Roger Ebert was wrong 🧐
Extraordinary and outstanding crime thriller; weird, twisted, fascinating, multilayered, violent and atmospheric.
Not only a great prelude to Twin Peaks (Jeffrey is Dale, right? Among other glaring similarities) and probably Hopper's most powerful performance, just about everything from cinematography to music (especially Orbison's In Dreams) to dialogue to characters, is on a absolute top level.
Personally after (everything) Twin Peaks definitely my favorite of Lynch's works.
I totally recommend.