Blow Out

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.

John Travolta is a sound engineer out in the woods during the dead of night trying to record some woods type noises for the latest film he's working on when he sees an accident in which a state governor is killed, a potential presidential candidate. He also records the distinct sound of a gunshot before the car went off a bridge and into a creek at night. Travolta also dives into the creek and rescues Nancy Allen, but is unable to save the male in the car. He finds out later about his VIP status.

Director Brian DePalma obviously used a twist on the tragedy at Chappaquiddick as the basis for Blow Out. The title comes from the official police investigation where they say the car had a blowout which caused the accident, but Travolta insists on his version. And his sticking to the story is making a lot of people uncomfortable.

Travolta does a nice job in a film role that a generation or two earlier James Stewart might have done, the average every man who gets heroic status thrust upon him. He's an ordinary man, but he wants the truth to come out.

Look also for some good performances by Dennis Franz as a sleazy photographer and John Lithgow as a very thorough killer who really loves his job. He not only wants to hide his murder in a forest, he plants his own forest so to speak.

Brian DePalma keeps the tension moving at all times in a manner worthy of Hitchcock. It was a good part for John Travolta, one of the last he would get acclaim for for some time.

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 is a sound editor for small films. When he is out one evening recording background noises, he inadvertently records a car crash which kills a politician running for the US Presidency, although Jack saves a girl in the car. When pressured to say that the politician was alone, Jack finds that his recording may prove that it was murder and not an accident. However someone is cutting off the loose ends around the crime.

A clever rework of Blow-Up that is given a thriller twist and visual style by De Palma. The story is quite straight forward and doesn't contain too many twists and turns. However it does have a good premise at it's core and it builds to a suitably low-key ending.

De Palma works well with the material – at some points it's a little obtrusive, but he certainly can frame a shot. From his use of foreground and background focusing to the scene where Travolta realises what he has on tape – he has style to spare. He handles the ending well but perhaps feels he wants to be like Coppola a bit too much.

Pre-career dip Travolta gives his best performance before Pulp Fiction – he plays the everyman really well and is totally convincing. Allen is a little too squeaky and irritating, but get past this and she's OK. Franz is on-form as a sleazy opportunist, while Lithgow is chilling as a ruthless, clinical killer.

Overall it occasionally feels like there is more style than substance but everyone holds their end up and the result is a solid, enjoyable thriller that maybe pays a bit too much homage to other work.

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.