop Making Sense and Heart of Gold, really most if not all his music docs are great. Hope to see the director's cut of Swing Shift some day.

R.I.P.

 

Sad news-a wonderful director and by all accounts an even better person. His music related projects reflected his absolute love of rock and roll. He will be missed by many.

 

First film I seen of his was Caged Heat ( John Cale) soundtrack.