Blow Out
1980
While outdoors recording sound effects for a movie, audio technician Jack Terri hears a tire blowout and a car crash. Before the car sinks into the river, he manages to save the female passenger from drowning. Because the other passenger was a presidential candidate, Jack suspects that the "accident" was a political murder. .. Read more
| Starring | John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz |
|---|---|
| Director | Brian De Palma |
| Genres | Drama |
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Blow Out
While outdoors recording sound effects for a movie, audio technician Jack Terri hears a tire blowout and a car crash. Before the car sinks into the river, he manages to save the female passenger from drowning. Because the other passenger was a presidential candidate, Jack suspects that the "accident" was a political murder. Afterwards, Jack falls in love with Sally, the woman he rescued, and learns that she's been in cahoots with Manny, a sleazy photographer who's operating a blackmail scheme. As part of their scam, Manny photographs Sally with important men in what appear to be compromising situations. Jack starts to wonder whether he's being paranoid or whether things are not quite what they seem. Then the assassin turns his attention to Jack and Sally, and Jack has to use every special effects trick in the book to keep them both alive.
| Starring | John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz |
|---|---|
| Director | Brian De Palma |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 48 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | French, German, Italian, Spanish |
| Hearing-impaired | English, German |
| Released | DVD: 29 Apr 2002 Production year: 1980 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Long before Pulp Fiction, John Travolta's best role was in Brian De Palma's audio version of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup, laced with the director's usual quota of Hitchcockian black humour and startling suspense. Travolta is marvellous as the cheesy horror flick sound-effects man who accidentally tapes events leading to the drowning of a presidential candidate. Nothing is what it seems in a paranoid mystery deliciously overflowing with De Palma's trademark high style and cinematic technique right up until the knockout, downbeat ending.
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Showily unpleasant thriller concocted of equal parts of The Conversation, Blow Up, and Kennedy at Chappaquiddick; the work of a copycat talent operating below par.
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Most helpful member's review
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15 out of 15 people found this review helpful
One of the best from both De Palma and Travolta
Brian De Palma's stylish thriller stars John Travolta as Jack, a sound designer for cheesy B-Movies. One night, when Jack is out recording sounds, he witnesses a car crashing off the road and into the river. Jack manages to save the girl inside, a prostitute named Sally(Nancy Allen), but the politician in the car is dead. The authorities thank Jack for his efforts and close the case as a tragic accident, but Jack's recording tells another story...
The career of Brian De Palma is one of the most maddeningly uneven in cinema. He is capable of stunning moments of brilliance but is equally likely to produce something laughably inept, often within the same film, sometimes within the same scene. 'Blow Out' is one of his most balanced and satisfying to date. The reason for this is De Palma's visual trickery is anchored by a well-formed and deceptively simple screenplay, unlike most of his films where style rules over substance.
De Palma has never hid his influences and here he steals liberally from Antonioni's 'Blow Up', Coppola's magnificent 'The Conversation' as well as the usual Hitchcock references. But De Palma puts his unique spin on the material with a couple of bravura sequences, the witty opening shot and Jack's analysing of the sounds on his tape are two particular highlights, and a wry sense of humour throughout. There's an amusing subplot involving a director's attempt to find a perfect scream for his slasher movie, which dovetails nicely with the main storyline at the superb climax.
The icing on the cake is the superb cast, particularly Travolta in one of his best roles. Nancy Allen makes more of her character than the script gives her and there's a couple of sleazy roles for John Lithgow and Dennis Franz. It's a slick, compelling thriller that De Palma looks unlikely to match. His recent pictures are a pale imitation but 'Blow Up' is a reminder of how good his films can be. -
Most recent members' review
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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Not vintage - more babycham!
Oh dear! Harmless tosh, but you will get far more from renting The Conversation for an immeasurably better take on the premise, and De Palma's "Phantom of the Paradise" for the prime of his low-budget lunancy.
The corniest plotting I've watched in a long time, saved by its ending. -
News and features
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De Palma’s Way
- 10 Mar 2008
Brian De Palma is in hot water. Again. For a director who often seems more interested in form than content and who has devoted the bulk of his career to making mainstream entertainment for the Hollywood studios, it's surprising how regularly he upsets people. Even his fans have a love-hate relationship with this prodigiously gifted but perverse and erratic talent. Feminists picketed Dressed to Kill and Cuban refugees weren't flattered by Scarface either. But that's nothing on the US reaction... Read more
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