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.

Many consider "Blow Out" to be the highlight of Brian De Palma's career, but to be honest I was pretty underwhelmed. It starts of great though. De Palma gets to show of his amazing knack for style in a brilliant opening scene that provides a hilarious pastiche on the slasher genre. The faux-sleazy look, the clever winks at genre classics, the genuine suspense even though you know it's a movie-within-a-movie, it's genius at work. There are more of those beautiful stylistic touches spread throughout the movie (the fireworks during the climax would be an obvious example), but the plot is just contrived and the final act demands more than a little suspension of disbelief. And while John Travolta puts in a strong lead performance, obligatory damsel in distress Nancy Allen never really manages to make her character likable so you don't really care whether she lives or dies. That's why the obvious Hitchcock influence isn't as effective as it could have been, Hitchcock gave us characters we deeply cared about and then did awful things to them. Sally is no Marion Crane to say the least, making it more difficult to stay interested in her story. "Blow Out" looks fantastic, but doesn't go very far beyond that.

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

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.

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.