Plot hole: It makes absolutely no sense that there would be over a dozen cops and soldiers in the lobby of the courthouse and leave only two cops to guard Lecter regardless that he was locked in the makeshift cell. Yes the plot needs a reason for him to easily escape but this still goes against every conceivable protocol for such a dangerous prisoner especially when there were dozens of armed personnel just in the scene alone when he was being transferred from the plane.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald
Hannibal Lecter manages to steal a pen from the cops and hides it while he's being cuffed in his new cell. He uses it to unlock the cuffs, and kill the two police officers who were in the room. Upon hearing strange sounds from the fifth floor, the police arrives at his cell, only to find a dead officer hung with no inner bowels like an angel, and the other disfigured with tons of blood on his face - yet he's breathing. While the injured officer is being led on an Ambulance, the police tracks down Hannibal on the roof of the elevator - but as they move closer, they encounter a body with no face. This is not Hannibal - this is the dead cop, whose skinned face Hannibal used as a mask to get away... and now he's free. Clarice is aware of his escape, and she's now on her own. Using Hannibal's clues, she tracks down Buffalo Bill's house, while the FBI is storming the wrong house in Chicago. Clarice eners Bill's house, unaware of him being the killer as he idenifies to her as another person. Once she sees the Dead Skull Moth in his house, she realizes the truth, and a chase ensues between her and Buffalo Bill throughout the basement of his house. Clarice finds Catherine, the kidnapped girl, but then the lights turn out. Bill uses a night-goggles to view horrified Clarice walking through the darkness. He raises a gun on her and cocks it... Clarice hears the sound of the gun, turns around and shoots Bill to death. Clarice rescues Catherine and becomes an FBI officer, only to recieve a phone call from Hannibal, who's far away by now on an Island in the Bahamas, and is about to have Dr Chilton for Dinner...
More mistakes in The Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal Lecter: I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner.
Trivia: In the cage scene right before Hannibal kills and eats the guards, he tells them to roll up the drawings. When the guard is doing that, you can see a copy of Bon Appetit magazine on the table.
Question: What was that rotting corpse lying in the bath at Buffalo Bill's basement, minutes before the light is shut down? Who did it belong to and what has happened to it?
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Answer: The body in the bathtub is Mrs. Lippman, the previous owner of Jame Gumb's home. Notice the long grey hair coming from the scalp. He would have wanted someone young, large, and whole.