Did success spoil Jonathan Demme? This graduate of the Roger Corman production team certainly began with a bang as Citzen’s Band and Melvin and Howard (one of the finest films of the 1980s) could attest. But after completing the charming Something Wild Demme got prestige-happy and the early magic was lost.

1974  Caged Heat ***
1977  Citizen’s Band (aka Handle with Care) ***1/2
1978  Murder Under Glass (Columbo episode) ***1/2
1979  The Last Embrace ***1/2
1981  Melvin & Howard ****
1984  Swing Shift ***
1984  Stop Making Sense ***1/2
1986  Something Wild ***1/2
1987  Swimming to Cambodia ***
1988  Married to the Mob ***
1991  Silence of the Lambs ***1/2
1993  Philadelphia **1/2