If you read my Ebert tribute to Dean Stockwell, then you know that one of his inspirations for his terrifyingly weird performance in Blue Velvet was Carol Burnett. It’s so strange, but such a perfect example of how the imagination works, and what GOLD you can strike if you just trust your imagination and not try to be so damn literal all the time.
I mean … let’s take a look.
Think about Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet. And look at that gif. Once you see it you cannot unsee it. I mean, that is Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet. Spitting image.
Stockwell knew the gig and knew how Ben had to function in the story. He knew that Ben was the guy that Frank – one of the scariest psychos ever put on screen – was scared of. Ben was the guy that Frank – a total psycho – respected. So Ben had to be much MUCH scarier than Frank. But … how?
And he saw a Carol Burnett sketch and thought, “That. I’m stealing ALL of that.”
