Blow Out

Brian DePalma was at the height of his film career when he undertook the direction of "Blow Out". Some comments to this forum have compared it to other distinguished films like Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" and Michaelangelo Antonioni's "Blow Up", a comparison that seems to make sense, in a way, but Mr. DePalma, who wrote his own screen play, is an intelligent man who didn't need to copy anything from those masters of the cinema.

In fact, "Blow Out" has kept its impact as a thriller mystery with its political overtones as it mixes crime with the lives of influential people that might give viewers a point of reference between the movie and actual historical facts.

We are given an introduction to Jack's line of work as we watch scenes of the porno film that he is working on as a sound technician. The only thing that is needed is a real scream which the many actresses, either on the film itself, or being auditioned, can't produce. Whatever comes out of those women's throats are wimpy sounds, not a horror yell for help.

Jack, who is out one night recording sounds for future ventures, captures the shot that causes the "blow out" and makes a car plunge into a creek. Jack abandons everything and jumps to rescue whoever he can save. He is only successful in bringing Sally out of the water. This is the beginning of Jack's involvement into the mystery behind the actual fact.

Mr. DePalma's thriller is visually stylish. He photographed the movie in Philadelphia. The film has the excellent Vilmos Zsigmond behind the camera. The atmospheric music by Pino Donoggio serves the movie well.

John Travolta's career was in decline when he made this movie. He gives a terrific performance as the sound effect man who stumbles in a conspiracy to eliminate the witnesses to the accident. Nancy Allen is not as effective as Sally, the young prostitute at the center of the story. Being married to the director might have helped her land the part, which with some other actress might have paid off better. John Lighgow is perfectly creepy as Burke, the evil man. Dennis Franz has the pivotal part of Karp, the man who was able to photograph the whole incident.

"Blow Out" is a must see for all Brian DePalma's admirers.

Jack Terri is a soundman for a B-movie studio. One night as he is out recording sounds for a film he sees an accident - a car swerves through a guard rail and into a river. Jack jumps in in effort to help and sees that the driver is dead, but he manages to save the passenger. He soon finds out that the driver was the current favorite in the presidential election and after listening to the recording he suspects that what happened was no accident.

This is the type of movie many people call a rip-off as not only does it take an idea from a previous story and film ('Blow Up') it is one of DePalma's many Hitchcockian efforts. However, under his direction the film feels fresh and moves very well. It is 13 years before John Travolta made 'Pulp Fiction' but he was already a good lead actor. Dennis Franz also gives a good turn as a photographer who knows more than he is telling.

However, the scene stealer, would have to be John Lithgow who stoically walks his way through the film as a ruthless killer who wants to remove Jack Terri for the evidence he has. Rarely is such a emotionless and callous role played out so well to such great effect.

Then there is DePalma's direction which is the great thing that put all the good stuff together. He has a particular skill of blending shots/scenes without dissolves and that carries the movie is an interesting way. Using shadows, silhouettes, rotating camera shots he is truly a master in good form here. 9/10

Rated R: some grisly violence, and profanity

A movie sound recordist called Jack (John Travolta), accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger. When Jack discovers that the deceased was a presidential candidate, he begins to suspect that it was an assassination. Jack talks to the girl companion of the driver, whose name is Sally (Nancy Allen), who seems confused about what happened, and when the hospital cuts her loose, Jack offers to take her home. Eventually, Jack confronts the evil ¨Liberty Bell Strangler¨. The Blow Out took them to the edge of terror . . . His questions took them way beyond !. Murder has a sound all of its own!.The latest fashion in murder !. Every nightmare has a beginning...This one never ends !. Brian De Palma, Master of the Macabre, invites you to a showing of the latest fashion... ...in murder !.

