Blue Velvet Review

Messages: Lines between boyish goodness and depraved, sadistic evil seem clearly drawn with Jeffrey vs. Frank. Yet the young hero (a college guy who drinks beer) is not entirely innocent himself. He has sex with the victimized -- and married -- Dorothy and seems both fascinated as well as appalled that the exotic beauty equates passion with being abused and degraded. In the end, though, Jeffrey turns away from his "dark side" and winds up with the almost impossibly wholesome (and blonde) Sandy.

Violence: Gunfire at close range, punchings and beatings, dead (and nearly dead) bloody bodies at a murder scene. Reckless and menacing driving. A cut-off human ear is found. A woman gets raped (by a fully-clothed man).

Sex: Full nudity of the leading lady, near full nudity of the leading man, and the two have (adulterous) sex, though we don't actually see the act.

Language: Psycho bad guy Frank uses the f-word (and occasionally the s-word and the b-word) at least once in about every sentence.

Consumerism: Mentions of Heineken and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer hard to miss.

Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking of beer representing innocence, and bourbon for the demented bad guy, who also pops pills and infamously inhales intoxicating gas (presumably nitrous oxide). Mention of drug deals.