It's a crying shame that this excellent commentary is no longer available. It's an almost perfect example of the multi-participant track : each participant is interesting in different ways and the whole track is very well-edited. Fans of the film should do what they can to get a hold of this disc.

One of the best commentaries I've heard. Evryone involved has alot to say and there are no slow spots. Highly recomended

Even though MGM's long documentary hits a lot of points on the making of this film, one cannot miss out on hearing this excellent commentary. As others have stated before, there's a lot of great information given by all the participants.

For those with a laserdisc player and not willing to pay a fortune for this now OOP DVD, I recommend going to Ebay. You'll be able to find this laserdisc for less than $15. The commentary can be found on both the Criterion CLV and CAV versions of the laserdisc.

This is one of the BEst

Learning about the book and how Detailed Jonathan Demme is
very nice you get a feel for the Process
(actors give a nice view on the characters)

Great from east to West

Wow, this track was really spellbinding. It heightened my respect for the movie, and for Jodie Foster (which was already very high). Each of the five participants has something to bring to the table. They all treat the film and subject with respect and therefore have things to say that go well beyond the movie. A commentary that made me think! What else could I ask for? The FBI guy gives credibility to the track and gives his comments on capital punishment and the thoughts that go through the heads of serial killers. Nothing on this track is redundant, the pace and voices are perfect. This is one of the few tracks I will listen to again in the future.

And let this commentary be a lesson to other commentators. Just talking for two hours doesn’t make it good. You have to have something to say. And they certainly do here. Outstanding! 10/10

Really, really good. Almost artistic in it's own right. I actually registered just to vent my anger at that FBI-dick sitting there justifying capital punishment. What is beyond me is how he can say that "these people just want to hurt their fellow man" and then in the same breath advocate the state DOING THE SAME DAMN THING. How can a state maintain a moral conscience which it doesn't abide by itself?! Arghh!! Sorry for the diatribe, but the commentary was excellent, 10/10 and the FBI-guy, his idiotic comments aside, added to the mix.

Yeah, not a bad commentary - edited quite well. Foster and Hopkins have interesting comments to make about not only the film but their process of acting, and the philosophy. Not overly technical - mostly philosophical discussions.

Usually I dont like tracks that are a bunch of different people recorded at different times (probably from interviews) pasted together and called a commentary track. But this one has so much good information from all the right people that it works great.

There is barely any dead space, and no long tangents about something unrelated to what is on the screen in the moment. Hearing from the FBI profiler about what drives some of the motivations of real life serial killers is an odd thing in a commentary, but completely works here.

I really liked how well they pointed out all the ways the film was not like most films, not just unlike most thrillers. There are no big shootouts or car chases. The lead is a woman, who has no romance, no scene to show off how pretty she is, and she is not just playing it as a man. She actually has a number of female specific comments and actions.

My only real complaint is that most of the comments are not scene specific, even though they do try to do so at times.