An inteligent film about a a sound effects engineer becomes involved in political intrigue as he tries to expose a conspiracy with the evidence he has gathered, so our starring finds out he may have recorded evidence of a murder. An intricate mystery and pays tribute to ¨Antonioni's Blow up¨ and some Hitchockian remarks. This haunting thriller flick is plenty of mystery, intrigue , plot twists and suspenseful. A highly exploitative and fast-paced suspense/thriller , recognisably from the blood-spattered hands of expert filmmaker Brian De Palma. The film displays a great and catching musical score by Pino Donaggio, De Palma's favorite composer, in Bernard Herrmann style , and imitating former hits , along with appropriate cinematography. There is much for De Palma buffs to savour in this thrilling and atmospheric handling of a complex story with deliberately old-fashioned treatment . A classic in suspense from De Palma, pitching us right into the action from the beginning and baffling most of us to the ending . There are also tense key images that are brilliantly and originally staged. This is a sophisticated treaty on edition and perception, being brilliantly assembled and wrought. The mechanics of suspense are worked quite well by the filmmaker and many frighten the easily scared quite adequately, but De Palma has made a habit of dwelling on their more sordid side-shoots .Here John Travolta is very good as the sound engineer working on cheap horror movies, who watches one night, while recording sound effects, as a car in which a couple is traveling falls from a bridge into a river. Along with other stunning actors, such as: Nancy Allen who married director Brian De Palma, the nasty John Lithgow, Dennis Franz, John Aquino and John McMartin.

It contains colorful and luminous cinematography by prestigious cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond. As well as nail-biting, impressive musical score by composer Pino Donaggio. Pretty good and graphically mysterious direction from Brian De Palma. ¨Blow out¨ is Brian De Palma's homage to Antonioni and the reason for the chief amusement turning out to be the twisted inquire with some scenes taken from this Italian master, and De Palma also takes parts especially from Hitchcock. The picture is brilliantly directed by Brian De Palma. This ¨Blow out¨ -along with ¨Sisters¨,¨Dresssed to Kill¨, ¨Body Double¨- resulting outwardly another ode to Hitchcock with the accent on the killings, but on most occasion is really thrilling . Rating : 7/10 . Above average, it gets some riveting basic ideas and attractive images. Nowadays , being a highly considered film; that's why it is deemed by many to be one of the Brian Palma's best.

I was blown away by Brian DePalma's "Blow Out" (1981), the Real American Classic from the 80th. Yes, of course, De Palma pays homage to both, "Blow Up" and "Conversation" but "Blow Out" is a vintage DePalma at his best, in his glory and brilliance. The story is great, packed with twists and turns and also lets us peek once again as in Body Double" at the B-movies making process. John Travolta is Jack Terri, a sound technician who rescues a girl (Nancy Allen) from a car that crashes into a river after a blow out. The man who drove the car did not survive and he happened to be the next presidential candidate. Jack soon realizes that it was not just a blow out but a murder, and he's got an evidence to prove it, the tape that he made on the bridge while recording the background noises for the movie. As good as the story is, it does not forget its characters, and they are memorable and multi-dimensional. The actors are terrific. It was the time when John Travolta was both cute without being smug and compelling. Nancy Allen as Sally, was sweet and heartbreaking, Dennis Franz's character, Manny Karp, the petty blackmailer who got more than he bargained for was fun to watch, and John Lithgow made such a chilling villain that Anthony Hopkins could've learned something from him. I did not even start on Vilmos Zsigmond's camera work. Only one word comes to mind - mesmerizing. The final chase sequence on the streets of Philadelphia during the celebration of the ringing of the Liberty Bell is as well staged and shut and as exiting as the similar climatic chase on Mount Rushmore in Hitchcock's "North By Northwest". The movie is perfectly balanced by the last scene and the hilarious opening scene mirroring each other but this time the scream is different. It IS a good scream that came from the streets of Philadelphia.

If you liked F/X, you'll probably like Blow Out and vice versa because both films involve a person who uses their craft to solve a highly corrupt case of murder.

While F/X's Rollie Tyler was a special effects engineer, our hero in Blow Out is a sound technician who must piece together parts of a sound recording (along with some other vital information from other sources along the way) to solve the murder of the gubernatorial candidate, a death which the police have written off as a homocide. Travolta employs Nancy Allen's help, a rather dumb prostitute who was in the car with the victim when their car ran off the bridge, but who is the only survivor and essential key to unlocking the mystery. They are dealing with a very relentless killer who will stop at nothing to make sure the trail of evidence leading to him is eliminated.

It is a typical DePalma movie in that it is done with many Hitchcock elements (they didn't call him the master of suspense for nothing) and also that he works with movies-in-a-movie (see 'Body Double' and 'Dressed to Kill'). It is an enjoyable crime and mystery movie in the days when John Travolta movies were still fun to watch.