It is a sweeping, epic story about a cattle drive (historically based on the opening of the Chisholm Trail in 1867) and a film of rivalry and rebellion, spanning a time period of fifteen years.[Note: The scenes at the racetrack were filmed at the Santa Anita Race Track, just east of Pasadena, CA in the town of Arcadia when the track was brand-new and only about 3-4 years old.Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), known for brutal murders and savage cannibalism.He was speaking to the horribly disfigured, paralyzed, wheelchair-bound and wealthy Mason Verger (an uncredited and unrecognizable Gary Oldman), one of Lecter's many victims, who sought revenge.She pleaded with Hank: "You're beautiful, Hank.Everything you are, you are perfect." But he went ahead ("We need his cure") and injected himself anyway - and it backfired - his skin turned blue and developed fur, and his body grew in size.The madcap film from Columbia Studios (one of the lesser studios) was an unexpected runaway box office sleeper hit (especially after it began to play in small-town theaters), and it garnered the op five Academy Awards (unrivaled until 1975, forty-one years later byOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)- and then again byThe Silence of the Lambs (1991).